Photo: SRO / Dirk Bogaerts Photography

The entry lists for the upcoming 2024 Motorsport Games have been published, with many rising stars heading to Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit this weekend.

Drivers represent nations at the event, with centrally run fleets of cars and karts. For the Formula 4 Cup, the second-generation Tatuus T-421 will be used and there will be 22 cars on track centrally operated by one team.

Qualifying on Saturday morning will set the grid for a 20-minute qualification race, then the results of that set the grid for the medal-awarding half-hour main race.

From F4 Central European Zone are reigning champion Oscar Wurz (Austria) and race-winning rival Max Karhan (Czech Republic), and with experience of Valencia from Spanish F4 are Andres Cardenas (Peru), Juan Cota (Spain), Yevan David (Sri Lanka), Francisco Macedo (Portugal), Griffin Peebles (Australia), Matus Ryba (Slovakia) and Gino Trappa (Argentina).

There is also British F4 race-winner Reza Seewooruthun (Great Britain), French F4 race-winner Chester Kieffer (Luxembourg), Brazilian F4 points leader Matheus Comparatto (Brazil) and USF Juniors race-winner Ariel Elkin (Israel).

Kaishun Liu, who has been runner-up in the Chinese F4 championship for the last two seasons, will be representing Hong Kong and coming from Japanese F4 will be Tosei Moriyama.

There will be 36 drivers competing in the senior class of karting at the Motorsport Games, and the same in the junior class.

Drivers to look out for in the senior class are Danish ex-Formula 1 driver Jan Magnussen’s son Luca, who is looking to race in GB4 next year, Romania’s David Cosma Cristofor and Sweden’s Leo Nilsson.

Cosma won the Trofeo Andrea Margutti, was ROK Superfinal runner-up, fourth in the CIK-FIA World championship, fifth in the South Garda Winter Cup, seventh in WSK’s Euro Series and Super Master Series when in junior karting, and on OK karts this year has come 10th in WSK SMS, 13th in Champions of the Future and 22nd in the CIK-FIA European championship.

Nilsson was 28th in the World championship for OK Junior karts in 2022, and on OK karts has come 15th in the South Garda Winter Cup and 17th in the European championship.

Bosco Arias (Spain), Arjen Kraling (Germany) and Iskender Zulfikari (Turkey) are three of the likely victory contenders in the junior class at Valencia.

Last year Arias starred in mini karting, and since stepping up to OK-J has come fifth in WSK’s Euro Series, eighth in the European championship, 12th in WSK SMS and 23rd in the World championship.

Kraling was eighth in the WSK Euro Series and World championship, ninth in CotF and 16th in WSK SMS.

Zulfikari was the most successful driver in the world on Mini karts in 2023, and won the ROK Superfinal on his junior karting debut.

The Motorsports Games will also have an Esports component that includes F4. Competing for honours there are French F4 race-winner Frank Porte Ruiz (Andorra), US F4 Esports champion Muhammad Ibrahim (India) and British F4 Esports title contender Matt Caruana (United Kingdom).

The post Entry lists for 2024 Motorsport Games revealed appeared first on Formula Scout.

The car currently dubbed the Formula IR-04, which in the real world is known as the Tatuus T-421, will be called an FIA F4 car as of next month when iRacing’s 2023 Season 3 release takes place.

During the global lockdown periods of the COVID-19 pandemic, the British F4 championship’s iRacing Trophy was held twice using a digital version of the Dallara F317 Formula 3 car. The trophy got given championship status by Britain’s motorsport governing body in 2022, and switched to using the IR-04/T-421 that was introduced in the real world that year.

“This partnership with iRacing is an important step for grassroots motorsport development,” said the FIA’s single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis.

“The virtual racing space is a key area for the FIA in its goal to double global participation in motorsport, both as a discipline in its own right and as a route into real-world competition. The next generation of racing drivers is already highly engaged in this arena, which removes many of the historical barriers to entry by being low-cost and easily accessible, opening up possibilities to increase diversity and engagement in new and emerging markets.

“F3 championships, certified by FIA, represent the first step for drivers to move from karting to car racing, and to have a highly-respected industry-leading partner in iRacing bringing this global framework online is fantastic news.”

iRacing president Tony Gardner added: “With many FIA national ASNs already running events through iRacing, this alliance will only further expand opportunities for the future stars of motorsport to get their start through sim racing. In addition to iRacing’s new FIA F4 Challenge, iRacing and the FIA are discussing additional eSport plans for the future.”

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Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

The third edition of the Virtual Le Mans 24 Hours is taking place next weekend, and will feature 14 junior single-seater racers.

During the first global lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Le Mans 24 Hours organiser ACO approved and helped run the inaugural edition of the Esports race, which had a 50-car entry list and was won by Rebellion Williams.

The official Le Mans Virtual Series has run since, and the final round of the 2021-22 season was the 24-hour race. One of the drivers of the winning car, entered by crack Esports squad Team Redline, was Felipe Drugovich.

