Euroformula Open Championship

The Euroformula Open Championship (formerly the Spanish Formula Three Championship, European F3 Open Championship) is a junior formula racing series based in Spain. It was one of six national and international Formula Three championships in Europe and Scandinavia that together used to form an important part of the established "career ladder" below Formula One. The championship's first season was held in 2001. In 2006, it was branded as the Spanish F3 Championship by Toyota, in deference to its sole engine supplier. In 2020, the championship ceased to be a F3-championship and will share its specifications with Japan's Super Formula Lights based on the previous-generation Formula Three standards, primarily with a choice of engines.

Euroformula Open Championship
Euroformula Open logo
CategorySingle seaters
CountryEurope
Inaugural season2001
Drivers19 (2020)
Teams6 (2020)
ConstructorsDallara
Engine suppliersMercedes
Volkswagen
Toyota[1]
Tyre suppliersMichelin[2]
Drivers' champion Ye Yifei
Teams' champion CryptoTower Racing
Official websitehttp://www.euroformulaopen.net/
Current season

Profile

The Spanish Formula Three Championship was formed during Spain's recent growth period in motor racing that began with the Euro Open Movistar by Nissan, which eventually became the World Series by Renault when the two companies' motor racing programs were reorganised. The new championship replaced the previously existing Super Formula Toyota, a one-make series with performance similar to F3.

The European F3 Open championship has become successful by actively taking measures to control budget requirements. This provides a more achievable option for drivers who lack the major sponsorship portfolio that is required by leading Euroseries teams, and would otherwise have to look elsewhere for their next step up the career ladder.

With Renault's backing, the World Series has developed into a championship from which drivers can reach Formula One, and three major Spanish teams are established in GP2.[3] This has fostered new opportunities for the graduates of Spanish F3, which has, in turn, made the championship itself a success.[4]

In recent years the Championship has become much less centred in Spain, with races across Europe, and has successfully attracted famous non-Spanish teams to take part. The first was the British outfit Team West-Tec who went on to win two Driver's Championship titles in their first three seasons, and which were followed a year later by Italy's RP Motorsport who have won races each year since joining.

The championship was renamed to Euroformula Open Championship for 2014, after the FIA restricted the use of the Formula Three name to championships that do not follow the current engine regulations.[5]

Sub-divisions

Like British Formula Three, the series incorporates a second championship class for chassis specifications from the previous generation. The Copa was created in 2005, and provides an opportunity for drivers without competitive budgets, who would otherwise be left unable to progress from cheaper formulae. The name is derived from the chassis specification that all Copa entrants must use: the Dallara F308.

Equipment

The European F3 Open Championship employs an approach to chassis and engine choice that is also used in Asian F3, in which the open Formula Three system of multiple chassis and engine manufacturers is rejected in favour of a single choice of supplier. All competitors must use Toyota's F3 engine upgraded by the Spanish motorsport Engineering Company Piedrafita Sport, and chassis from the ubiquitous Italian constructor, Dallara. Championship-class competitors generally use a chassis specification from the current generation, the Dallara F312. Copa Class competitors use the previous version, the Dallara F308.[6]

F1 tests

The exclusive use of the Toyota engine prompted Toyota to offer a Formula One test to each year's champion. The first driver to benefit from this was 2004 champion Borja García, who later graduated to GP2.[7] The F1 prize test is likely to be revived for the 2010 Champion.

Venues

Between 2001 and 2005, the Spanish F3 Championship had seven rounds, each with two races. Exceptions to this included the Valencia round in 2002 and the Jerez round in 2003, each of which had only one race, and Albacete, which held a single-race event in addition to its regular two-race event in 2005.

In every season from its inception until 2007, the championship made a regular visit to Estoril in Portugal. The 2006 season, which was expanded to eight rounds, included the championship's first visit to Magny-Cours in France.[8]

Since 2008 many circuits from further afield have been added to the schedule including visits to Magny Cours, Donnington Park and Brands Hatch with major European motorsport venues including Spa, Monza, Silverstone and Hungaroring hosting rounds of the 2014 season as the series expands further into Europe.

