Rosenqvist denies Vallelunga round is unfair in fight versus Marciello
Formula 3 European Championship title contender Felix Rosenqvist has played down any adverse effect arising from the series' recent inclusion of an October round at Vallelunga, which theoretically hands main rival Raffaele Marciello an advantage
The date, announced last week by the FIA World Motor Sport Council, means that the series' penultimate round will be on a track that is favoured by the Italian teams, including the Prema Powerteam squad that runs Ferrari protege Marciello, as a testing venue.
Teams are allowed a restricted number of private test days during the season, and are not permitted to run at venues that have subsequent race dates in the championship.
According to AUTOSPORT sources, Prema Powerteam's quartet of Marciello, Alex Lynn, Lucas Auer and Eddie Cheever completed two days at Vallelunga in late April, along with EuroInternational's Tom Blomqvist and Romeo Ferraris driver Michela Cerruti. EuroInternational also ran Carlos Sainz Jr in a second car on one of those days.
Rosenqvist, whose Berlin-based Mucke Motorsport team favours Lausitz as its test track, said: "I wouldn't say it's unfair, but it's maybe a bit unlucky for me that it's Vallelunga. It's the only place where he [Marciello] has driven and I haven't.
"At the point they did their tests, they didn't know that Paul Ricard would be cancelled [and replaced by Vallelunga].
"I don't think it'll be a problem - we'll just have to show them we're even stronger. But to have the round at Lausitz would have been good - I've done about 20 test days there in my F3 career!"
AUTOSPORT understands that the traditional 90 minutes of free practice on the Friday of the race weekend will not be held at Vallelunga, and that instead the day will be opened up as a full eight-hour test session.
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