Formula Renault Eurocup frontrunner Carlo van Dam has set his sights on a seat in the F3 Euroseries next year, buoyed by another successful test with Prema Powerteam, this time at Vallelunga.

The Dutchman, a former karting star, used the Prema test to build on an equally successful outing with Signature Plus at Magny-Cours, and earlier runs with the Italian squad at Magione and Hockenheim, improving his times consistently during the afternoon to out-pace Italian 'team-mate' Alessandro Ciompi after sitting out much of the morning waiting for fog to clear from the circuit.

The morning was used to get some pointers to the Vallelunga layout and test suspension and damper settings, but progress once the fog had lifted was slow as the dusty surface was also being used by slower cars and runs were interrupted by red flags. However, the Dutchman set a decent time on used tyres and enjoyed better fortune after the lunch break, upping the pace in the course of 60 laps to clock a min 1min 30.5secs best. He then tried to improve his times on new tyres at the end of the afternoon, but two red flags prevented a meaningful lap from being completed, leaving him to settle for his earlier mark.

"I had a great day although, unfortunately, we lost a lot of valuable track time because of the persistent fog," the 20-year old reported, "The team had put together a full schedule for me, which I had to work through at record pace, because I only had four hours of effective track time.

"Taking the track conditions into consideration, I managed to set a reasonable fast time. I think I could have gone below 1min 30secs easily, but the red flags forced me to abort my runs."

The Vallelunga outing was the last scheduled F3 test for van Dam this year, but the driver and his management will continue to work on the details needed to land a seat in the 2007 Euroseries.

"I think that F3 is, at this point, the best option to get further in my career," the Dutchman admitted, despite having tested GP2 and WSbR machinery in the past, "After my Formula Renault successes in recent years, a switch to this series is a logical choice. Many drivers that ended up in F1 have got there via this route. The next couple of months will now be about financial and sporting matters, and we hope to have things clear as soon as possible. We are really going for it!"