Frenchman Jim Pla has signed with ART for the 2010 Formula 3 Euro Series. The 17-year-old Formula BMW graduate will join Alexander Sims and Valtteri Bottas at ART.
This will likely be a two-year stop for Pla. He will have ample opportunity to develop this season and with teammates like Sims and Bottas, it goes without saying, he will be motivated every time out. He should do pretty well this season.
Pla spent last season in Formula BMW-Europe where he finished 5th in the final standings. He completed the year with 4 wins, 6 podiums and 10 top-tens. Ironically, all of his wins were consecutive (Rounds 11-14). He showed a lot of improvement in 2009. His average finish during the first half of the season was 10.43 (excluding his DNF at Silverstone). He improved greatly during the second half of the year averaging a finishing position of 2.29 (excluding his DNF at Monza). I expect that we will see the same trend in 2010 under the guidance of ART.
Edoardo Mortara has decided to take a slight step backwards in 2010 by returning to F3 competition after spending last year in the GP2-Asia and GP2-Main Series. After a somewhat disappointing season in GP2, Mortara returned to F3 last fall for the Macau Grand Prix. He drove a virtually flawless race and won the most prestigious Formula 3 event in the world… while driving for Signature. He finished runner-up at Macau in 2008.
He has since decided to return to the F3 Euro Series for a full season (again with Signature). It’s unfortunate that he wasn’t able to spend another season in GP2. The 23-year-old Italian is brimming with natural talent and deserved another campaign in GP2. Unfortunately, the funding never fell into place and he will return to the F3 Euro Series where he finished 2nd in 2008 (1 win, 6 podiums and 13 top-ten finishes).
With his proven track record in Formula 3 this might not be a bad move. If he can win the championship in 2010, one would assume that he will see some more doors at the GP2-level open up.
Last season, while racing in GP2, he won Race-2 during the opening weekend at Cataluyna. Perhaps his most impressive drive in GP2 came last September at Monza where he set the fastest lap of the race and improved 17 positions (22nd to 5th).
He also made a few starts in the World Series by Renault and earned a hard charger award in Round-11 at Le Mans for improving 15 positions in 31 laps. Watch for Mortara to do very well this season.
Prema Powerteam has signed both Daniel Juncadella and Nicolas Marroc for the 2010 Formula 3 Euro Series.
The addition of Juncadella to the roster for 2010 is pretty big. The 18-year-old Spaniard has done very well in Formula BMW—finishing 2nd in the 2009 Formula BMW-Europe championship (1 win, 7 podiums). In 2008—his first full-season in FBMW competition—he finished 4th overall in the Formula BMW-Europe championship (2 wins, 5 podiums). Today’s announcement was expected by many as Juncadella completed a very successful F3 test with Prema back in December.
Frenchman Nicolas Marroc, 23, has also signed with Prema to run the 2010 F3 Euro Series. Marroc spent the 2009 season in German F3. His best finish was 5th which occurred at Oschersleben in October. I’m not sure what to expect from Marroc in 2010. He has a decent amount of experience but he seems to lack consistency. Perhaps working with and running alongside Daniel Juncadella will compliment his skill-set. Time will tell.
The Formula 3 Euro Series released their 2010 calendar this morning. The current schedule features 9 stops (18-races). The season finale will be held at Hockenheimring in 2010 rather than Magny-Cours as originally announced.
The series has featured a 20-race schedule (10-Rounds) since its inception so it’s likely that the series administrators are waiting to see what kind of response the 16-race schedule gets prior to adding a 9th stop in 2010. (update: a 9th stop has been added … see above)
Without further ado, here is your 2010 F3 Euro Series Schedule:
F3 Euro Series: 2010 Calendar
April 9-11: LeCastellet
April 24-25: Hockenheimring
May 22-23: Valencia
July 3-4: Norisring
August 7-8: Nürburgring
August 21-22: Zandvoort
September 4-5: Brands Hatch
September 18-19: Oschersleben
October 15-17: Hockenheimring
It was announced last week that Colombian driver Carlos Munoz will drive for Mucke Motorsport in the 2010 Formula 3 Euro Series.
Carlos, 17, spent the 2009 season in the Formula Renault 2.0 category, driving in both the Eurocup and the WEC. He finished 8th overall in the Eurocup and 7th overall in the WEC. Munoz had 3-2nd place finishes in 2009 and 10-top-fives. He also added a little seat time in a F3 car via the European F3 Open Championship.
