Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited
Four female Formula Regional racers will make their FIA Formula 3 test bows in a private test at Magny-Cours this month that has been organised by the championship.
It is the second time that FIA F3 has gone ahead such a test, with Prema having run the first one last October in its fleet of Dallara F3 2019 cars.
This year’s test takes place on September 15/16, with each drivers getting a full day in the car. The participants are W Series trio Tereza Babickova, Chloe Chambers and Alpine Academy affiliate Abbi Pulling, and FRegional Europe’s Hamda Al Qubaisi.
Pulling has taken a pole and three podiums in W Series, as well as seven podiums in British Formula 4 before that, Al Qubaisi has won six races in F4 United Arab Emirates, Chambers is a graduate of United States F4 and Babickova is a single-seater rookie who raced in senior level karts last year.
“It’s very important to us to ensure that more and more female drivers join our championship,” said FIA F3’s CEO Bruno Michel. “Diversity is one of our key discussions regarding the future of motorsport.
“We initiated these dedicated F3 tests last year, with Nerea Marti, Doriane Pin, Irina Sidorkova and Maya Weug, who all said how beneficial this one-day test had been to their understanding of the demands of our championship. We selected four new drivers for this year, as we follow closely not only the W Series, but also female drivers in other categories.
“The purpose of this test is not to compare their performance, but it is an opportunity for them to understand what is required from an F3 driver from every aspect, so that they can prepare for the challenges when they progress to our championship, hopefully in the near future.”
Al Qubaisi, who came 28th in FRegional Asia this year and is currently 37th in FRegional Europe, said “I aspire to drive in this championship next season if all goes well”.