Since then he has won the Formula 2 title and become Aston Martin’s first ever Formula 1 junior, and he is back to defend his victory in one of Redline’s LMP2 cars.

In the sister car is GB3 champion and Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award winner Luke Browning, who will be sharing driving duties with three other drivers including reigning F1 world champion Max Verstappen.

Vanwall, a former F1 manufacturer whose name has recently been revived by the ByKolles team to compete in sportscars, has FIA Formula 3 stars Franco Colapinto and Jonny Edgar in its two cars, while Alpine is fielding its two juniors Victor Martins and Olli Caldwell in the same entry.

Panis Racing has Formula Regional race-winner Pierre-Louis Chovet, GR eSports has signed Team USA scholar Andre Castro and Fordzilla has brought in British Formula 4 racer Georgi Dimitrov.

There are more junior stars in the GTE class, with Super Formula-bound FRegional Americas champion Raoul Hyman driving for Proton Coanda Esports in a virtual Porsche 911 RSR.

Red Bull Racing will also be using that car for its own team, and among the drivers is its junior Ayumu Iwasa who is currently racing in F2.

For the second year running, German automotive parts company Mahle is fielding its own Esports team and once again has W Series star Beitske Visser in its BMW M8, while SF Velas and Romain Grosjean’s R8G team are both using Ferrari 488s and have hired F2-bound Ferrari junior Ollie Bearman and FIA F3 race-winner Alexander Smolyar respectively.

The post Alpine, Ferrari and Red Bull enter their F1 juniors into Virtual Le Mans appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Max Esterson has been one of the stars of UK single-seater racing over the last two years. Formula Scout spoke to him about his 2022 GB3 season and how Esports and FFord have helped his development

2022 was a year that ended with mixed emotions for Esterson. Having shone in his first season of GB3 with Douglas Motorsport, he returned to the Formula Ford 1600 category with unfinished business and went one better than his 2021 result by winning the FFord Festival. But he was left, in his words, with “a bitter taste” after a post-race penalty denied him a second consecutive Walter Hayes Trophy triumph two weeks later.

Despite the controversial ending, his performances at the two showpiece FF1600 events were unquestionably impressive. Next year he will race with Fortec Motorsports for a second assault at GB3, where we will be aiming to build on a 2022 campaign that included a win in just his third weekend. 

“Pretty up and down,” the 20-year-old tells Formula Scout after finishing seventh in the GB3 standings. “I would have liked a bit more consistency. To be honest, out of the whole field I was probably the one who was making the biggest step up from what I was doing last year and just from my career in general.”

After making a slightly inconspicuous start to his first GB3 campaign at Oulton Park, Esterson hit form in round two at Silverstone with a pair of fourth places. He then took his first podium next time out at Donington Park before converting pole into a maiden win in race two. He then added a further podium finish during a strong weekend at Spa-Francorchamps.

“The first round was tricky at Oulton Park and I think it’s the most difficult circuit,” he says. “I’ve always struggled a bit there, so I knew that one would be a bit tough. But the next weekend at Silverstone two fourths, and a third and first at Donington was fantastic. And obviously Spa, on the podium, was great.”

The final three rounds of the season proved more tricky, as he was left battling towards the lower end of the top 10, and he was further hampered by incidents in two of the reversed-grid races.

“I don’t think we’ve been too far [off],” he reflects. “It’s just you need everything working exactly right, driver, car, conditions, you need everything to work in your favour. I wish I had a clear answer why I wasn’t up front but that’s how it is sometimes. Considering the step up I should be pretty proud of what I’ve done, but I wanted a bit more.”

Esterson’s background is different to many of his rivals in GB3, having started out in Esports before making a successful transition into real-world racing.

“To be honest it was never really a thought,” Esterson says of his childhood years growing up in New York. “Real racing for me was something to spectate or to go watch on TV, it was never a thought that I’d get into a car, or even a kart. It’s just something that I’d watch. So it was sort of an afterthought. 

“I think on the sim I started at nine or 10 on iRacing. Then maybe when I was 13 or 14 I realised I was getting quite good, and then ended up in the top 50 in the world on iRacing. I was competing in what they call the Pro Series on there.

“I didn’t get into a kart until I was almost 16, so definitely a late start. One summer I went to a karting summer camp for two or three days and realised it’s a lot of fun.”

With relatively little karting experience before stepping up into single-seaters, sim racing has formed the foundation for his driving skills, and he says some of the techniques learned have helped him in adapting quickly.

“Yeah, a lot,” he reveals. “The mechanics of the cars, different braking techniques and how it affects the car. Just see how the car responds to different things: throttle, brake, how aggressive you are. When I started [racing real cars] that was my knowledge base because I didn’t have much in karting. And the tracks, I know every track.

