British F3 International Series 2008

[Driverdb]

One of the more prestigious single seater series for young drivers with hopes of Formula 1 and greatness.

After a few years with declining grid sizes British F3 came back with a vengeance last year sporting grid sizes that hasn't been seen since the 90's. Hopefully the 2008 season will continue strong.

Last years top 10:
1. Marko Asmer, Estonia
2. Maro Engel, Germany
3. Stephen Jelley, Great Britain
4. Sam Bird, Great Britain
5. Nial Breen, Ireland
6. Jonahtan Kennard, Great Britain
7. Atte Mustonen, Finland
8. Alberto Valerio, Brazil
9. Sebastian Hohenthal, Sweden
10. Greg Mansell, Great Britain

Top 5 National class:
1. Sergio Perez, Mexico
2. Cong Fu Cheng, China
3. Hamed Al Fardan, Bahrain
4. Michael Meadows, Great Britain
5. Salman Al-Khalifa, Bahrain

[Driverdb]

Maro Engel will probably move up the ladder. Rookies Bird, Mustonen and Hohenthal will probably stay for a second year. Greg Mansell and his brother are probably leaving for the States.


Confirmed drivers:

Carlin Motorsport
Brendon Hartley, New Zealand. (2007 Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup champion and Red Bull Development Driver)
Oliver Turvey, Great Britain (2006 UK Formula BMW runner-up)
Jaime Alguersuari, Spain. (2007 Formula Renault 2.0 Italy runner-up and Red Bull Development Driver)
Sam Abay, Australia (runner.up in Formula BMW Asia in 2005)

Fortec Motorsport
Sebastian Hohenthal, Sweden (9th in 2007)
Marcus Ericsson, Sweden (2007 UK Formula BMW champion)
Philip Major, Canada (10th Formula BMW USA 2007)

Hitech Racing
Max Chilton, Great Britain (no points in 2007)
Walter Grubmüller, Austria (16th in 2007)

Räikkönen Robertson Racing
Atte Mustonen, Finland (7th in 2007)
John Martin, Australia (15th in 2007)

T-Sport
Sergio Perez, Mexico (2007 National class champion)


National class entries:

T-Sport
Salman Al-Khalifa, Bahrain (5th in 2007)
Steven Guerrero, Colombia (5th in Formula BMW USA 2007)

CF Racing
Hywel Lloyd, Great Britain (2007 Formula Renault BARC champion)

Carlin Motorsport
Andy Meyrick, Great Britain
Kristijan Einar, Iceland

Fluid Motorsport
Stefan Wilson, Great Britain (2nd in Formula Palmer Audi 2007)
Jay Bridger, Great Britain (5th in the UK Formula Ford championship 2007)

[Harakimi]

Mansell brothers are son's of Nigel? Do they have moustaches? :lol:

[Driverdb]

Mansell brothers are son's of Nigel? Do they have moustaches? :lol:

No moustaches yet, but at least Greg have Nigel's way of being an *** apparantly.

Greg beat up his team mate Hohenthal after an on-track battle (where Greg didn't feel he was given enough room). If Nigel didn't pay most of the bills I think his boys would have been dropped from Fortec during the season. Instead they decided to split the team up and move the Mansell's away from Hohenthal and they also stopped sharing data.

The Mansells weren't the most popular guys in the paddock during the season.

[JoStream]

The Mansells weren't the most popular guys in the paddock during the season.

Yea, I remember we talked about an incident that happened where one of the two hit his team mate (I think) :rolleyes:

Don't worry about the mustaches, they have authentic Nigel replicas on Amazon :lol: :p

[Driverdb]

Carlin Motorsports have signed Jaime Alguersuari. He's the third driver confirmed at Carlin so far and the second Red Bull development driver.

Alguersuari was this year's runner up in the Italian Formula Renault 2.0 championship and was fifth in the Eurocup.

http://www.driverdb.com/racingdriver3996.html

[Driverdb]

Carlin has now signed its fourth driver for 2008.

The fourth seat went to Australian 20-year-old Sam Abay who raced in the UK Formula BMW series this season and ended up in 8th place. In 2005 he raced the Asian Formula BMW where he was second.

