Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited
FIA Formula 3 Championship will hold two post-season tests this year, and both will take place on Spanish circuits next month.
The early end to the FIA F3 season means it is not visiting Bahrain or Abu Dhabi, where tests have often been held for Formula 2 and F3’s predecessor GP3, but the series will repeat its 2019 choice of visiting Spain for its post-season running.
On October 5/6 there will be two days of testing at Barcelona, which held a round of the series this year, then on October 27/28 the paddock will visit former Formula 1 venue Jerez, which also appeared on the GP3 calendar as a standalone event in 2017.
The first of those tests will run between Euroformula and Formula Regional European Championship’s race weekend at Mugello and Formula Renault Eurocup’s at Barcelona the following weekend, and those three series are likely to be where many of the FIA F3 test debutants come from.
A change to the in-season testing schedule for FREC and Italian Formula 4 means drivers from these series should find it easier to contest FIA F3’s Jerez test. To prepare for racing at Imola later in the year – potentially as a support to F1 at that weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix for the latter series – a test at the Italian circuit had been organised for October 28/29.
That has now been pushed forward two weeks, as both series race again at Imola late in November, freeing up drivers to test at Jerez. For FREC drivers, it also makes it easier to then travel to Barcelona where the category is scheduled to race alongside Euroformula on the October 31 – November 1 weekend.