F3 Euro Series 2006 Silly Season

[jondownunder]

With the possible Brands round I'm taking more of an interest than usual at this time of year in the F3 Euro Series... does anyone have any news/rumours to add to the following?

HBR (4 cars; 2 Dallara-Mercedes, 2 Dallara-Opel)
*Possible: Alejandro Nunez? (according to team)
*Opel cars will go to drivers in the F3 Euro Series Trophy, for drivers 22 or younger.

Manor Motorsport (Dallara-Mercedes)
*Confirmed: Kohei Hirate
*Confirmed: Kazuki Nakajima

Mucke Motorsport
*Possible: Sebastien Buemi? Sabrina Hungerbuhler? (both tested)

Prema Powerteam
*Possible: Pascal Kochem? Joao Urbano? Nicolas Hulkenberg? Franck Perera? (all tested; Perera I think only to prepare for Macau)

Signature/Signature Plus
*Confirmed: Guillaume Moreau
*Confirmed (I think): Romain Grosjean
*Confirmed (I think): Laurent Groppi

Sources: f3euroseries.com, italiaracing.net

Any news on the other 2005 teams - ASM, Team Rosberg, Midland, Holzer, ISR? Any new teams possible? Will Signature again run an SLC?

[FIRE]

Team Rosberg will not race in F3 Euro Series.

[jondownunder]

So is the rumour of them returning to DTM true? If not, what else will they do after A1 GP?

[kipper]

There were also rumours that Midland were defecting to the British Series.

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by jondownunder

So is the rumour of them returning to DTM true? If not, what else will they do after A1 GP?

There are rumours that they enter DTM with some Audi's, but it's still uncertain if there's DTM next season. Rosberg leaves the Euro Series because of the high costs (so maybe they enter German F3?).

[flor]

Originally Posted by FIRE

(so maybe they enter German F3?).

i doubt it, i think they will need all their people for DTM and FBMW

btw there will be Dallara, Martini, Lola and possibly even Mygale chassis in next years Recaro Cup

[Marcel ten Caat]

According to a short newsflash 'Kurz Notiert' Team Midland has confirmed they will move to the German F3 series.

Maximilian Götz is confirmed with ASM i thought.
Signature will enter 2 cars for sure, 3rd and 4th depending on budget.
Prema enters 3 cars again.
Sebastien Vettel is with Mücke, alongside Buemi?

[Daisy]

ASM will return for sure. I hope Götz will race for them, he deserves a good seat. Vd Garde is also in talks with them. I though Urbano was doing F3 with Carlin?

I think there will be some good drivers again, but the grid won't be large. Shame.

[strider]

Yes, I've heard Urbano's name linked with Carlin, too.

I don't speak German, but this is the article about the Midland Junior team.

I thought Vettel was going to ASM?

[Marcel ten Caat]

Translation try:
'With the Midland Junior Team another big F3 team joins the Recaro F3 Cup. Midland was running in the F3 Euroseries and is now looking for a change. 'We participated in the F3 Cup's 2005 season finale and have been persuaded that an outstanding series is growing there''. Miland plans to run two Dallara F305. One driver is as good as confirmed, with the 2nd driver negotiations are going positively.'

[JF3]

Does someone have the information about Kamui Kobayashi double winner of FR2.0 Euro and Italia championhsip?

According to the Japanese magazine, he wants to participate in a F3 Euro Series.
I think that he is the best Japanese driver of this year.

[bella]

he won with prema, didn't he? so i suppose they'll be his first stop for a euroseries drive.

[strider]

It seems that another Italian team, Ombra Racing, who ran Paolo Montin in Macau, are joining the Midland Junior Team in switching to the German F3 Recaro Cup. See here for the story.

[winny]

Well here are the changes I know about:

- ASM: 3 cars with Sebastian Vettel, Kamui Kobayashi and a third one... rumors about Di resta...

- Manor: The 2 japanese drivers from the TDP (Toyota Drivers Program) -> Hirate and Nakajima ( i wonder why they didn't try and put Kobayashi together as the TDP drivers has almost always been in the same team (except last year with Hirate and Perera).

- Signature/Signature Plus: Probably 4 cars with Romain Grosjean, Guillaume Moreau and Laurent Groppi from what i've heard... don't know about any one else.

- HBR: 4 cars with 2 opel ones and 2 mercedes (as said previously) and Alejandro Nunez is linked there too.

- Prema : Probably 3 cars and they switch to mercedes. About drivers no more TDP there i guess but they tested drivers like Urbano, Kochem and Hulkenberg (the test where there was also Briscoe and Perera but they obviously won't be doing f3 again...).

- Mucke: Sabrina Hungerbuhler and Sebastien Buemi (FBMW 2nd in championship) tested recently.

