ART to join British F3 for two races

The French squad, winners of the F3 Euro Series for the past six seasons, will field its four regular drivers: championship leader Jules Bianchi, F3 Master Valtteri Bottas, reigning Formula BMW Europe champion Esteban Gutierrez and Adrien Tambay at Spa later this month and again at the penultimate round of the championship in the Algarve in September.

Welcoming ART Grand Prix to British F3, championship co-ordinator Fiona Pawley said: "We are delighted that a team with such a Formula 3 pedigree will be joining the series at Spa; it will be fascinating to see how they get on against the cream of the British teams.

"We very much hope that some of the other Euro Series teams will take advantage of the gap in their calendar and also come to join the series."

ART Grand Prix, based at Villeneuve-la-Guyard, has a long and successful connection with UK motorsport, winning the Euro Series with British drivers Jamie Green (2004), Lewis Hamilton (2005) and Paul di Resta (2006).

"Spa-Francorchamps and Algarve are two beautiful circuits and it will be very profitable for our drivers to race there, as they will most likely have to race there in the near future," said team boss Frederic Vasseur.

"It is also a good occasion for ART Grand Prix to race against the British teams, in a different environment and where we will have to learn and handle new technical parameters.

"This experience will widen our knowledge and skills package, which means this project is positive all round for ART Grand Prix and its drivers."