Van Diemen to run F3 Dallara

The factory team of UK Formula Ford chassis constructor Van Diemen will enter the British F3 championship in 2003, reports today's AUTOSPORT magazine. It will use a Mugen Honda engined Dallara chassis for its return to the category, 11 years after an attempt with its own design. The newly formed Comtec Van Diemen team will operate from new premises separate from the Norfolk factory of the Elan group company

Sep 25, 2002, 3:13 PM

No decision has yet been made on whether it will compete in the Championship or Scholarship class.

Van Diemen founder and G-Force UK CEO Ralph Firman says the entry is not a precursor to a return to F3 as a constructor: "There's no great masterplan behind this for Van Diemen to make an F3 car. I've looked at it a number of times since we tried in 1992, but there's no plan at all."

Team manager Jonathan Lewis, however, is hoping a positive programme could lead to its own car. "I would hope that we would eventually run either a Van Diemen or a G Force chassis in F3," he said. "I would like to fight for the company I work for, but for the moment we'll just be another Dallara team."