British Formula 3 teams have announced their driver line-ups for the 59th Macau Grand Prix.
The race, which takes place in the southern tip of China next month, brings to thirty the number of drivers running in the end of season special.
Carlin will be bringing newly crowned British F3 champion Jack Harvey to the principality for his first visit, while reigning Macau GP victor Daniel Juncadella will be returning.
Alongside Harvey, Carlin will be running GP3 Series drivers Daniel Abt and Antonio Felix da Costa {note 1}, while F3 stalwarts Will Buller and Carlos Sainz Jr will also be bidding for glory.
Surprisingly, 2011 British F3 champion Felipe Nasr will be making a temporary step down from the GP2 Series to challenge for the Macau crown.
Fortec will also be bringing a full compliment to the Asian territory. Racing for the Daventry-based squad will be British F3 title contender Felix Serralles, who in turn is to be partnered by Alex Lynn, Pipo Derani and Harry Tincknell.
Double R Racing have once again partnered with hoteliers Galaxy Macau to provide drives for Formula Renault 3.5 and German Formula 3 pilots Kevin Korjus {note 2} and Jimmy Eriksson.
ThreeBond with T-Sport have split with Nick McBride {note 3} and are providing a seat for LMP2 racer Alexander Sims.
There is no shortage of Euro Series and Asian F3 entries for this year’s Macau celebrations either.
Like Carlin and Fortec, Prema Powerteam will be racing with a full range of drivers. Alongside Juncadella, the Italian team will be fielding Pau Grand Prix victor Raffaele Marciello, as well as Sven Muller and Hannes van Asseldonk.
Mücke Motorsport have declared three entries for Felix Rosenqvist, Pascal Wehrlein and Mitchell Gilbert. Dutch squad Van Amersfoort Racing will be running Lucas Auer and Dennis van de Laar.
Several single car entries have also been registered. These include Andrea Roda (Jo Zeller Racing), Luís Sá Silva (Angola Racing Team), Tom Blomqvist (EuroInternational) and Lucas Wolf (URD Rennsport).
As per usual, Japanese squad TOM’s will appear with two Toyota-powered entries, one for British F3 Series runner-up Jazeman Jaafar and Yuichi Nakayama, Ryo Hirakawa will pilot the KCMG by RSS entry.
The fourth and final Toyota car on the list is that of B-Max Engineering racer Hideki Yamauchi.
The opening 10-lap qualifying race will take place on Saturday November 17th, followed by the 15-lap Macau Grand Prix feature. If you can find TV feed for the race, you will be doing very, very well indeed.
{note 1}
Antonio Felix da Costa also currently competes in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. The Portuguese racer joined the category for the fourth round at the Nurburgring in June, scoring two wins and two podiums in ten races. He is currently 6th in the point standings.
Kevin Korjus is also a Formula Renault 3.5 Series regular; however his season has been somewhat less fruitful. Despite going into 2012 as one of the title favourites, the Estonian has only managed a single podium finish and is currently 10th in the championship points table.
{note 2}
In preparation for their Macau attempt, both da Costa and Kevin Korjus will take part in the MSV F3 Cup race at Snetterton this weekend.
{note 3}
Nick McBride tested Indy Lights last week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Australian, who struggled at times during his British F3 stint this year, ended the sessions 6th fastest overall, some six-tenths shy of top man Zach Veach.
{note 4}
See below for an example of this utter madness.
