The Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series has slashed its calendar from 10 to four rounds for the 2013 season as a bid to attract drivers.
The coming season has seen very few drivers commit to the British championship with only three having official signed for the 2013 campaign, and survival action has been taken by the series organisers to turn the championship into a mini-series to attract budget-restricted drivers.
The revised British F3 championship will kick off at Silverstone’s Grand Prix circuit on May 25/26, before visiting Spa-Francorchamps to support the Spa 24 Hours on July 25-27, with its final two events taking place at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit (August 10/11) and the Nurburgring in Germany (September 21/22), the latter supporting the Blancpain Endurance Series.
The move is understood to have been made to attract teams from the European Formula 3 Championship to compete in these as extra events, allowing drivers on a limited budget to compete in the single-seater formula which has been a long-running stepping stone series towards Formula 1.
The events will each feature three races, all open to cars from the European F3 Open and the German F3 Cup.
The announcement means that the meetings scheduled to take place at Oulton Park, Snetterton, Donington and Paul Ricard are now no longer part of the calendar, as well as leaving the prestigious Pau Grand Prix without a headlining race.
2013 British F3 calendar:
25-26 May – Silverstone
25-27 July – Spa-Francorchamps
10-11 August – Brands Hatch
21-22 September – Nurburgring
