New Dallara-Nissan series launched

The Spanish-based series, which will feature 20 of the three-litre, V6-powered cars, will offer budgets to drivers for about £260,000 - less than the cost of a top Formula 3 drive. The car, which was unveiled at Varano in Italy yesterday (Thursday), should attain similar lap times to the new V8-powered Lola F3000 car, however.

Series organisers want to attract drivers coming out of F3, and say one reason their series will be a success is the high number of youngsters such as Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen and Takuma Sato in Formula 1.

They say that the saturation of young talent in Grand Prix seats means there could be less chance for up and coming drivers to break into F1's ranks. They also believe their series offers an alternative as well as a viable stepping stone - as shown by Fernando Alonso, a former champion of the lesser-spec Formula Nissan series.

"We want to enable drivers who have found the door to F1 closed the opportunity of racing at a very high level," said series promoter Jamie Alguersuari. "I am very satisfied that we already have seven teams signed up to run cars. None of those teams come from Formula 3000, although some of them have shown interest in the three remaining places."

Teams who have committed to the series are Italian outfits GD Racing, Vergani Racing, Venturini and RC Motorsport plus Spanish team Campos Motorsport and France's Epsilon by Graff equipe. A nine-round calendar includes five races in Spain, plus one-offs in Italy, France, Argentina and Brazil.