Probably the weakest link in the strong Carlin lineup, but he might surprise now with a year's worth of track-knowledge . :)

[Harakimi]

Any idea of Marko Asmer, is he going to stay in F3 or change classes?

[Driverdb]

Any idea of Marko Asmer, is he going to stay in F3 or change classes?

Asmer's been in F3 longer than most of them and since he won the championship last year I don't really see him staying. It seems like a lack of money is the issue with Asmer though, so perhaps GP2 is a too expensive for him.

As he's got links in Japan perhaps Formula Nippon could be a good move as he might get paid to race there.

He has been testing DTM though lately so he might leave single seaters.

[Aussie]

DTM is a good option for him i reckon;) but i think he should be in gp2...

[Driverdb]

Hitech Racing has signed the young drivers Max Chilton and Walter Grubmüller for 2008. Both drivers will enter their second year in the series. Last year Max was too young to start in the beginning of the season but got his licence later on (for the second round if I remember correctly).

With Grubmüller born 1989 and Chilton 1991 I'm sure Hitech are looking for some more experience for their third seat.

Last year Asmer took the championship with Hitech but I don't really see any of these two repeat that success in this season.

[Driverdb]

Some silly season updates.

Atte Mustonen has been confirmed at Triple R, Sergio Perez for T-Sport and some National Class (running older cars) entries have been added.

A new team, called Litespeed, owned by Steve Kenchington and Nino Judge has aquired the rights to the SLC chassis and will enter into the National class (hopefully with two cars). According to rumours talks are in place with Formula Ford champion Callum McLeod and Irish driver Niall Quinn.

Sweden's Sebastian Hohenthal will confirm his plans for 2008 on Friday. Rumour has it that it's either taking over Asmer's seat at Hitech or stay with Fortec. Rumours about him joining the Japanese F3 championship have also been heard. If he stays with Fortec he would team up with fellow Swede Marcus Ericsson who will make his rookie season in F3 after winning the UK Formula BMW championship last year.

[Driverdb]

Two more cars ready for the National Class now as Fluid Motorsport has signed Justin Wilson's brother Stefan. Stefan Wilson cam second in the Formula Palmer Audi series last year. The second car will be driven by Jay Bridger who comes from the UK Formula Ford series.

[brendonhartleyfan]

Who do you predict will win the 2008 championship?

I'm going with my mate Brendon Hartley:finishfirst:

[Driverdb]

Who do you predict will win the 2008 championship?

I'm going with my mate Brendon Hartley:finishfirst:

Yeah, I'm not sure I'm willing to put any money against that bet. I'm hoping Hohenthal gets the Hitech seat, if that is the case I reckon he might pose a threat to the Carlin guys.

[Driverdb]

Seb Hohenthal stays with Fortec for 2008 and teams up with fellow Swede Marcus Ericsson and Canadian Philip Major. According to an interview Seb was offered rides with many of the teams but it boiled down to staying with Fortec or going to the 2007 champions Hitech. Hohenthal chose to stay with Fortec, for which he raced with since he started in Formula Renault 2005, as he felt so at home with the team.

[brendonhartleyfan]

Kristján Einar completes Carlin British F3 line-up and will drive in the national class.

Over the Northern Hemisphere winter he drove in New Zealand's Toyota Racing Series http://www.toyotaracing.co.nz/ A junior formula similer to that of Formula Reanult. All i'll say is out of the two meetings i went to he finished 2 of the 6 races (3 races per round) and the 2 finishes were last and second to last. i am not sure how he went at the other round he competed. But he did have to learn a new car and new tracks and there were only a handful of non-local drivers that had the same disadvantage

[Harakimi]

As a fellow Finn I'd like to see Atte Mustonen doing well, he drives for RRR and even looks like Kimi! :lol:

[saltysurprise]

As a fellow Finn I'd like to see Atte Mustonen doing well, he drives for RRR and even looks like Kimi! :lol:

Kimi at 14 maybe!:eek::lol: But yes they do look a lot alike. How old is Atte?? He looks barely old enough to drive:huh:

[Driverdb]

Kimi at 14 maybe!:eek::lol: But yes they do look a lot alike. How old is Atte?? He looks barely old enough to drive:huh:

He's actually as old as 19. :)