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New drivers to boost grid for final European F3 rounds of 2016

An influx of several new drivers is set to boost the Formula 3 European Championship grid for its final races of the season

T-Sport is to return for next week's round at Imola, and will be joined on the grid for the Hockenheim finale in October by Fortec Motorsport, which has not competed in the series so far this year.

They will be in addition to a new line-up from Carlin, which withdrew from the most-recent round at the Nurburgring and will also miss Imola, but plans to return with at least three drivers for Hockenheim.

T-Sport, which will run Ukyo Sasahara in the second of his two outings in its ThreeBond/Tomei-engined car at Imola, will give Macanese driver Andy Chang his seasonal debut at the Italian circuit.

Chang, who drove with Fortec in 2015, will drive the Brackley squad's car powered by the British NBE engine at both Imola and Hockenheim, before an attack on the Macau Grand Prix.

Team boss Russell Eacott said: "We've been talking with Andy for several years now and are pleased to have been able to put this programme together with him.

"He has competed in the blue-riband Macau event for the past two years and this experience will stand him in good stead for the challenge ahead on the street circuit."

Fortec is planning to run two of its Dallara-Mercedes cars at Hockenheim and Macau.

Euroformula Open ace and Formula Renault 2.0 frontrunner Ferdinand Habsburg - who has been racing with Fortec in the latter category - is slated for both, although his participation at Hockenheim depends on the discretion of rival teams regarding the sporting regulations as the Austrian has been racking up F3 test mileage in preparation for 2017.

Fortec principal Richard Dutton said the team is talking to two other drivers for the remaining seat at Hockenheim, but that Sam MacLeod - who contested the Masters of F3 at Zandvoort as a one-off with the team in August - is expected to partner Habsburg in Macau.

MacLeod ran in the leading group in Macau with Team West-Tec last season, while Fortec got one of its cars on the front row in the hands of Daniel Juncadella.

"We're quite excited about running Sam in Macau," said Dutton. "We think he can put together a good run with us."

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