Well, it is a big day for series announcements. First it was announced that two International Formula Master events will be Formula 1 support races in 2009 — at Turkey and Belgium. The rest of the races will support the FIA World Touring Car Championship as before. I originally thought this had put the lid on the GP3 idea for the time being, as GP3 was supposed to be modelled on Formula Master.
Then much more detail on Formula Two was announced, complete with a full website. The calendar was released, revealing that some of the races will support WTCC for the majority of the races, but with one race supporting A1GP and a couple of standalone races.
But it’s been a busy day for new motor sport categories and now more information on GP3 has been unveiled. It is now due to start in 2010, leaving the door open for the Formula Master association. It is perhaps not a coincidence that the technical specifications of the GP3 car match those of the Formula Master car.
I do find the wording of the press release very interesting though. Check out this sentence:
The series will be a stepping-stone onto GP2, and will take place within the GP2 race weekends.
So, GP3 will take place within the GP2 race weekends. No mention of the Formula 1 race weekends though. Come 2010, might GP2 and GP3 no longer be supporting F1 races? Intriguing…
I think Bernie is preparing to go it alone with his series, leaving Max to his folly of self-collapsing F2 and heavily indebted F1.