The 2006 calendar should also change a bit:

No Monaco race unfortunately...
Here is what it should be:

Hockenheim
Spa
Istanbul
Brands Hatch
Norisring
Nurburgring
Le Mans
Barcelona
Hockenheim
(This should be the DTM calendar too)

(one is missing...i've heard about Magny Cours with some other category and not dtm but not sure at all...).

And of course there are also the International races like Zandvoort and Macau.

[flor]

Originally Posted by winny

- Prema : Probably 3 cars and they switch to mercedes. About drivers no more TDP there i guess but they tested drivers like Urbano, Kochem and Hulkenberg (the test where there was also Briscoe and Perera but they obviously won't be doing f3 again...).

Hülkenberg doesnt have the money for an Euroseries cockpit, he might end up in German F3 with a Mygale car.

[winny]

Originally Posted by flor

Hülkenberg doesnt have the money for an Euroseries cockpit, he might end up in German F3 with a Mygale car.

Well maybe he can find some sponsors, he is the FBMW german champion after all... I think he has shown he deserves a euroseries cockpit.
Anyway we'll see about him but I'm sure we'll be seeing him around next year even if he doesn't have the money right now.

[winny]

Holzer tested the new Opel engine in Spain at Albacete and Jerez for 2 weeks. The drivers were Thomas Holzer and Tim Sandtler.
The engine had been tested in secret in october and they would have brought it to Macao but Opel didn't want Prema and Signature to profit of it since they are switching to Mercedes in 2006.

What do you think about this engine? Do you think they have made any progress? They say it's a Spiess 2l 16v Z18-XER of the Astra series.

[jens on buttom]

the engine is really fast. spiess spend a lot of money to beat mercedes and a mercedes engineerer said, that they improved tha engine that they could beat mercedes. this men is working with spiess now. holzer, one of the biggest tuner in car-tuner in germany who makes a lot of money, is pushing spiess, too. the engine will not be the problem next saison, but all good teams are using mercedes and they will have the best drivers

[jondownunder]

According to italiaracing.net, a new team of Bas Leinders will enter Michael Herck in a Dallara-Mercedes; they are looking for a second driver.

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by jondownunder

According to italiaracing.net, a new team of Bas Leinders will enter Michael Herck in a Dallara-Mercedes; they are looking for a second driver.

This was already made public a few months ago.

[jondownunder]

Originally Posted by FIRE

This was already made public a few months ago.

True, they say it was announced in September, but it was the first I'd heard about it, and no-one had mentioned it on this thread.

[jondownunder]

The official announcement:
http://www.basleinders.be/wwwf1/page...fm?id_news=223

[concetta]

Originally Posted by winny

Well here are the changes I know about:

- ASM: 3 cars with Sebastian Vettel, Kamui Kobayashi and a third one... rumors about Di resta...

- Manor: The 2 japanese drivers from the TDP (Toyota Drivers Program) -> Hirate and Nakajima ( i wonder why they didn't try and put Kobayashi together as the TDP drivers has almost always been in the same team (except last year with Hirate and Perera).

- Signature/Signature Plus: Probably 4 cars with Romain Grosjean, Guillaume Moreau and Laurent Groppi from what i've heard... don't know about any one else.

- HBR: 4 cars with 2 opel ones and 2 mercedes (as said previously) and Alejandro Nunez is linked there too.

- Prema : Probably 3 cars and they switch to mercedes. About drivers no more TDP there i guess but they tested drivers like Urbano, Kochem and Hulkenberg (the test where there was also Briscoe and Perera but they obviously won't be doing f3 again...).

- Mucke: Sabrina Hungerbuhler and Sebastien Buemi (FBMW 2nd in championship) tested recently.

The 2006 calendar should also change a bit:

No Monaco race unfortunately...
Here is what it should be:

Hockenheim
Spa
Istanbul
Brands Hatch
Norisring
Nurburgring
Le Mans
Barcelona
Hockenheim
(This should be the DTM calendar too)

(one is missing...i've heard about Magny Cours with some other category and not dtm but not sure at all...).

And of course there are also the International races like Zandvoort and Macau.

I agree with you

[concetta]

Originally Posted by jondownunder

According to italiaracing.net, a new team of Bas Leinders will enter Michael Herck in a Dallara-Mercedes; they are looking for a second driver.

If it's so, I'm sorry for new team of Bas Leinders ...
Why? Because Michael Herck's father is total crazy
In F.Renault Monza two years ago, if his son don't push good in monoplace don't eat in lunch time !!!!
This is for André Herck, real crazy man: smilie overload edited
you can see all the gag in Autosprint or www.stopandgo.tv archive
He is total CRAZYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

[jondownunder]

Originally Posted by concetta

This is for André Herck, real crazy man: smilie overload edited
you can see all the gag in Autosprint or www.stopandgo.tv archive
He is total CRAZYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Could you direct me to that please, I'd like to see the video/photo (?) I'll have to look out for Mr Herck at Brands