“That was my starting point, that’s what I was going off and it seems to have worked pretty well, so I picked it up quite quickly.”

It’s not just the technical side of sim racing that has been transferrable for Esterson. Having competed at the top level on the iRacing platform, with a class victory in the Sebring 12 Hours among his sim racing accolades, he says the mental aspect of dealing with pressure has proved beneficial.

“The mental side of being in races, battling, is there, it’s real,” he says. “The heart rate is up when you are on the grid on iRacing, it’s the same feeling, the same nerves. It’s super competitive. Over 100,000 people, so the pool of talent is much larger. The top levels of iRacing are insane, how competitive they are.”

Esterson continues to receive backing from iRacing in his real-world career, and he uses the platform as part of his pre-race weekend preparation, which not only involves getting his eye in for each track but also working on technical and mental aspects of his performance.

“They don’t have the exact car [of GB3 in iRacing] so you can’t compare apples to apples, but just getting my eye in is the big thing. It’s a similar speed, even a bit quicker the car I’m using in the sim, so just to have the references coming at you [helps]. 

“Also making sure you are working on things that you learned last time you tested at the track, working on those in the sim. 

“I also try to work on consistency, or set a timer to make it so you are under pressure, like you need to put a lap in in qualifying, something like that, it’s useful to use it that way.”

Esterson’s car racing career started in 2020 in the United States’ national F1600 Championship Series, which uses wingless cars similar to FFord. He finished fifth in the standings, despite missing the last four races, and claimed one win and three pole positions with Team Pelfrey. Esterson also made a winning cameo in the winged F2000 series. At the end of that year he had his first taste of racing in Britain at the FFord Festival and WHT, and found the Kent-powered Ray car better to drive than the US’s Honda-powered Mygale equivalent.

Photo: Ida Wood

“The car is correct, it’s light, the tyres are right. And I think maybe the tracks are better suited over here than they are in the US, but I think a lot of it is just the engine and tyre combo.

“I still think they are the most fun cars to drive. I’ve driven FIA Formula 3, Euroformula, and I still think the FFord is the most fun. A great class, just so nice to be able to race closely. And it’s super-aggressive. The races are the best you’ll see anywhere, a lot of fun.”

Remaining in the category in 2021 with Low Dempsey Racing, Esterson won twice en-route to third in BRSCC National FF1600, remaining in title contention until the final round.

“It was big,” Esterson recalls. “The season was good, to win a couple of races and always be in the fight for the lead. But I always seemed to come up a bit short for the most part. I was always there in the battle for the lead, but I didn’t capitalise as many times as I could have really.”

Having been selected by the Team USA Scholarship, Esterson starred at the two end-of-year showpiece events. After a set-up issue hampered him in his semi-final of the FFord Festival, he climbed from the seventh row to finish second in the final. A week later, he won his heat, semi-final and then the final at the Walter Hayes, a feat he feels was vital for his career.

“I knew I had two more [events] to go, so it was important. The Festival, I dominated the first half of the weekend, and it was a disaster in the semi, pretty awful. I went from first to seventh in like eight laps or something, so that put me 13th on the grid. It was just all or nothing in the final, and I almost did it. I was disappointed.

“And then the Hayes, obviously, was great. I had to win it really, it was a must. Obviously it’s nice to win the last race of the year, it’s kind of the one everyone remembers.”

Photo: Ida Wood

He put the same pressure on himself to perform on his return to FF1600 late this year, after the results had tailed off in the second half of his GB3 season, and he feels his triumph in the shortened Festival final provided a timely confidence boost.

“After finishing second last year it was a dream come true.  I think we all know now I still have it. It helps, it’s all about confidence, it’s half the game.”

Despite losing his on-the-road win last month in the final of the WHT, Esterson put his name firmly back on the map with his recent FF1600 performances and it demonstrated both his abilities and also the high esteem the entry-level category is still held in by the motorsport world. And he will likely continue to make headlines in GB3 next season, where he will be aiming to add more trophies to the cabinet.

More from FFord
The big talking points from the Walter Hayes Trophy weekend
National FF1600 returns to Northern Ireland, drops Wales for 2023
Was the FFord Festival’s farcical finish avoidable?
Two drivers escape horror crash at Festival
Podcast: The young Festival drivers coming from across the globe

The post How Esports and FFord helped Max Esterson become a GB3 race-winner appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

The British Formula 4 championship will have an official Esports counterpart for the third year running with the announcement of a six-round series taking place this Autumn.

During the global lockdown periods of the COVID-19 pandemic, the British F4 iRacing Trophy was twice held. Now it has been upgraded to championship status by Britain’s motorsport governing body and organiser Motorsport UK, and will use iRacing’s digital version (dubbed the Formula IR-04) of the Tatuus T-421 that British F4 introduced this year.

There will be 12 races over six rounds, with the season opener being run on Donington Park’s National layout on the evening of October 14, the week after the 2022 British F4 season concludes.

