The European F3 comes to traditional GP of Pau, in France, for the third round of the season
After passing by the Paul Ricard (FRA) and the Hungaroring (HUN) racetracks the European F3 Championship returns this weekend (May 13-15) to French soil for the disputes of the third round of the year. On the streets of the city of Pau, in Southwest France, the competition will host steps 7, 8 and 9 of 2016.
Member of the Red Bull Junior Team, the Brazilian pilot Sergio Sette Câmara (Red Bull | Petrobras | Cemig | Mercantil do Brasil) will return to an official competition after three weeks away from the tracks. Unlike the first two rounds, the challenges this weekend are going well beyond the car tunings and the pursuit of thousandths of a second to ensure the best positions in the rankings.
Held since 1930, the Pau Grand Prix is one of the main tourist activities in the region of Pyrénées-Atlantiques. The event, in addition to the F3, has several other races that keep the audience entertained throughout the day in the stands. This year will also be part of the programming the GT4 European Championship races, the Peugeot RCZ Racing Cup, the French F-4, the Twin Cup and the Clio Cup. This true festival of speed shall receive nearly 200 cars and an audience of more than 100 thousand people in the three days of the event.
Despite being mounted on the streets of a city of the interior, the Pau GP circuit has very high speed stretches where cars reach 225 km/h. Conversely, as well as all non-permanent track, very closed ant technical curves require from the pilots their utmost attention all the time. The full extent of the track’s layout is 2760 meters and each lap required 26 gear changes.
“Last year I had my first experience here in Pau. The track is very difficult and, unlike Macau, for example, the stroke is short and you need maximum attention in all laps. As in every street track, the closer of the guard-rails, the faster you can do your laps. Finding this limit, especially with the forecast of heavy rain on Friday, it will certainly be the biggest challenge of the weekend, “said Sérgio Sette Câmara.
The three races of the weekend will be bradcasted live by the official website of the competition, as well as the live-timing system available at www.fiaf3europe.com
Check out the official program of the weekend (Brasília time):
Friday (13)
Free practice 1- 5:00am – 5:40am.
Free practice 2 – 5:45am – 6:25am.
Qualifying 1 – 9:25am – 10:10am.
Qualifying 2 – 13:10am -13:55M.
Saturday (14)
Race 1 – 6:15am – 6:50am.
Race 2 – 10:50am – 11:25am.
Sunday (15)
Race 3 – 10:15am – 10:50am.
Photo: Dirk Pommert