Prema adds lustre to new Regional F3

Top single-seater squad Prema Powerteam has committed to the new European Regional Formula 3 championship, which will kick off in 2019.

The news comes as no surprise ever since the FIA decided at last month’s World Motor Sport Council to give its approval for the first European Regional F3 series to the bid from the ACI, the Italian motorsport governing body that was acting on behalf of Italian Formula 4 promoter WSK.

WSK is understood to have had strong support from the Ferrari Driver Academy, which was also instrumental in launching the world’s first FIA F4 series in Italy in 2014. The FDA has since placed its F4 proteges with Prema, with Lance Stroll, Marcus Armstrong and Enzo Fittipaldi winning the Italian F4 titles of 2014, ’17 and ’18 with the squad as Ferrari juniors.

While Stroll and Armstrong graduated directly to the Formula 3 European Championship, the demise of that series for 2019 and its replacement with the new Formula 1-supporting FIA F3 Championship is likely to make a similar step more daunting for an F4 graduate, with the new breed of F3 cars producing 350bhp.

Regional F3 (right) would therefore be a more realistic destination for F4 graduates, and it would be logical for a driver such as Fittipaldi to move into this series.

Prema team principal Angelo Rosin (right of pic, below right) said: “It’s with great pleasure that we announce our entry in the European Regional Championship. As always, we want to support our young drivers in the most effective fashion and, by joining this series, we will provide them with a complete ladder towards Formula 1. We already showed our potential when joining new championships, and we are going to work hard to keep our banner high again.”

The series, which will carry a total prize fund of €200,000, has been confirmed for a five-year period, using the same Tatuus chassis and Autotecnica-tuned Alfa Romeo turbo engine from the new-for-2018 Asian F3. Rounds are tipped for Hungaroring,

Red Bull Ring, Hockenheim, Barcelona, Imola, Vallelunga, Monza and Mugello.