Round two of the Esports championship is a week after round one and is at Oulton Park, then there is a gap before the next two rounds at Knockhill (November 4) and Snetterton (November 11). Drivers have a week off again before racing on Silverstone’s National layout on November 25 and Brands Hatch’s full Grand Prix layout on December 2.

Each team will be able to field two drivers, with the intention of Esports stars signing up rather than current F4 racers, and there will be a total prize pot of £6,000 to be won. All of the races will be broadcast live on YouTube.

The first British F4 iRacing Trophy began in April 2020, but was based around a digital version of the Dallara F317 Formula 3 car.

Chris Lulham was crowned ahead of Fortec Motorsports team-mate Luke Browning, the real-world 2020 champion, and his prize was a waived entry free for a British F4 round. However he did not use it.

The second season began in January 2021 and had the same prize and used the same car, but there were two classifications and therefore two champions as drivers either scored points as simulator racing specialists or as real-world racers. Pablo Lopez won the Pro-Sim classification, and Browning was champion from the class of usual British F4 drivers.

Earlier this year there was another Esports contest that British F4 aligned itself with: the ROKiT Racing Star series.

It was on the Raceroom sim racing software rather than iRacing, used first-generation Tatuus F4 cars, and werehadseperate races for boys and girls.

The best drivers after five events were invited to the University of Bolton’s National Centre for Motorsport Engineering for a winner-takes-all in-person simulator competition where the prize for the two groups was six months of driver training from Motorsport UK (to gain the neccessary licences for F4), as well as race seats with the Hitech GP-run ‘ROKiT F4 Racing’ team in British F4 next year.

The post British F4 Esports series returns for third year with £6,000 prize appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Penske Entertainment / James Black

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing IndyCar driver Sage Karam won the heat and feature race in the Road to Indy eSeries’ all-star invitational event at the Gateway oval.

This season’s frequent dominator Alessandro de Tullio was absent, and the 15-car grid (using iRacing’s Indy Pro 2000 car) featured four IndyCar-experienced drivers, five Road to Indy regulars and six aspiring USF2000 racers.

Velocity Racing Development’s Viktor Andersson took pole in the five-minute qualifying session, with the top six covered by less than a tenth of a second. Mac Clark was second, ahead of Josh Green, Trey Burke and his driver coach Karam.

Clark and Andersson swapped the lead through the heat’s first two laps, and Burke and Karam joined in two laps after. A huge crash further back didn’t interrupt the flow, as Ed Carpenter Racing’s Conor Daly and Green went three-wide with Burke for the lead before Karam led with a small gap.

A netcode error led to Green and NASCAR Cup Series racer James Davison colliding, while Andersson spun Nikita Lastochkin,

Meanwhile privateer RC Enerson found the frontrunners and got by Karam to lead, then Daly did the same as the top six circulated with less than 0.6 seconds between them by lap 18.

It moved back to being Burke versus Karam as the pair occupied the inside and outside lanes and edged ahead of each other at different corners lap after lap, but Enerson got involved again. Daly also returned to the fight, before Enerson’s Karam fight got him shuffled to fourth.

Daly passed Burke to resume his attack on Karam, and briefly led before Enerson found the inside and ducked ahead. Burke also made a dive but momentum allowed Karam – after going three-wide at turn three – to use the outside to win by 0.159s ahead of Enerson. The top six were split by 0.640s, with Clark 27s back in seventh.

The top 10 finishers were reversed for the identically-distanced feature race’s grid, putting Dylan Christie and Dean Dybdahl at the front.

Christie rocketed away at the start, but slipstreaming meant Clark and Green were able to close in and within a few minutes Green led Burke and Karam.

Karam and Enerson both led before the four-minute mark, then Davison went down the inside of Enerson and Green for first place. Enerson responded, which opened a gap for Clark to lead.

The quartet battled harder and harder until, not long after Dybdahl and Daly collided at the back, Clark spun and took out Enerson whose broken car collected Christie.

A full course yellow followed, with Davison leading Burke, Karam and Lucas Mann. Davison nailed the restart, but Karam hunted him down while Clark crashed again.

The battle between Davison and Karam took Green and Mann with them, and Green briefly led. With two minutes remaining they went four-wide down the pit straight.

Karam wiggled left, hitting Davison and firing him into Mann. Davison flipped multiple times, and Green ran alongside Karam but couldn’t deny him victory. Andersson beat Enerson to third by 0.001s.

The post Sage Karam wins Road to Indy eSeries all-star invitational appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: ROK Cup USA

The Road to Indy eSeries held its second round on the Indianapolis Raceway Park oval, and karter Alessandro de Tullio won a race again.

Season four of the iRacing-based Esports championship, which uses an Indy Pro 2000 car, began last week and de Tullio (pictured above at front) won against a grid of Road to Indy hopefuls.

