SRO: F3 date clash was unavoidable

The original plan was for the F3 Euro Series' proposed September date at Silverstone to double up as a round of the new six-event 'world championship' for F3. This would have made it easier to attract British teams to a Euro Series race and thus maximise the grid.

But British F3 promoter SRO later scuppered this proposal by opting to hold a round of the British F3 championship at the Nurburgring on the same weekend (September 10-11). The FIA has therefore chosen a different Euro Series round at Hockenheim for its world calendar.

British F3 championship manager Lisa Crampton hopes a round of the new FIA F3 International Trophy can be held at Silverstone in future seasons. She said SRO could not have taken British F3 to the Nurburgring in 2011 without the Silverstone date clash.

"The issue with Nurburgring was quite difficult, we almost had no race there at all," said Crampton. "The circuit board announced at the 11th hour that the [planned] GT1 World Championship event [which British F3 hoped to support] was not to take place on the original date of August 28, therefore, we had no spot.

"Initial discussions with the circuit left us with an option on June 19, which was our Brands Hatch date. This meant a huge domino effect on dates already booked in the UK, and after further investigating we realised that June 19 was also the date Renault World Series had for Nurburgring, therefore we had to go back to square one.

"We managed to find one spot on one event, which was the 12 Hours of Nurburgring on September 9-11. This was the only option British Formula 3 could take and therefore, to fulfill the expectations that future Formula 3 drivers had of our calendar, it was booked.

"There was an option to go to Portimao but teams were not in favour of this venue. It is unfortunate that it [the Nurburgring] clashes with the Silverstone Euro Series date, but unfortunately we had no other options."