Ma-Con Motorsport and ORECA debut new Formula 3 engine

Series regular and sometime GP3 racer Christopher Hoher took the powerplant to second place in the first race of the weekend in a Dallara run by German squad Ma-Con Motorsport but entered by the team of Austrian F3 prime mover Franz Woss.

The engine was launched with a Renault badge and was supposed to be run by the Signature team in 2014, before the squad pulled out on the eve of the season opener.

Ma-Con, which competed in the F3 European Championship in 2012 and '13 with Volkswagen power, took over the ORECA project and began a test programme late last summer, predominantly with Nick Cassidy driving.

Ma-Con boss Otto Schwadtke tried to put a programme together to race the engine in European F3 in 2015, but is now looking towards next season.

"It [the Most race outing] was only a little test for us," said Schwadtke, who added that the team could also contest next month's Brno season finale.

"It's a strong engine, and when we have tested at Lausitz alongside Mucke Motorsport and Van Amersfoort Racing we have seen it's not so bad.

"It's very good working with ORECA - I'm very happy with the situation and they are a great company."

Schwadtke said he is looking for drivers who are strong enough to compete for the top 10 in European F3 as part of a two-car team.

"We want to test a lot of drivers and see if we can pick up a good one," he said.

The two races at Most were dominated by Performance Racing's Akash Nandy, using a Dallara powered by an old-spec Volkswagen engine - both team and driver are also looking to compete in European F3 in 2016.