Points system
Seasons Race 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 PP FL
2001-2003 Race 20 18 16 14 12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1 2
2004 Race 12 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1 N/A 1 1
2005-2006 Race 12 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1 N/A 1
2007-2008 Race 1 13 11 9 6 5 4 3 2 1 N/A 1 N/A
Race 2 12 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1 N/A
2009-2011 Race 1 14 12 10 8 6 5 3 2 1 N/A 1 1
Race 2 12 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1 N/A 1
2012-2019 Race 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1 N/A 1 1

Champions

Drivers
Season Driver Team Poles Wins Podiums Fastest laps Points Clinched Margin
2001 Ander Vilariño Racing Engineering 7 6 8 7 196 Race 12 of 14 39
2002 Marcel Costa E.V. Racing 2 2 9 3 190 Race 11 of 13 16
2003 Ricardo Maurício Racing Engineering 4 6 7 2 190 Race 11 of 13 6
2004 Borja García Racing Engineering 8 9 10 8 149 Race 14 of 14 18
2005 Andy Soucek Llusiá Racing 2 3 7 1 112 Race 13 of 13 3
2006 Ricardo Risatti TEC-Auto 3 5 7 8 118 Race 15 of 16 15
2007 Máximo Cortés Escuderia TEC-Auto 4 6 7 9 117 Race 16 of 16 4
2008 Germán Sánchez Campos F3 Racing 1 4 5 4 88 Race 17 of 17 4

Teams
Season Team Poles Wins Podiums Fastest laps Points Clinched Margin
2001 Racing Engineering 8 7 13 9 113 Race 14 of 14 19
2002 Racing Engineering 2 4 9 2 108 Race 12 of 13 19
2003 Racing Engineering 4 6 10 3 119 Race 12 of 13 26
2004 Racing Engineering 9 10 21 10 179 Race 10 of 14 18
2005 Racing Engineering 2 3 7 1 252 Race 9 of 13 128
2006 Racing Engineering 1 4 14 1 155 Race 16 of 16 9
2007 Escuderia TEC-Auto 4 7 17 9 197 Race 16 of 16 30
2008 Campos F3 Racing 3 4 12 7 134 Race 15 of 17 44


Junior Cup
Season Driver Team Poles Wins (Junior) Podiums (Junior) Fastest laps Points (Junior) Clinched Margin
2001 Juan Antonio del Pino Meycom 0 0 1 0 73 Race 13 of 14 23
2002 Andy Soucek Racing Engineering 0 0 0 0 113 Race 7 of 13 16
2003 Ricardo Risatti EV Racing
Elide Racing		 0 0 (8) 1 (10) 0 70 (96) Race 12 of 13 28
2004 Javier Villa EV Racing
Elide Racing		 0 0 (10) 0 (11) 0 29 (108) Race 13 of 14 28

Trofeo Ibérico
Season Driver Team Poles Wins (Trofeo) Podiums(Trofeo) Fastest laps Points (Trofeo) Clinched Margin
2003 Borja García GTA Motor Competición 1 1 (0) 7 (4) 2 80 (182) Race 5 of 5 4
2004 Borja García Racing Engineering 7 9 (5) 10 (5) 8 149 (63) Race 6 of 6 13
2005 Andy Soucek Llusiá Racing 2 3 (2) 7 (3) 1 112 (77) Race 5 of 6 19
2006 Roldán Rodríguez Campos Racing 2 4 (3) 5 (3) 3 103 (65) Race 6 of 6 6

Copa de España de F3
Season Driver Team Poles Wins (Copa) Podiums(Copa) Fastest laps Points (Copa) Clinched Margin
2005 Arturo Llobell Campos Racing 0 0 0 0 16 (86) Race 15 of 15 4
2006 German Sanchez Escuela Profiltek 0 0 0 1 19 (108) Race 15 of 16 15
2007 Christian Ebbesvik Team West-Tec 0 0 (7) 0 (13) 0 7 (118) Race 16 of 16 0
2008 Natacha Gachnang Team West-Tec 1 0 (5) 0 (12) 2 76 (110) Race 16 of 16 1

Drivers
Season Driver Team Poles Wins Podiums Fastest laps Points Clinched Margin
2009 Bruno Méndez Campos Racing 2 4 11 8 145 Race 16 of 16 2
2010 Marco Barba Cedars Motorsport 3 6 10 8 154 Race 12 of 16 42
2011 Alex Fontana Corbetta Competizioni 1 2 7 1 120 Race 15 of 16 5
2012 Niccolò Schirò RP Motorsport 3 4 11 7 272 Race 14 of 16 5
2013 Ed Jones Team West-Tec F3 4 6 10 3 256 Race 16 of 16 9

Teams
Season Team Poles Wins Podiums Fastest laps Points Clinched Margin
2009 Campos Racing 4 6 14 10 117 Race 16 of 16 7
2010 Cedars Motorsport 3 6 10 8 116 Race 15 of 16 24
2011 Team West-Tec 2 4 8 1 101 Race 16 of 16 6
2012 RP Motorsport 8 8 23 10 138 Race 14 of 16 41
2013 RP Motorsport 6 6 26 7 128 Race 16 of 16 2

