With six victories to his tally and an advantage of 32 points, Australian Ryan Briscoe could mathematically claim the first championship title of the Formula 3 Euro Series this weekend at the circuit of Zandvoort in the Netherlands.
Motor racing though is anything but an exact science. With eight different winners since the start of the season, the opponents of the Prema Powerteam driver are determined to keep the title race open.
The Dutch circuit, venue for the eighth round of the season, has already hosted the majority of the drivers of the Formula 3 Euro Series at the occasion of the Marlboro Masters.
An event that was dominated by the drivers from this championship, notably with the victory of Austrian Christian Klien. The latter retains an excellent second place in the provisional championship standings. After winning the German Formula Renault championship title, the Mücke Motorsport driver has established himself as the best-placed rookie and the main challenger of points leder Briscoe. A bit disappointed for not having scored a podium finish in front of his home crowd during the most recent round at the A1-Ring in Austria, Klien's only objective is to achieve the same result as during the Masters.
But the young Austrian is not the only one wanting to break the domination of the Toyota F1-test driver. Olivier Pla - third in the championship - will remember that he finished on the podium at the Masters 2002, while his ASM team-mate Alexandre Premat did well in the championship, moving up from seventh to fourth place after his two podium finishes in Austria.
Brazilian Fabio Carbone must find the way back to the podium if he still wants to keep upright his chances of winning the title. Having been second in the championship for a long time, the driver of the Signature Plus team is now in sixth place. But the protégé of the Renault Driver Development programme has won the 2002 edition of the Masters and seems particularly motivated for this weekend.
