Eriksson, Ilott and Hughes return for Macau Grand Prix

Photo: Macau Grand Prix

Joel Eriksson, Callum Ilott and Jake Hughes will return to Formula 3 to contest the Macau Grand Prix as part of a capacity 28-car entry list.

Eriksson, the 2017 European F3 runner-up who this year graduated to the DTM with BMW, makes his comeback with his former team Motopark, where he joins the defending F3 World Cup champion and 2018 European series runner-up Dan Ticktum.

Ferrari junior Ilott, currently third in the GP3 standings, will be reunited with Carlin, for whom he last drove in 2015 when he stepped up straight from karting to F3.

Eriksson and Ilott were fighting for the lead of last year’s grand prix when the pair made contact on the run to Lisboa, ending their races.

Hughes, also now in GP3, will be reunited with the Hitech team with which he came fifth in European F3 last year before both team and driver missed Macau. Hughes, who is also currently leading Asian F3 with Hitech, was sixth and the top rookie when he made his Macau debut with Carlin two years ago.

Prema, supported as usual by legendary Macau entrant Theodore Racing, retains its five drivers from this year’s European campaign: champion Mick Schumacher, Robert Shwartzman, Marcus Armstrong, Ralf Aron and Guan Yu Zhou.

Alongside Ticktum and Eriksson, Motopark will bring its rookie star Juri Vips as well as Marino Sato, while Ferdinand Habsburg – the hero of Macau in 2017 – moves across from Carlin.

Sacha Fenestraz and Jehan Daruvala will be part of Carlin’s line-up again, while there’s a debut for Japanese F3 driver Yoshiaki Katayama.

Hitech takes one of its regular European series drivers, Enaam Ahmed, and gives a debut to local ace Charles Leong, who is competing with the team in Asian F3 and made his European F3 debut at Silverstone in August.

Van Amersfoort Racing will field Keyvan Andres, Sophia Florsch and Frederik Vesti, who stepped up with the team from F4 at last weekend’s European F3 finale at Hockenheim.

The top seven from this year’s Japanese F3 standings could all be present. Champion Sho Tsuboi and runner-up Ritomo Miyata both return with TOM’s, while Ukyo Sasahara will continue to drive the Threebond-entered Tomei-powered car.

Honda juniors Sena Sakaguchi and Toshiki Oyu will drive for Toda Racing, while B-Max has entered two cars for two currently unnamed drivers, which may include its leading 2018 racer Yu Kanamaru.

There is one further entry to be announced, car #7, which was previously earmarked for Motopark.

Entry List;