This weekend sees the start of the delayed FRD LMP3 Series at the newly completed Zhejiang International Circuit.
After customs delays saw the Ligier JS P3s bound for the Series delayed, the inaugural calendar has been reduced to four double header rounds but there will be 11 cars on the entry for the first race weekend (see below).
| Race Number | Team | Driver 1 | Driver 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FS Sports | Olivier Lombard | Andy Yan |
| 3 | Eurasia | Garnet Patterson | Martin Cao |
| 7 | PTRS | Yann Clairay | Rainey He |
| 17 | PTRS | Andrew Waite | Simon Evans |
| 18 | KCMG | Josh Burdon | Neric Wei |
| 20 | Craft Bamboo | Alex Tagliani | Greg Taylor |
| 25 | S&D | Timothy Macrow | Denis Lian |
| 33 | S&D | Ma Qinghua | Leo Ye |
| 38 | DC Racing Team | Ticardo Texeira | Edgar Lau |
| 91 | Eurasia | Julio Acosta | Dan Wells |
| 95 | Craft Bamboo | Mathias Beche | James Winslow |
Each event features two races, the Saturday race being 50 minutes long and the main race on Sunday one hour. Both races have compulsory timed pit stops, the length of the stop dictated by the driver’s grade.
Media coverage in China will see the main race broadcast live.
Craft Bamboo Reveal Disney-Pixar ‘CARS’ Liveries
Whilst the line-ups for the Craft Bamboo cares were announced earlier the team have now confirmed that both cars will be liveried with a hook up with the Disney-Pixar’s ‘Cars’ franchise for the first two rounds of the Series (though presumably the ‘eyes’ will be removed before the race goes green!).
The team’s two Ligier JS P3s will be specially decorated in ‘Cars’ liveries, with the #95 car representing lead character Lightning McQueen (above) , while #20 will mimic the brands newest protagonist, Jackson Storm. This exciting partnership will create a great buzz on the lead up to the start of the FRD LMP3 season, which will get underway for the very first time from the 30th of June to the 2nd of July at the Zhejiang International Circuit in China. The series will then head to Shanghai for round two later that month for races three and four of the season on the 29th and 30th of July.
Richard Coleman, CEO of Craft-Bamboo Racing: “We are proud to welcome the ‘Cars’ franchise to Craft-Bamboo Racing for the inaugural round of the FRD LMP3 Series. We are very happy to work with Disney-Pixar and hope that fans all across China will enjoy the collaboration. The sight of the fully decorated Ligiers is striking and should make for a very exciting first two rounds of the season as we compete for our first victories in the FRD LMP3 Series.”
Kenneth Ma, CEO of FRD: “I am really happy to see the partnership between the ‘Cars’ franchise and Craft-Bamboo Racing come together for the opening round of the FRD LMP3 Series. We have worked very hard to create this new prototype sprint racing championship in Asia and it is great to see a collaboration like this generate further interest in what we hope will become one of the region’s best motorsport championships. I look forward to seeing the cars in their special liveries first take to the Zhejiang track later this month before the series heads to the Shanghai International Circuit for round two.”
Eurasia Reveal driver line-ups
Eurasia Motorsport are also entering a pair of Ligier LMP3 cars. Dan Wells and Julio Acosta share one car with Martin Cao and Garnet Patterson the other.
“We are extremely happy to support the FRD P3 Series which has the potential to really launch LMP racing in China,” said Team Principal Mark Goddard. “We are also pleased to be running the Ligier LMP3, a car we know very well having already won two championships with a Ligier in Asian Le Mans and the Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup. I believe all four of our drivers will be evenly matched and will give us a very good chance of attaining a good result.
“Both Dan Wells and Julio Acosta are Asian Formula Renault Champions whilst Martin Cao was British F3 Champion in 2014 and currently a works driver for Ford in the China Touring Car Championship. Garnet has some LMP3 experience from Asian Le Mans and he was second in the Asian Formula Renault Championship in 2015 and second in the National Class of Australian F3 the year before. It’s a talented line up and whilst the opposition will be stiff we are confident we will have a good result in Zhejiang.”
