Fortec back on the British F3 grid

Fortec Motorsport returned to the BRDC British F3 Championship at Donington Park last weekend after missing the opening three rounds of the season.

The former category mainstay ran Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award winner Johnathan Hoggard to second in the championship in 2019, but missed the first three meetings of this year’s revised calendar after the COVID-19 pandemic forced drivers to change their plans.

The team’s return came with Brazilian Roberto Faria, who will contest the remainder of the F3 season instead of pursuing his British Formula 4 programme with the team, and Bentley Motorsport Academy driver Frank Bird.

“We are just preparing for next year,” said Faria, who was sixth in the British F4 standings before last weekend’s event at Thruxton. “The style that you drive this car is completely different. You can carry a lot more speed in the corner because you have the aero.”

Faria scored a best result of fifth in the reversed-grid race. Bird, who raced in the Formula Renault Eurocup last year, was taking the opportunity to get race-sharp ahead of a Spa 24 Hours outing next month.

Having qualified 12th, he was caught out in a first-lap incident in race one, but climbed to 10th in race three.