This time he and a few other of the round one stars were invited onto a grid of active Road to Indy drivers for the first two oval races at the track formerly known as Lucas Oil Raceway.

Parolin USA karter De Tullio took pole with a 19.588s lap, with Frank Mossman, Indy Lights racer Nikita Lastochkin and Jay Howard Driver Development’s Evagoras Papasavvas all qualifiying within a tenth of a second. A further nine drivers were within two tenths.

De Tullio streaked away at the rolling start of race one to establish himself at the front of the field, with Mossman holding on to an early second and Papasavvas initially fueding with Mac Clark for third. In the second half of the race Clark hit trouble and had to pit, leaving the podium trio unchallenged while Andretti Autosport’s Matthew Brabham just held off Lastochkin for fourth.

Formula Ford Festival winner Jonathan Browne was sixth by 0.138s ahead of Lucas Oil Formula Car Race Series runner-up Titus Sherlock. Velocity Racing Development’s Noah Ping and Viktor Andersson were the only others to end on the lead lap.

Browne’s Turn 3 Motorsport team-mate Josh Green was 10th, which put him on the reversed grid race two pole.

He led Sherlock at first, while the Velocity drivers battled each other behind. There were other close battles between multiple drivers in the midfield, and the second half of the 20-minute race ramped up while Sherlock and Andersson closed in on Green.

With six minutes to go Sherlock spun out in a collision while lapping traffic and fighting for second. This promoted Andersson to second ahead of de Tullio, but they then collided on the penultimate lap.

That eased the pressure on Green, who won, and de Tullio could hold on to second to establish himself as the highest-scoring driver so far. Andersson, despite his clash, just kept himself in third by 0.242s ahead of Papasavvas.

This time Clark and Dean Dybdahl, nominated to take part in the eSeries by the World Karting Association, were the final drivers on the lead lap in fifth and sixth. A 30s penalty issued to Brabham for being responsibile for an incident meant he came 10th, behind Trey Burke (Joe Dooling Autosports), Ping and Dylan Christie (DEForce Racing).

The post Another win for karter de Tullio in Road to Indy eSeries appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: F4 US Championship

Alessandro de Tullio and Formula 4 race-winner Mac Clark won the opening two races of the 2022 Road to Indy eSeries.

The current Indy Pro 2000 car on iRacing was used for races around a digital version of Virginia International Raceway that was open to Road to Indy hopefuls.

Lucas Oil Formula Car Race Series runner-up Titus Sherlock topped qualifying, ahead of Clark, Parolin USA karter de Tullio and Exclusive Autosport’s Lucas Mann.

Clark tried to pass Sherlock behind the pace car as they headed to the rolling start, but came under attack from de Tullio at the opening corner of race one. He couldn’t get a move done, and Clark then passed Sherlock at the end of the back straight.

Sherlock dived down the inside of turn one to reclaim the lead on lap two but went too deep and dropped to third behind de Tullio who then set fastest lap and passed Clark at turn one to lead on lap three. At the turn four left-hander Clark got spun off by Sherlock, dropping him to 11th.

Sherlock passed de Tullio at the Roller Coaster corner to lead on the next lap, but de Tellio responded before Sherlock then served a drive-through penalty for hitting Clark. That lifted Mann to second and Velocity Racing Development’s Noah Ping to third, and the top three finished the 12-lap race that way while Sherlock got fastest lap as he recovered from sixth to fourth.

There were many drive-throughs handed out as when drivers went side-by-side into corners it often ended with contact. Several over drivers went off-track with unforced errors.

Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing’s protege Elliot Cox had one of the messier races, spinning out of the last corner on lap five, then slowing mid-corner at turn one on lap nine and catching out Athreya Ramanan who went off and copped a drive-through. The attrition rate meant Clark rose back up to seventh.

That put him fourth on the reversed grid for race two, set by flipping the top 10 finishers from race one, and Cox started on pole ahead of Pabst Racing’s Ayrton Houk – another with a messy race one – and Velocity’s Sam Corry.

Cox raced away at the start, and Clark pulled off a great over-under pass on Houk at Oak Tree to get himself into second. A big crash in the midfield included de Tullio, who had started 10th.

Clark went all the way around the outside of turn one on lap two to take the lead, as Cox made two lock-ups on the inside, and from then on was unchallenged.

A lead of 27 seconds opened up between himself and second place, helped on lap three when Cox’s side-by-side battle with Sherlock put the latter into the barriers and retirement and a similar battle with Houk also sent his rival off.

Cox remained in second though until the penultimate lap, when Ping passed at Roller Coaster. De Tullio made strong passes as he went on a recovery drive to fourth.

The post Karter de Tullio and F4 star Clark win on Road to Indy eSeries’ return appeared first on Formula Scout.

Created during the first global lockdown period of 2020, the Road to Indy eSeries proved so popular with real-world drivers that a second season ran soon after the first during the COVID-19 pandemic. It returned early in 2021 for a third season.

