Sato favourite for Marlboro Masters

The showpiece non-championship event has attracted a 46-car entry from around Europe, where the British regulars will take on quality opposition from Germany and France. Ironically, Sato faces a home challenge for supremacy as the French and German championship leaders are also Japanese.

Ryo Fukuda leads the French series in his Serge Saulnier-run Dallara-Renault, while Toshihiro Kaneishi holds a narrow lead in Germany in his Bert Schafer-tended Dallara-Opel.

Even more ironic is the fact that the only major F3 championship not to be led by a Japanese driver is...the Japanese series! Frenchman Benoit Treluyer has that honour and he is jetting over for a crack at the Masters with last year's winning team, Signature Racing.

One aspect, which is likely to level the field at Zandvoort, will be the use of control Bridgestone tyres, which are not normally used in Europe.

"The Bridgestones are very slippy," said Sato's Carlin Motorsport team mate Anthony Davidson, who is currently fourth in the British series and won the Pau F3 race. "We tried everything we could to make the cars work [in testing] but couldn't really find a conclusive balance."

Apart from the respective championship leaders, expect strong challenges from the likes of British runners Davidson, James Courtney, Derek Hayes and Andre Lotterer. Germany's Frank Diefenbacher, Brazilian Joao Paulo de Oliveira and Tiago Monteiro from Portugal are also likely to feature at the front.

Sunday's big race starts at 14.20 local time.