There is not long to go now before the eagerly awaited opening round of the 2005 British F3 International Series, which will take place at
Donington Park on April 2/3.
The 2005 season certainly looks likely to be one to remember; with the teams and drivers pulling together one of the strongest grids the championship has seen in several years, despite the difficult economic climate.
As ever, the grid is a multinational field, with drivers from all around the world - Brazil, Japan, USA, Denmark, Estonia, Mexico, Finland, Angola and Macau to name just a few countries.
There are also some familiar names returning, who raced in 2004. The Scholarship class winner of last year, Ryan Lewis, has moved up into the Championship class with T-Sport, as has his close contender from 2004, Stephen Jelley, who races with Menu F3 Motorsport this year.
James Walker switches from Hitech Racing to Fortec Motorsport, whilst Danilo Dirani moves from Carlin to P1 Motorsport, but Marko Asmer stays put with the Silverstone-based Hitech Racing squad.
One name that will undoubtedly stand out from the crowd this year is that of the nephew of the late
Ayrton Senna, Bruno Senna, who joins the series with yet another famous name, the new team formed by
F1 star Kimi Räikönnen and his manager, Steve Robertson - Räikönnen Robertson Racing.
In 2005, for the first time ever in the history of British Formula 3, there will be two female drivers on the starting grid. 22-year-old Susie Stoddart, who was fifth in the UK Formula Renault championship last year with Comtec, and a finalist in the
McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award, is racing for Alan Docking Racing.
Over at Carlin Motorsport the other female racer is former model Keiko Ihara from Japan, who is 31 years old and has in the past scored points in the French F3 championship.