Copa F306/300
Season Driver Team Poles Wins (Copa) Podiums (Copa) Fastest laps Points (Copa) Clinched Margin
2009 Callum MacLeod Team West-Tec 0 0 (7) 1 (12) 0 41 (106) Race 14 of 16 27
2010 Noel Jammal Cedars Motorsport 0 0 (5) 0 (8) 0 24 (89) Race 16 of 16 5
2011 Fabio Gamberini Team West-Tec 0 1 (10) 3 (14) 0 79 (130) Race 14 of 16 12
2012 Kevin Giovesi DAV Racing 0 0 (10) 1 (11) 0 93 (110) Race 13 of 16 38
2013 Richard Gonda Drivex School 0 0 (7) 0 (10) 0 10 (100) Race 15 of 16 19

Drivers
Season Driver Team Poles Wins Podiums Fastest laps Points Clinched Margin
2014 Sandy Stuvik RP Motorsport 10 11 12 5 332 Race 14 of 16 89
2015 Vitor Baptista RP Motorsport 5 6 12 7 291 Race 16 of 16 5
2016 Leonardo Pulcini Campos Racing 3 7 15 8 303 Race 12 of 16 56
2017 Harrison Scott RP Motorsport 9 12 13 9 340 Race 12 of 16 118
2018 Felipe Drugovich RP Motorsport 10 14 16 10 405 Race 12 of 16 159
2019 Marino Sato Team Motopark 6 9 11 5 309 Race 15 of 18 130
2020 Ye Yifei CryptoTower Racing 12 11 16 12 369 Race 16 of 18 121

Teams
Season Team Poles Wins Podiums Fastest laps Points Clinched Margin
2014 RP Motorsport 13 13 22 10 152 Race 14 of 16 51
2015 RP Motorsport 5 7 13 8 121 Race 15 of 16 10
2016 Campos Racing 3 7 17 9 120 Race 14 of 16 18
2017 RP Motorsport 12 13 17 10 134 Race 12 of 16 44
2018 RP Motorsport 10 14 16 11 180 Race 11 of 16 78
2019 Team Motopark 11 15 33 11 262 Race 12 of 18 168
2020 CryptoTower Racing 17 16 26 16 244 Race 12 of 18 129

Rookies
Season Driver Team Poles Wins (Rookie) Podiums (Rookie) Fastest laps Points (Rookie) Clinched Margin
2016 Ferdinand Habsburg Drivex School 4 2 (10) 12 (15) 1 247 (140) Race 12 of 16 42
2017 Nikita Troitskiy Drivex School 2 0 (7) 9 (14) 4 222 (124) Race 14 of 16 29
2018 Bent Viscaal Teo Martín Motorsport 4 1 (14) 12 (15) 2 246 (138) Race 12 of 16 48
2019 Liam Lawson Team Motopark 2 4 (6) 7 (9) 1 179 (92) Race 18 of 18 9
2020 Niklas Krütten Team Motopark 0 0 (9) 5 (13) 0 153 (140) Race 16 of 18 28

Spanish F3 Drivers
Season Driver Team Poles Wins Podiums Fastest laps Points Clinched Margin
2014 Sandy Stuvik RP Motorsport 4 4 4 2 118 Race 5 of 6 13
2015 Konstantin Tereshchenko Campos Racing 5 4 5 3 134 Race 5 of 6 37
2016 Leonardo Pulcini Campos Racing 1 2 4 3 105 Race 6 of 6 11
2017 Devlin DeFrancesco Carlin Motorsport 0 1 3 0 119 Race 5 of 6 22
2018 Felipe Drugovich RP Motorsport 0 1 3 0 157 Race 5 of 6 53

Spanish F3 Teams
Season Team Poles Wins Podiums Fastest laps Points Clinched Margin
2014 RP Motorsport 5 5 8 4 56 Race 5 of 6 14
2015 Campos Racing 5 4 6 3 48 Race 6 of 6 9
2016 Campos Racing 1 2 5 3 42 Race 6 of 6 5
2017 RP Motorsport 4 5 6 4 50 Race 5 of 6 7
2018 RP Motorsport 3 5 6 3 72 Race 4 of 6 28

References
  1. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-07-01. Retrieved 2010-08-02.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Michelin becomes the new tire supplier of the Euroformula Open". automobilsport.com. 2 February 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  3. Racing Engineering Season Preview F1prospects.com, April 8, 2006. Retrieved on February 2, 2007.
  4. Over the Weekend – April 29–30, 2006 Archived 2007-03-01 at the Wayback Machine F1prospects.com, May 1, 2006. Retrieved on February 2, 2007.
  5. "The Euroformula Open is born!". Euroformula Open Championship. GT Sport. 14 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
  6. 2004 Spanish F3 Entry List, Speedsportmag.com. Retrieved on February 2, 2007.
  7. Toyota F1 test for Spanish champ Autosport-atlas.com, January 28, 2005. Retrieved on February 2, 2007.
  8. 2006 Spanish F3 Calendar Archived 2007-03-24 at the Wayback Machine Formula3.cc, November 26, 2005. Retrieved on February 2, 2007.
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