Starting on January 12 on a virtual version of Virginia International Raceway, season four will use the Tatuus PM-18 on the iRacing racing simulator game and start off being open to drivers from across junior single-seater racing.

• Opinion: Why junior series should embrace Esports action during winter

Round two at Indianapolis Raceway Park (previously known as the Lucas Oil Raceway oval) will take place on January 19 and the entry list will consist of drivers from the Road to Indy series (Indy Lights, Indy Pro 2000 and USF2000) plus the top five drivers from the opening round who don’t meet that criteria and race below the IP2000 level.

That would include racers in the new RTI-promoted Formula 4 series USF Juniors, and graduates of the Lucas Oil Formula Car Race Series that also links to the IndyCar support ladder through an official tie-up with the Lucas Oil School of Racing.

Round three of the eSeries at Barber Motorsports Park on February 2 will be open to all junior single-seater drivers, and a week later the entry criteria of round two is repeated for Road America but with the top five ‘Road to Indy prospects’ being taken from Barber. According to the Road to Indy’s websites, the Virginia and Barber rounds will not award points.

A month after that, an all-star invitational event will be run on iRacing’s digital version of the Gateway oval on March 2.

Each of the points-scoring events will include a qualifying session and two 20-minute races. RP Motorsport’s Phillippe Denes won the first two eSeries titles, and GB3-bound Walter Hayes Trophy winner Max Esterson claimed the 2021 title.

The eight drivers already confirmed for season four include Indy Lights racers Nikita Lastochkin (DFL Racing) and Benjamin Pedersen (Global Racing Group with HMD Motorsports), IP2000’s Josh Green (Turn 3 Motorsport) and USF2000 drivers Jagger Jones (Cape Motorsports) and Dylan Christie (DEForce Racing).

The post Road to Indy’s virtual eSeries returns for fourth season appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: Jakob Ebrey Photgraphy

The rebranding of the BRDC British Formula 3 championship to GB3 marks the end of two names, both with significant history, and a third evolution for MotorSport Vision’s premier racing series

In 2013, the British junior single-seater scene became crowded as a new BRDC British Formula 4 series was created to go up against national series for Formula Renault, Formula Ford and FF1600 and MotorSport Vision’s own Formula 3 Cup.

MSV Racing had set up its new F4 series with the support of BRDC chief Derek Warwick, and intended to be an affordable entry-level series for British drivers. Given the costs of those other series that was quite a pitch to make, but a grid of 21 cars was attracted for the first ever race at Silverstone and there were 24 drivers on track for round two at Brands Hatch.

And the drivers in question were arguably a level above what rival British series were attracting, as future Mercedes simulator driver Jake Hughes won the title and his rivals included Haas Formula 1 driver Pietro Fittipaldi, Bentley factory driver and reality television star Seb Morris, Ginetta factory driver Charlie Robertson and Asian F3 champion Raoul Hyman.

Hughes was rewarded with a test in a previous-generation F3 car with Carlin at Valencia Ricardo Tormo, and 2014 champion George Russell joined GP3 post-season testing with Arden. During that year, the ambitions of the series and its rivals grew…

Tuesday, June 24 2014

British FFord announces it will become an FIA F4-spec series in 2015, combining a new carbon-fibre chassis with its existing 1.6-litre Ford EscoBoost engine. However there is no indication it will use the F4 moniker, given MSV boss Jonathan Palmer holds the rights to use the name in the United Kingdom and had done so before the FIA created its standardised F4.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Wednesday, September 3 2014

While rumours swirl that British FFord will be taking on a Mygale F4 chassis for 2015, BRDC F4 declares it will also adopt a FIA F4-spec car in the future. It plans to introduce the same Tatuus chassis as used in ADAC and Italian F4 for 2016, and continue with its current two-litre Ford Duratec engine.

The planned UK debut of the car will be the 2015 BRDC British F4 Autumn Cup, and will be used for at least four years. Teams seeking to buy the car will be able to get it significantly cheaper thanks to an offer from MSV to buy back the current cars so they can be used at PalmerSport track day venues such as Bedford Autodrome.

Monday, January 26 2015

The prize for winning the BRDC British F4 title is increased, with the series’ new tyre supplier Pirelli funding an award for the champion should they graduate to GP3. In addition to the existing £35,000 the champion gets, another £50,000 will be added if they take the GP3 route. They will also receive a free GP3 test at the end of 2015 with ART Grand Prix.

British FFord has now elected to call itself MSA Formula, and has attracted British junior single-seater heavyweights Arden, Carlin, Fortec Motorsports and Double R Racing.

Saturday, May 30 2015

BRDC F4’s FIA-spec car is revealed, except it’s not FIA-spec anymore. The series has still gone for the Tatuus car used on the continent, but with upgraded aerodynamics and a new naturally aspirated four-cylinder Cosworth engine that is 45bhp more powerful than its existing Ford unit.

