Formula 3.5 V8

2016 Formula 3.5 V8 drivers and teams

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 18 total)
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  • #307267

    Formula Renault 3.5 is dead, long live Formula 3.5 V8!

    A few changes for next year are already known: DAMS have gone, Draco has been taken over by Spirit of Race, and today RP Motorsport has announced its participation in the 2016 championship:

    RPM is delighted to announce an exciting new addition to the Formula 3.5 V8 field for 2016. RP Motorsport, an Italian squad with a long and successful Formula 3 and Formula Renault 2.0 history, is now ready to enter the RPM-organized series next season. Founded in 1998, RP Motorsport lined-up current Red Bull Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo in Formula Renault, and then went on to become one of the leading teams in European Formula 3 competition.

    In the last few years, the team experienced some very successful runs in the series, cruising to the 2012 European Formula 3 Open title with Niccolo Schiro and also capturing the 2014 EuroFormula Open championship with Sandy Stuvik.

    In addition, many of the drivers fielded by RP Motorsport in the past have now found their way into professional motor racing, including Toni Vilander, Marco Bonanomi, Davide Valsecchi, David Fumanelli, Kevin Ceccon, Michela Cerruti and Artur Janosz.

    Fabio Pampado – RP Motorsport Team Principal

    “I am delighted to be part of the new era for such an historical championship. Many Formula 1 and professional racers made their breakthrough in the RPM-managed series, and this is a clear sign of the great job done by the organization from both the technical and competitive standpoints. For our team, joining this amazing series is definitely a new challenge, but it will not be the first time for us working with such powerful cars, and we are ready to go!”

    Jaime Alguersuari– RPM Racing President

    “It is a great pleasure to welcome a new team in our family. As a matter of fact, RP Motorsport is one of the most winning and highly-professional teams in Formula 3 competition. This addition will definitely help us to bring more brilliant young drivers to the championship. At RPM, we are always happy to see new teams joining us and personally it is fantastic to see how many people are looking forward to join us for this new adventure”.

    #307283

    shall we start a silly season?

    #307329
    WheelToWheel
    Participant

    My predictions grid

    Carlin – George Russell and Antonio Giovinazzi
    Fortec Mortorsports – Ben Barnicoat and Pietro Fittipaldi
    Arden- Calum Iliot and Jake Dennis

    #307332

    Carlin – depends on its backing
    Fortec – Fittipaldi & Jaafar
    Arden – Ilott
    AVF – Celis
    RP – Sandy & Vitor Baptista
    Pons – Yu Kanamaru
    Strakka _ Malja
    Tech 1 – Aurelien Panis

    #308663

    AVF’s line-up is now set – Tom Dillmann joins them from Carlin alongside Alfonso Celis Jnr who will start his second year at the team

    AVF by Adrian Valles is proud to announce the agreement reached with Tom Dillmann for the 2016 Formula 3.5 V8 championship. The Frenchman was lined-up by the team in the collective post season test at the Motorland Aragón venue in Alcaniz, and he performed extremely well, staying among the frontrunners in every session. With such a successful start, the agreement between the two parties came naturally.

    Dillmann, 26, is an highly experienced racer who won the 2010 German Formula 3 Championship before moving up to the GP3 Series in 2011 and to GP2 Series from 2012 and 2014, scoring one win and three podium finishes.

    Last season, he entered the Formula Renault 3.5 championship and left a strong impression by grabbing one pole position and two podium finishes en-route to a seventh place in standings. Dillmann will line-up for AVF alongside the already-confirmed Alfonso Celis.

    Adrian Valles – Team Principal

    “I am really happy to rely on a skilled, quick and experienced driver like Tom Dillman. In the recent round of testing at Alcaniz he did a great job, we had a good time with him and he appreciated our work method. So we quickly found an agreement for the next season. Together with Celis, who grew up consistently race after race in 2015, I think Tom will form a great line-up that will allow us to aim for the top in every single race”.

    Tom Dillmann

    “I’am delighted to take part in the Formula 3.5 V8 season with AVF. I thank Adrian Valles for providing me with this great opportunity. After the test we had together at Alcaniz, I’m sure we will be able to enjoy a succesfull season. The car is one of the best in business, it’s really quick and thrilling and I think I still have some unfinished business in single seaters. I never managed to be in the right place at the right time, but with AVF I feel I’m in the right position to score the results my abilities can do and reverse my fortune”.

    #308669
    WheelToWheel
    Participant

    Dillmann is a good driver, but he is 26 years old now and there must be some good young talent instead of him. He probably could be a test driver at a top F1 team or could be racing sportscars or FE

    #308765
    R.J. O’Connell
    Participant

    I think this will be Dillmann’s swansong in single-seaters. The move to Signatech-Alpine in the Shanghai 6h was a master stroke. He’ll provide a wealth of experience and feedback to a team that doesn’t have a lot of it, and there aren’t many WEC conflicts if at all so he can still make LMP2 his primary focus. Celis is still unproven.

    By the way, Keith, are you coming back as commentator for the series for BT?

    #308785
    Iestyn Davies
    Participant

    @lolzerbob Agreed. Stanaway is a good example of someone hired recently specifically as a sim driver; Dillmann and Bernstorff were also on iRacing a lot a few years ago, while Vandoorne will no doubt be doing this role for McLaren. Rossiter did it for Force India and it got him correlation time in the real car.

    Depending on who stays in the series, you’d think Dillmann and Ellinas would be title favourites. I could see de Vries moving to GP2. Would also be nice to see Keith returning!

    #308787

    Nyck can be promoted to GP2 by McLaren, but with ART not DAMS.
    While AVF’s line-up means Kirchofer has 2 choices; ART GP3 or others.

    #309162
    R.J. O’Connell
    Participant

    Louis Deletraz is well on his way to redeeming his family’s reputation in Grand Prix racing, he’s now signed with defending champion team Fortec Motorsports. HUGE.

    #309169
    Iestyn Davies
    Participant

    Makes sense.. he was doing well in FR2.0 last year, winning/in the title hunt. Good move for him to join Fortec!

    #309175

    Deletraz had a good start to the year in FR2.0 Eurocup but went a bit off towards the end. He won the NEC title quite handily though. It’s a sensible move up the ladder for him, especially as he squeezed in a one-off race weekend in a 3.5 car this year with Comtec.

    #310729

    Teo Martin, who took DAMS’ entry, team up with EVM. Also de Villota jr. departed from Pons.
    http://www.paddockscout.com/teo-martin-and-emilio-de-villota-squads-team-up-for-f3-5v8-and-ef-open/32680

    Will Yu Kanamaru join them?

    #311341

    New website launched:

    http://www.formulav8.com/

    #311818
    R.J. O’Connell
    Participant

    Welcome four drivers to the 2016 Formula V8 3.5/Formula Gibson 3.5/I Can’t Believe It’s Not Renault 3.5 championship!

    Yu Kanamaru at Teo Martin Motorsport:

    Beitske Visser and Aleksander Bosak at Pons:

    And Fortec has a team of next-generation drivers, adding Pietro Fittipaldi today:

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