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Mclaren Formula 1 test and reserve driver Sergio Sette Camara will switch to DAMS for his third season of Formula 2 in 2019. He couldn’t repeat the race win he achieved with MP Motorsport in 2017 after moving to series returnee Carlin for ’18, but matched his Mclaren F1 bound team-mate Lando Norris for pace and finished sixth in the championship… David Beckmann will drive for ART Grand Prix in the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2019. He endured a difficult start in the GP3 Series this season with Jenzer Motorsport, having switched to the series after two campaigns in European Formula 3. But a move to Trident Racing for the fifth round of the season in Hungary brought success, and Beckmann scored three wins, a second place and two pole positions on his way to fifth in the standings… Lucas Ordonez, the first winner of gamer-to-racer contest GT Academy, is ending his decade-long relationship with Nissan. The 33-year-old was the first-ever graduate of the Nissanbacked GT Academy, back in 2008, which was designed to take the top players from the Playstation-exclusive video game franchise Gran Turismo and turn them into professional racing drivers. Ordonez enjoyed a 10-year career with Nissan that has included five Le Mans 24 Hours starts, outings in the Nurburgring 24 Hours, and spells in Super GT and the Blancpain GT Series… Grand Tour test driver Abbie Eaton, who has made clear her intention to run in Super2 next season as a springboard into Supercars by 2021, will stay in Australia beyond Christmas as she searches for the required budget. She also completed her second test in a Supercars machine earlier this month in an outing with Matt Stone Racing at Queensland Raceway.
The MG Car Club has been working with MG Motor UK to develop a new MG3 racer in a bid to bring more modern cars into the club.
The first example of the race-ready MG3 will be built by interns at SAIC Motor Technical Centre UK – an offshoot of MG’S owner – at Longbridge and will race in the invitational class of the MG Cup. If there’s sufficient interest, a full standalone series is planned for 2020.
“The main reason for doing it is twofold,” said MGCC general manager Adam Sloman. “First, it’s to get a current MG on the grid with us. Right through our history we’ve always had a current MG as part of our package. Since Mg-rover collapsed we’ve not had anything [new] since the ZR.
“MG Motor have had to establish a dealer network and brand and made a significant investment in top-level motorsport with touring cars so clublevel racing wasn’t a priority for them.
“Also, one of the main areas the club is looking to engage with is young members. We wanted to work with MG so that we can create something that is affordable and accessible to young people. If you’re a first-time driver, the ZR 190 could be a bit too much. But a 105bhp MG3 that’s quite closely related to the road car is something that’s more accessible.”
Sloman says that prospective drivers can pick up an early accident-damaged model for between £2000 and £3000 making it cost-effective to enter.
“The idea is by this time next year we would’ve built enough cars to write a set of regulations for its own series,” Sloman added. “We’ve had some interest from some universities about building cars.”