Euroformula Open off to its strongest season ever
24.04.2019
The 2019 season of Euroformula Open is looking to be its strongest yet, and there are just a few days before it gets underway at the beautiful Paul Ricard circuit in France. It will mark the 19th season of the Formula 3 championship organised by the GT Sport, and the biggest calendar yet.
With a grid of 21 cars (all Dallara F317 chassis and all shod by faithful tire partner Michelin) at the first round and expected to grow further, a unique proposition of
three different engine options, an unmatched calendar and excellent TV and communications package, Euroformula Open is bound to become a reference among
international F3 series. This is reflected by the fact it has been able to attract top teams from rival championships for 2019, and drivers from all six continents. This year’s contenders come from Europe, Asia, Oceania, the Americas and Africa!
The nine-round, 18-race calendar includes the historic Pau street circuit for the first time, and with it the prestigious Pau Grand Prix. This event used to be ran for
Formula 1 cars between 1947-’71, and it's been a F3 classic since 1999. It also marks Euroformula’s first street race since it debuted the Valencia F1 circuit back in 2008.
The French mountain town isn't the only highlight on the calendar, with trips to eight current F1 world championship venues. That starts with French GP circuit Paul Ricard, and after Pau is followed by Hockenheim, Spa-Francorchamps, Hungaroring, Red Bull Ring, Silverstone and Barcelona.
The final round of the season - and hopefully the title decider - takes place at Monza, also known as the Temple of Speed.
Possibly the biggest change for the season is the opening of the engine regulations, which means teams can pick from HWA, Piedrafita or Spiess as an engine supplier. Some teams may even choose to run more than one.
Ahead of the start of the season, GT Sport CEO Jesús Pareja commented: “We are absolutely delighted to welcome top new entries, which add to the ones we had already. More will join during the season. As from this year, we are also the only single-seater formula besides F1 offering three different engine options, and I want to thank HWA, Piedrafita and Spiess for their cooperation and good work to find a Balance of Performance that will allow very close competition.
“We also are very happy to offer eight F1 tracks, with the new additions of Hockenheim and Red Bull Ring, to which we have added a street circuit with the legendary Grand de Pau. All this is really getting the Euroformula where we wanted it to be.”
Eight teams and 21 drivers will turn up to this weekend’s Paul Ricard season opener, and another three teams and several more drivers could join later in the season.
Reigning champion team RP Motorsport left it late to announce its line-up, and it will field French Formula 4 race-winners Javier González and Pierre-Louis Chovet alongside experienced F3 driver Artem Petrov. González impressed in Spanish F3 last year, while Chovet is a Venturi Formula E junior.
The Italian team’s main rival in 2018 was Teo Martín Motorsport, which has switched to HWA engines in search of a competitive edge over its rivals and topped pre-season testing at Barcelona with its line-up of championship returnees Guilherme Samaia, Aldo Festante and Lukas Dunner.
Samaia is the 2017 Brazilian F3 champion, and like Dunner has already appeared on the Euroformula podium. The flamboyant Festante is a rising star in the series. Teo Martin’s Spanish neighbours Drivex School and Campos Racing are also set to compete again this year, with Drivex having signed rookie Rui Andrade and EFO regular Petru Florescu.
There are two returning British teams in Carlin and Fortec Motorsports. Carlin, which also races in IndyCar and sportscars, has four Spiess-powerwd cars lined up for Paul Ricard. Euroformula returnee Christian Hahn, in its third season in the series, is joined by BRDC British F3 graduates Nicolai Kjaergaard and Billy Monger, and Honda protege Teppei Natori.
There is no doubt that Billy Monger’s campaign will be followed with great interest by media and fans beyond motorsport circles, as the 19-year-old Brit sets an inspirational example of how to overcome adversity and physical barriers.
Fortec meanwhile will use HWA power, and retains Australian F3 champion Calan Williams with Cameron Das as his team-mate. Das finished fifth in the standings last year with four podiums, while Williams ended a part-season in 11th.
The three new teams in Euroformula also bring some big-name talents with the backing of Honda and Red Bull.
British squad Double R Racing has Linus Lundqvist, who beat Kjaergaard to the 2018 British F3 title, and Red Bull junior Jack Doohan, who is the son of five-time MotoGP champion Mick Doohan. It has chosen HWA engines for its entry to the series.
Motopark, winner of the Macau GP for the last two years with Spiess, has four cars and is the first ever German team in the championship. Reigning Toyota Racing Series champion Liam Lawson received Red Bull patronage ahead of the season, while Japanese F4 champion Yuki Tsunoda is another of Honda’s juniors and will run the same Red Bull colours as Lawson. Julian Hanses and Marino Sato bring their F3 experience to the team too, and all four will be confident of matching the continuing teams in Euroformula.
Unfortunately neither team entered the Euroformula Open Winter Series at Paul Ricard or the Barcelona pre-season test, but have been testing privately.
The last of the debuting teams is D.Tsimpris Motorsport, a new Greek outfit that will run youngster Dimitris Tsimpris in a Piedrafita-powered car and will become at Ricard the first ever all-Greek outfit to race at this level in single-seater formulae.
At Paul Ricard, Euroformula will share the race programme with International GT Open, bound for another exciting season, and the newly-launched GT Cup Open Europe. Along the three GT Sport-promoted series, fans will also enjoy the second round of the Spanish F4 Championship.
