Photo: F3 Asian Championship
The Asian Formula 3 championship will hold its entire season in the United Arab Emirates next year, as it did in 2021 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The Top Speed-organised series was launched in 2018 as primarily China and Malaysia-based, then visited Japan and Thailand in 2019 before first venturing into the Middle East last year with two rounds in the UAE as it became a winter series.
That then became the basis of the 2021 season, with all five rounds held at Dubai Autodrome and Yas Marina Circuit across January and February to avoid travel restrictions. That schedule configuration will now be continued into next year.
“We have already received huge interest in the 2022 F3 Asian Championship season from teams, driver management and drivers themselves,” said Top Speed’s general manager Davide De Gobbi.
“We will be looking to repeat the enormous success of the 2021 season which delivered a compact, competitive, cost-effective and ultimately thrilling championship.”
Once again there will pre-event testing at rounds, with each one featuring three races. The grid for the second race of each round will now be established by taking the results of race one and flipping the top 10 positions, having previously been set using the race one fastest laps.
By running the season on consecutive weekends starting from mid-January, it means it will not clash with the European racing season and will once again enable Formula 2 and FIA F3 Championship drivers to enter the series to gain additional FIA superlicence points. At present, the Asian F3 title awards 18 of the 40 points needed to race in Formula 1.
In addition to Formula Regional Japanese Championship, which is entering its second season using Dome chassis, there are two other Regional F3 series trying to get off the ground in Asia using the same Tatuus car as Asian F3.
Formula Regional Asia, previously known as Asian Formula Renault, is committed to switching from FR2.0 to Regional F3 regulations but has spent two years unsuccessfuly attempting to adopt new cars. With all of its Chinese rounds cancelled, its first scheduled round is at Sepang on August 15, although Formula Scout understands the season will not start at all.
Tatuus is also working with GT racer Aditya Patel, who organised the X1 Racing League that took place in 2019, to get a Formula Regional India series launched possibly as early as late 2021 but more likely to be next year.