Stratton Motorsport Pair Up with Defunct P1 Sport in BRDC F3

The BRDC British F3 Championship will once again be able to run at maximum capacity for the 2018 season with P1 Sport selling their cars to the fellow Norfolk-based team Stratton Motorsport.

The team, part of the Stratton Motor Company, already has an association with the championship, having run in British GT, the event F3 supports, with success in 2006 and 2008, most recently competing at the Silverstone round last year in the Lotus Evora GT4 as an invitational.

This will be the teams first exploit into single-seater racing despite their 40 year history, deciding to sign former P1 boss Roly Vincini to be their Head of Technical, allowing him to coach the drivers and provide insight.

After purchasing the cars from HHC Motorsport at the end of 2016, Vincini, did little with the outfit, with legal documents showing that him and his wife were the only employees of the PLC after failing to attract any drivers for the 2017 season.

With all three cars bought off P1, Stratton, now sporting a green and yellow livery (the same as their Lotus entry last year) will be hoping to attract big names for the coming season.

Team Motor Sport Manager David Kershaw commented: “We’re very excited to be expanding our operation to race in the BRDC British F3 Championship. This is a new venture for us and we’re very confident that we’ll be able to run competitively right away.

“We have recruited staff with top-line single-seater experience and have three of the latest specification F3 championship cars. We believe we are a very attractive proposition for aspiring drivers. We have won everything we have turned our hand to and are confident we will be able to do the same in British F3”.

The field will also be at full capacity next season, with BRDC F3 indicating that Douglas Motorsport have finally bought a third car for their operation having run the first two years with just 2. This will be the first time since it was rebranded in 2016 that F3 will have sold all the vehicles to private teams.

Meanwhile, the BRDC F3 organisers have announced that their drivers will be eligible for the Sunoco Whelen Challenge, giving them a chance in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona in 2019 with the front-running Action Express team at the wheel of a Cadillac V.R. DPi car.

In competition with drivers from British GT and Radical Euro Masters, drivers will be awarded points based on their top-tens, wins, fastest laps and pole positions with the highest average points driver securing the American prize.