British F3 Champion Linus Lundqvist to enter GP3 Test

The 2018 BRDC British F3 Champion Linus Lundqvist will take place in the upcoming GP3 Series test that takes place this week, from the 27 November – 1 December.

It will be the final outing for the Dallara GP3/16 Chassis, which is to be retired at the end of the year as the category is rebranded into the FIA Formula 3 Championship.

Linus will be competing for the Campos Racing team at the Yas Marina circuit that played host to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last weekend. Campos finished third in this years teams championship, picking up two wins and four further podiums, mostly thanks to Italian Leonardo Pulcini.

It will be a lot of fun to head down to Abu Dhabi and do this test with Campos Racing. It’s a good opportunity for me to learn the Yas Marina track, which is frequently used in international racing, and to check out a new environment and build on my general experience. It’s only a test and I’ll approach it as one, so no heroics, but I’m really pleased to get the opportunity.” – said Lundqvist.

Lundqvist dominated much of the British F3 campaign, winning seven races over the eight round, 22 race season for Double R Racing.

He hopes to follow in the footsteps of previous British F3 champions Matheus Leist and Enaam Ahmed, who have gone to race in IndyCar and European F3 respectively. Lundqvist has yet to confirm his 2019 plans, though Campos have confirmed they will be entering FIA F3 next season.

He continued;

We’re looking at a number of options for next year and it’s no secret that FIA F3 is one of them. The GP3 car is as close as you can get to how the new F3 cars will be, so it makes sense to be here and try it out.

“Whatever we end up doing next year, this test should provide a valuable experience of both car, tyres and circuit. It’s a good opportunity to get some relevant running under my belt before the winter break.”

BRDC F3 have been testing themselves this week, with 10 drivers out in action across six teams.

There were some returning faces as Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Pavan Ravishankar, Arvin Esmaeili and Formula Renault driver Clement Novalak were all back in action with their former teams. Manuel Maldonado, now a race winner was also testing for Carlin along with U.S. F2000 podium finisher Kaylen Frederik, as the team prepare to scale back to three cars for next year.

Meanwhile ADAC F4 champion Lirim Zendeli was out for the Fortec team partnering American Pro-Mazda racer Kris Wright. Chris Dittmann Racing was also fielding two cars as Matt Round-Garrido, who has competed with them in MSV F3 Cup, helped give insight for karting graduate Tommy Foster.