The Masters of Formula 3 race at Zandvoort will be run for F3 European Championship cars this year.
The Dutch circuit has announced a new September date for the 25th running of the Masters, which was held last year for national F3 cars running the older-spec engines. That was because the proximity of the European F3 round at Moscow Raceway meant it would have been impossible for teams to contest both events.
Race winner Max Verstappen drove a German F3 Cup-spec car to victory in a one-off outing for the Motopark team.
The new Masters date of Sept. 20 ensures it is comfortably after Zandvoort’s European F3 round, so competing in the race will not result in a breach of regulations that prevent competitors running on a circuit that has an upcoming championship round.
The Masters will be held as part of the visiting German-based ADAC GT Masters package, and is one week before the penultimate Euro F3 round at the Nurburgring. Race coordinator Barry Bland says there is encouraging interest from all the leading teams, and is hoping for a grid of more than 20 cars. He pointed out that drivers from other categories could use this event as a way of completing the mandatory F3 race start required to qualify for an entry in November’s Macau Grand Prix.