Munoz has always been very impressive in the karting ranks but has failed to really have a breakout year in cars… I have a feeling this may be his year. He will be teamed up with Roberto Merhi under the Mucke tent and the duo will likely push each other to be better race-in-and-race-out.
Alexander Sims, 21, signed with ART to compete in the 2010 Formula 3 Euro Series.
In 2009, his rookie year in the F3 Euro Series, he finished 4th overall in the championship driving for Mucke Motorsport. He ended the season with 1 win, 5 podiums, and 1 pole position. After looking at his results, his numbers put him inside the top-ten in 70% of his 2009 F3 Euro Series race starts. He finished runner-up on four occasions.
I’ve always been impressed by Sims and obviously ART has a good handle on the F3 Euro Series (winning the last six titles)… so, it sort of goes without saying, the combination looks good for 2010.
Antonio Felix da Costa has signed with Motopark Academy to compete in the 2010 Formula 3 Euro Series. It was announced earlier this week that the other two seats at Motopark Academy would be filled by Adrian Quaife-Hobbs and Matias Laine.
Da Costa was very impressive this season in Formula Renault 2.0 competition. The 18-year-old Portugese driver dominated the Formula Renault NEC (Northern European Cup), compiling 9 wins, 11 podiums, and 3 pole positions. Those numbers have him on the podium in 78.6% of his race starts. He also ran 14-races in the 2009 Formula Renault Eurocup, where he finished 3rd in the overall championship. In Eurocup competition, he claimed 4 wins, 10 podiums, and 3 pole positions. He should do very well next season in the F3 Euro Series.
Motopark Academy signed Adrian Quaife-Hobbs and Matias Laine for the 2010 Formula 3 Euro Series. The team plans to announce their third driver later this week. Both Quaife-Hobbs and Laine spent the 2009 season in the Formula Renault 2.0 category.
Motopark Academy also announced that they will be making the switch to Volkswagen power for the 2010 season.
Mucke Motorsport signed Roberto Merhi earlier today for 2010. Merhi drove for Manor Motorsport in 2009 but decided to make the move to Mucke in 2010 as Manor will be dropping their F3 Euro Series program to focus on GP3.
After the jump, I will add a few details on each driver and some thoughts on their career decision. [More]
Edoardo Mortara did everything he needed to do this weekend in Macau. The 22-year-old Italian had one option heading into this weekend; WIN. He did just that after the-always-impressive Jean-Karl Vernay made a rare mistake—missing a shift—- heading out of the Melco Hairpin. The error allowed his Signature teammate, Mortara, to slip by and take the win.
This was a big win for Mortara. The Italian made the move to GP2 competition this season where he started off winning in only his second career GP2-Main Series start (Cataluyna). Following his first GP2 win, he had a relatively uneventful year in GP2 competition. Last season, he finished 2nd in the 2008 F3 Euro Series and 2nd in the 2008 F3 Macau Grand Prix. Determined to keep his goal of having an open-wheel racing career alive, he set-out to win the Macau Grand Prix in 2009. He did just that by crossing the stripe 1.146 seconds ahead of Jean-Karl Vernay. Sam Bird, driving for ART, had a solid run to finish 3rd claiming the final podium spot.
It was a big weekend for Volkswagen power as well, VW claimed the top-two spots in the world’s most prestigious F3 race. Yesterday’s win marked the first time Volkswagen has won the Macau Grand Prix since their return to F3 competition. They last won in Macau with Michael Schumacher behind the wheel of a West WTS Racing-Volkswagen powered F3 car in 1990. Overall this was a pretty solid year for Volkswagen as they also swept the F3 Euro Series round at Brands Hatch in September.
Speaking of the F3 Euro Series, this year’s Macau Grand Prix podium was filled with F3ES competitors. (see above)
Trevor Carlin, who owns Carlin Motorsport or Carlin, as it’s now known, announced this morning that the team will no longer compete in the Formula 3 Euro Series. Instead, they will focus on GP3 in 2010.
The team was recently restructured when Capsicum Motorsport invested a lump sum of money into the team. Capsicum Motorsport is owned by Max and Tom Chilton’s father; Grahame Chilton.
