The Euroformula ready to take the track for another season of exciting racing
23.04.2024
It’s time to take the track again for the Euroformula Open. The 2024 season of the F.3-based series by GT Sport will kick off this weekend in the beautiful and demanding Autódromo do Algarve, the 4.684-km track in the hills of Portimão, close to the most South-Western corner of the continent.
It will be the eleventh edition under the current denomination (and the 24th in total) of a series which has its own position in the single-seater formulae pyramid and has provided and continues to provide, great talents to the sports. The names of Carlos Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda, Liam Lawson, Álex Palou, Colin Herta and Linus Lundqvist, to just name F.1 and IndyCar drivers in active, give a clear proof of it.
The Euroformula Open will continue to rely on its strengths: a calendar including eight of the most prestigious and challenging tracks in Europe, plenty of track time and 3 races per event, the racing essence of the Dallara 320, acclaimed as the best car in its category, and the quality of the Pirelli tyres.
It will be a season where quality prevails over quantity, and that will mark a turning point, as pointed out by Jesús Pareja, CEO of GT Sport: “Since we started our single-seater formula in 2001, we have always believed in a product as close as possible to the essence embodied by the old F.3. I think we have succeeded in offering a formula that fosters true talent and is based on a performing, light and ‘racey’ car. In the last couple of years, we haven’t had the grids we hope for, because of the variable market dynamics in motorsports, but we stick to our philosophy and are working hard for the very near future. I cannot say much more at this time, but soon we will be able to tell some great news.”
The season that is about to start will see a new set of young and promising talents fighting for top honours under the colours of the German squad Motopark. Only three of them have previous EFO experience.
Hungary’s Levente Révész contested the final stretch of the 2023 season with excellent progress up to a first race win in Barcelona.
On his side, US driver Brad Benavides had a spell in 2021 with Carlin, before moving to FIA F.3 and FIA F.2.
China’s Cenyu Han will join with a diversified background in different F.4 and F.Regional series.
The same diversified background in F.4 is the one of Fernando Fefo Barrichello, who brings another ‘heavy’ racing family name to the series, just as Enzo Trulli, Charlie Wurz, Juju Noda and Jakob Bergmeister did last year.
Again, Timo Rumpfkeil’s team will alternate drivers in its other two cars. In Portugal, it will Jakob Bergmeister, who took Rookie honours last year, and well-known Spanish young gun Lorenzo Fluxá, set for a return to single-seaters alongside his successful LMP career.
Francesco Simonazzi will be again one of the heroes of the series, as the young Italian of BVM Racing embarks on a third full campaign with as little stress as possible.
Evergreen Paolo Brajnik will again be on the starting blocks with NV Racing, hoping to fight soon again with his friend Vladimir Netušil of Effective Racing and with other contenders expected to debut in the next rounds.