All-time BRDC British F4/F3/GB3 statistics

“We have deliberately introduced a lot more sophistication compared with FIA F4, with incorporation of two way adjustable dampers, a limited slip differential, front and rear adjustable antiroll bars, extensive spring choices, a wide range of aerodynamic adjustment and enhanced data logging capability,” Palmer said at the time.

He estimated budgets “will be just £10,000-£15,000 greater [than in 2015], so £90,000 to £135,000 for the championship season”. Of the 26 cars ordered, 24 were sold to teams already in the series in a matter of weeks.

Thursday, October 22 2015

Carlin and Fortec commit to joining BRDC British F4 in 2016, in addition to continue racing in MSA Formula.

Saturday, November 7 2015

The upgraded Tatuus makes its race debut in the BRDC British F4 Autumn Cup. Seven cars line up at Snetterton, fielded by Douglas Motorsport, HHC Motorsport, Hillspeed and the debuting Fortec, and it’s Formula Renault Eurocup racer Harrison Scott who wins from pole for Douglas in a wet race.

Sisa Ngebulana takes second place after Ben Barnicoat aquaplanes off, although Barnicoat does recover to chase down Sennan Fielding to finish third. However a collision between the pair on the final lap cops Barnicoat a penalty, so Fielding comes third.

Fastest lap for Barnicoat puts him on pole for race two, which he turns into victory despite his rear wing breaking mid-race.

One week later the eight-race season concludes at Brands Hatch, with Barnicoat taking the title while MSA Formula champion Lando Norris makes a splash by taking pole then winning his first two races for HHC.

Wednesday, March 23 2016

Just days before the BRDC British F4 season is set to start, it’s announced that the series will be rebranded to BRDC British F3. As a national F3 series, it will also now be eligible for FIA superlicence points for the top five drivers, and paves the way for MSA Formula to take on the British F4 name.

Sunday, September 11 2016

Brazil’s Matheus Leist becomes the first BRDC British F3 champion since none other than BRDC chief Warwick, who won the title the last time a series under that name was run in 1978. The 21-car grid of the season opener ends up being the largest of the year, and drivers who take part include future F1 racers and Norris and Nikita Mazepin and future IndyCar race-winner Colton Herta, who all share the same Carlin entry. Leist himself goes on to race in IndyCar just 18 months after winning the F3 title.

Thursday, September 28 2017

MSV reveals there is interest from teams in both BRDC British F3 and British F4 to form a winter series at Algarve in Portugal. The three-day event would include one day of testing and two days of racing, and its Iberian location was picked to avoid the bad weather that often impacted winter series held in Britain. Many teams also tested abroad at the end of the year anyway, and the likes of Carlin and Double R – running in F3 and F4 – were enthusiastic about turning that into racing.

Thursday, October 17 2017

The proposed winter series is called off as Britain’s motorsport governing body MSA (now called Motorsport UK) denies 15-year-olds with British racing licenses from competing in the F4 cars abroad. British F3 still plans to go ahead with a winter series of some form, but in the end does not.

BRDC British F3 winners list

14 wins – Enaam Ahmed, 11 wins – Kaylen Frederick
7 wins – Toby Sowery, Linus Lundqvist, Johnathan Hoggard, Ayrton Simmons
5 wins – Nelson Piquet, Ricky Collard, Nicolai Kjaergaard
4 wins – Derek Warwick, Matheus Leist, Ben Hingeley, Lando Norris, Kush Maini, Nazim Azman
3 wins – Jordan Cane, Manuel Maldonado, Louis Foster, Zak O’Sullivan
2 wins – Rupert Keegan, Bruno Giacomelli, Stephen South, Brett Riley, Derek Daly*, Geoff Brabham**, Anders Oloffson**, Thomas Randle, Tom Gamble, Jamie Caroline, Clement Novalak, Josh Mason, Benjamin Pedersen, Kiern Jewiss, Ulysse de Pauw, Reece Ushijima, Christian Mansell
1 win – Geoff Lees, Beppe Gabbiani, Eje Elgh**, Chico Serra, Jorge Caton***, Colton Herta, Nikita Mazepin, Cameron Das, Krishnaraaj Mahadik, Jamie Chadwick, Sun Yue Yang, Pavan Ravishankar, Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Hampus Ericsson, Lucas Petersson, Nico Varrone, Piers Prior, Roberto Faria, Roman Bilinski, Mikkel Grundtvig

*Daly’s tally includes a qualifying race and a heat race win, **tally includes a heat win, ***tally includes qualifying race win

Wednesday, January 10 2018

The World Motor Sport Council meeting of December 2017 marks the start of a new era as Regional F3 (now known as Formula Regional) is created. This means Palmer’s use of the British F3 moniker in Britain expires, but over the winter he gets an extension for the 2018 season despite his series not fitting any kind of F3 regulations past or present.

