The breeding ground for future
Formula One stars, the British F3 championship, holds its first round of 2005 this weekend at the East Midlands circuit of
Donington Park.
Crash.net previews the season opener.
It is, of course, a very different season we see this year, as the British F3 championship adds
International to its title, to recognise the fact that it heads to such exotic locations as Italy, Germany and Belgium rather than Norfolk (and Kent and Cheshire) this year.
All MotorSport Vision circuits are omitted from the series, so that means no
Oulton Park,
Snetterton or Brands, but series organisers SRO have drafted in some pretty high class replacements in the form of Monza, Nurburgring and Spa. If they’re good enough for Formula One… The series does also visit Mondello Park, however, and it’s fair to say that particular venue isn’t quite of an
F1 standard. A tad more paint Paddy…
Contesting the series this year is an interesting field of drivers from far and wide across the globe. There’s even girls racing in the form of Japanese model, Keiko Ihara and Susie Stoddart.
Starting with ladies first, Ihara joins the Carlin squad and brings backing from Ivy Cosmetics. Don’t expect too many of the Carlin team members to decorate themselves with makeup to celebrate the victories however, as Ihara hasn’t stared in testing, but she certainly adds an extra dimension and exposure to the series.
Susie Stoddart joins the Alan Docking Racing team and is hopeful of glory against the boys. “I think you've got to just get in with the boys and prove yourself and ultimately forget that you're a girl in a man's world,” she told
Crash pre-season, and she certainly isn’t scared of the wheel to wheel racing involved.
