Tyre manufacturer Kumho is ready to extend its winning record in European Formula Three competition by taking victory in this weekend's prestigious Marlboro Masters event at Zandvoort.
The Korean company has not had too much of a fight on its hands in continental competition this season, since it signed up to be the exclusive supplier to the new Euroseries competition that sought to amalgamate the primary French, German and Italian national championships, and is the sole supplier of racing rubber to this weekend's 13th Masters event.
The biggest question, therefore, is which of the 49 entered drivers - heading to Holland from 20 countries - will take the crown, and succeed Brazilian Fabio Carbone as champion.
Among the star-studded entry are the ten best-placed drivers and various others from the highly successful F3 Euroseries, plus the ten best-placed drivers from the British Championship, the top seven from Italy and a further glittering array of international hopefuls drawn from other national series or making one-off returns to Zandvoort in search of the title.
The delegation from the Euroseries includes, among others, points leader Ryan Briscoe, who has starred this year with Italian team Prema, and youngsters such as Germans Markus Winkelhock and
Timo Glock, Austrian Christian Klien, French team-mates Olivier Pla and Alexandre Prémat, Finn
Nico Rosberg and Pole
Robert Kubica.
Briscoe was the dominant force in the series at the beginning of the year, but has found the flow of race wins stemmed by equally-ambitious rivals. Kubica made perhaps the biggest impact, winning his first race back after an pre-season accident that broke his arm, and has raised the stakes in the Prema camp by putting the pressure on Briscoe.
Premat, Glock and Klien have all added to the wins tally in the Euroseries, underlining its latent competitiveness, while Rosberg provides a unique counterpoint to the main event as he tangles with another son of a famous father.