Monday, February 19 2018

The three-race format of British F3 gets shaken up, with the reversed-grid second race of each weekend now going from the top eight finishers of race one being flipped to all of the finishers who have set a lap within 103% of the race’s fastest lap.

A decreased points tally gets announced too, but with additional points now being scored for every position gained from a driver’s starting spot.

Saturday, March 31 2018

Double amputee Billy Monger makes his racing return in the British F3 season opener at Oulton Park. The teenager had his lower legs amputated after a horror crash in British F4 in April the year before, but was able to test an F3 car by the next winter as Carlin worked on a specially-adapted clutch setup for him to use.

He makes the podium on his F3 debut to mark a dream return to racing.

Sunday, August 5 2018

Jamie Chadwick makes history as she claims her first single-seater win in the reversed-grid race at Brands Hatch. The Douglas Motorsport driver becomes the first woman to win a British F3 race.

Sunday, October 14 2018

Torrential rain curtails the Silverstone season finale, with the last race of the year being cancelled entirely while the penultimate race lasted two laps behind the safety car before being abandoned.

Despite being cut to a short distance and with no green flag running, the two-lap reversed-grid race awards full points and means Lanan Racing’s Josh Mason becomes a first-time British F3 winner.

Wednesday, March 13 2019

Palmer rules out switching to Regional F3 regulations for 2019, which makes it harder to secure another annual extension on using the British F3 name, but says he intends for his series to join the category the season after.

He tells Autosport: “I’m confident that we will keep the name, it’s entirely logical that we should do and we’re looking forward to 2020, with an FIA-approved championship with a halo [equipped] car from FIA Regional F3 regulations.”

Monday, October 21 2019

Upgrades to the British F3 car are announced around the existing tub. Bodywork updates include modifications to the wings as well as a new engine cover, and an IndyCar-style fin in front of the driver is to be introduced for debris deflection.

The aerodynamic changes, including the introduction of bargeboards, are proposed to be enable greater set-up variation and increased downforce, particularly at the rear of the car. When 2020 comes, it’s noted that it’s a significantly different-handling car to what is was previously. This means no Regional F3 switch, and puts the name retention into question again.

BRDC British F3 poleman list

9 – Frederick
7 – Hoggard, Simmons
6 – Warwick
5 – Giacomelli, Foster
4 – Piquet, Lundqvist, Maini
3 – Norris, Ahmed, Gamble, Kjaergaard, Novalak
2 – South, Serra, Collard, Hingeley, Das, Monger, Jewiss, Ushijima, O’Sullivan, Horsten
1 – Taylor, Olofsson, Brabham, Elgh, N Mansell, Leist, Randle, Pull, Sowery, Caroline, Verhagen

Tuesday, December 17 2019

Accompanying the bodywork upgrades, it’s announced that new engines supplied by Mountune Racing will be introduced for 2020. They will have the same power output, but will be slimmer units and more efficient.

Sunday, May 17 2020

The global COVID-19 pandemic means the British F3 season is postponed by several months, and during the first lockdown period an official Esports series is created on iRacing and using the old Dallara F317 F3 car. Chris Dittmann Racing’s Nico Varrone wins the first ever race at a virtual Oulton Park, and later in the season drivers including IndyCar champion Will Power and British Touring Car Championship star Tom Ingram join in and win.

Thursday, December 3 2020

British F3 title announces its 2021 champion will be rewarded with two days of FIA F3 Championship testing.

Carlin and Hitech GP will host the prize recipient, running them for one day each during official post-season tests.

A teams’ title is also be introduced for this year, with a squad’s two highest-placed cars from each race contributing to its points total if it is running three or more cars.

Friday, January 15 2021

A second season of the Esports series is announced, as the pandemic continues to ravage the world, with a February start date announced. However the season doesn’t take place, and without explanation.

Monday, August 2 2021

BRDC British F3 rebrands to GB3 with immediate effect after the FIA restricts the use of the F3 moniker to its own F1-supporting championship. Regional F3 series are also stripped of the right, as the category is now given the FRegional term.

Thursday, August 5 2021

The GB3 championship hits the track for the first time in a pre-event test at Snetterton.

BRDC British F3 fastest laps

15 – Frederick, 13 – Ahmed, 11 – Sowery
9 – Hoggard
7 – Gamble, Simmons
6 – Warwick, Leist, de Pauw
5 – Kjaergaard, Maini
4 – Giacomelli, Collard, Lundqvist
3 – South, Piquet, Norris, Das, Monger, Horsten, Ushijima, O’Sullivan
2 – Brabham, Riley, Herta, Hingeley, Chaimongkol, Jewiss
1 – Keegan, Daly, Gabbiani, Elgh, Lammers, Luydenijk, Randle, Palmer, Owen, Caroline, Petersson, Novalak, Ericsson, Maldonado, Foster, Lubin, Faria, Sagrera, C Mansell

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