by Russell Atkins

Recently-crowned Formula BMW UK Champion Marcus Ericsson is confident of being a title challenger in his debut British F3 season in 2008, underlining he feels 'completely at home' at Fortec Motorsport.

The Swedish teenager – managed by former Indy 500 winner Kenny Bräck – made the jump up from karting into single-seaters only this year, and stunned the opposition by crushing his rivals en route to the crown. Now he wants to do it all over again in F3.

“I thought [F3] was going to be a big step,” Ericsson admitted, speaking to Crash.net during testing at Spa, “but right from the very first day in the car I was setting quite quick lap times. It is a big step in the fact corners, but you get used to it quite quickly and after that you just try to go as fast as possible. The most important thing is simply to improve your technique in the car and hone your driving style.”

The 17-year-old certainly seemed to enjoy his experience at Spa, and also acknowledged the benefits of remaining with Fortec – the team with which he triumphed in Formula BMW – as he prepares to embark on his F3 racing baptism next spring.

“It's always nice to test at Spa,” he enthused, “with all the history behind the circuit. Eau Rouge in the wet was a challenge. Obviously we only did two days and it was wet for both of them which made things hard, and of course it's better to have dry running, but I like the track and it was good fun.

“My engineer and I are working very well together, and it feels like my driving is improving all the time. Fortec is a good team, and they make the driver feel completely at home. It's perfect and I'm very happy to be here.

“I think it's going to be a really hard championship next year, with so many good teams like Carlin, Triple R and Hitech, but I think we are going to be up there.”