With the announcement of the F3 Americas Championship Powered by Honda during the US Grand Prix weekend at Circuit of the Americas, the future of open-wheel formula racing in the Western Hemisphere now has a defined path to F1. The inaugural 2018 FIA regional series will feature the all-new FIA-spec US-designed and built Ligier Crawford JS13 chassis developed by Onroak, powered by a 270-horsepower Honda Performance Development version of the Honda Civic Type-R turbocharged K20 motor (a non-turbocharged version is used in the F4 U.S. Championship). The new F3 Americas series will continue running on proven Pirelli PZero tyres developed for this series.
The F3 Americas Championship now represents the next regional championship development step for competitors from the F4 U.S. Championship, F4 NACAM Championship (Mexican F4 Championship) and Canadian junior open-wheel racing championships.
The series is a spec series, allowing multi-car or single car teams the same opportunity of success with capped costs. However, the cars allow for significant setup adjustments, which increases the drivers’ technical knowledge and experience required for moving up the open wheel ladder, whether with a large or small team. Each car weighs 1,150 lbs., with full 2018 FIA safety compliant rear, side, and front crash and intrusion structures, FIA cockpit halo bar, Brembo brakes, a 6-speed sequential transmission with pneumatic paddle-shift, and wheel-tethers. All competitors will also have data acquisition built into their cars thanks to a GPS lap time and track mapping, and internal 3-axis accelerometer and digital dash.
The new combined F4/F3 Americas series also assures talented drivers can move forward thanks to generous series-winner funding: the 2018 F4 U.S. champion receives $100,000 scholarship to graduate to F3 America, while the 2018 F3 Americas champion and runner-up each receive a $200,000 scholarship to move F3 International or LMP3.
Top drivers will also be presented FIA Super License points to aid in their racing career advancement towards Formula 1. Twenty-eight cars have already been committed for the inaugural F3 Americas’ 2018 season set to debut April 27 at Virginia International Raceway.
