2008 Italian Formula 3...

**gomick** · 10 Jun 2008, 09:53 (Ref:2224602)

Edoardo Piscopo made it 4 race wins from 4 starts in 2008 after winning both races at Magione...

Points after 4 rounds...

1 Edoardo Piscopo - 48
2 Mirko Bortolotti - 27
3 Nico Verdonck - 17
4 Giovanni Nava - 16
5 Salvatore Gatto - 13
6 Francesco Castellacci - 12
7 Salvatore Cicatelli - 11
8 Stamitis Katsimis - 7
9 Marco Zipoli - 7
10 Giulio Glorioso - 3

Go_For_Pole · 10 Jun 2008, 11:27 (Ref:2224691)

Piscopo and Bortolotti are the top guns here, the rest are still developing. Most of the teams had a late start because the championship finalized its move to Dalara 308s and FIAT engines quite late so many drivers are still finding their way around F3.

The thing though is that the changes in the technical direction revitalized the series: there were 16 cars in Magione and 14 of the were 308s. To put this in perspective in UK there are also 14 308s (of course there are also 4 Mygales), in Spain only 12 308s, while Germany does not allow them at all yet. And all this while there is a civil war of sorts with Formula Master starting an Italian series (on the upside it only had a grid of 8 cars in its first race).

**gomick** · 10 Jun 2008, 23:57 (Ref:2225299)

Nico Verdonck should go OK, he came 3rd in the German series last year... Good for the championship that there where 14 308's at Magione - Italian F3 has a proud history of producing F1 drivers...

**gomick** · 6 Jul 2008, 01:03 (Ref:2244871)

Series moves to Monza this weekend - Francesco Castellacci was quickest in both qualifying sessions...

**gomick** · 7 Jul 2008, 10:14 (Ref:2246159)

Mirko Bortolotti won both races at the super fast Monza, stopping Edoardo Piscopo's 4-race winning streak...

Points after 6 rounds...

1. Edoardo Piscopo - 56
2. Mirko Bortolotti - 47
3. Francesco Castellacci - 22
4. Salvatore Gatto - 21
5. Giovanni Nava - 21
6. Salvatore Cicatelli - 19
7. Nico Verdonck - 19
8. Marco Zipoli - 16
9. Facundo Crovo - 10
10. Stamitis Katsimis - 7

**chunterer** · 10 Jul 2008, 09:11 (Ref:2248508)

Good for the series afaiac that there are at least 3 very handy drivers here; Piscopo, Verdonck and Gatto. Admittedly I don't know much about many of the others?

runshaw · 12 Jul 2008, 17:52 (Ref:2249754)

All I know is Castellacci who raced in British F3 last year with ADR, he never made it into the top 15 IIRC despite being in a championship class car. He was usually well behind the frontrunners in the National class.

Go_For_Pole · 19 Jul 2008, 13:09 (Ref:2253885)

I am at marvellous Mugello and I can tell you, Bortolotti is killing everybody.

**gomick** · 20 Jul 2008, 06:21 (Ref:2254260)

It is a great circuit - Mirko Bortolotti got the pole for both races...

**gomick** · 22 Jul 2008, 07:22 (Ref:2255679)

Mirko Bortolotti dominated at Mugello & now leads the championship

Points after 8 rounds...

1. Mirko Bortolotti - 70
2. Edoardo Piscopo - 66
3. Francesco Castellacci - 33
4. Giovanni Nava - 32
5. Salvatore Cicatelli - 29
6. Nico Verdonck - 25
7. Salvatore Gatto - 21

Go_For_Pole · 23 Jul 2008, 13:02 (Ref:2256578)

Word on Mugello was that top Italian teams like Prema, RC and Cram are seriously considering returning to the series. It probably has to do with both the way the series is going and the possibility that the national FR2000 series will stop at the end of the year.

runshaw · 23 Jul 2008, 14:27 (Ref:2256629)

Why is there a possibility of Italian FR stopping? It's always had huge grids and is one of the strongest FR championships.

META4 · 23 Jul 2008, 16:38 (Ref:2256700)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Go_For_Pole

Word on Mugello was that top Italian teams like Prema, RC and Cram are seriously considering returning to the series. It probably has to do with both the way the series is going and the possibility that the national FR2000 series will stop at the end of the year.

Strange news if you consider that RC is already involved in F3 Euroseries with the official support of VW, Italian F3 uses Fiat Engine.

Prema and Cram are not really front runners this season theirs championships, Formula 3 Euroseries and Formula Master, so it could make sense for them to swap to Italian F3.

I guess there is still a future for Italian F3 now Italian Formula Master has almost died.The only issues would be to agree the regulations that teams from F3 italia could enter international races like Masters of Formula 3 and Macau GP

Italian F3 could be called "Formula Fiat", as all the teams run the same package , so not much difference with Formula Renault 2000, only the performance is better in F3.By the way i am not sure what is the Difference of Budget between Italian Formula Renault and Italian F3.

I think underneath this there is a marketing fight between Tatuus and Dallara

Italian Formula Renault 2000 stopping... well maybe Renault Sport will create an EEC : Eastern Europe Cup to compare to NEC (North Europe) and WEC (Western Europe)

Go_For_Pole · 24 Jul 2008, 08:24 (Ref:2257022)

The theory that I heard is that Renault will stop national championships and instead focus on the European and various regional series. So maybe even UK is (or will be in the near future) affected, maybe Italians will merge with the Swiss and create a *EC (replace * as you see fit).

I would not expect the Italian teams to switch from European F3 to Italian F3 but rather to expand. And why not? The Formula Fiat as META called it (a bit unkindly I would think) is having a pretty good first year and the Sara Racing Weekend concept is reasonably sucessful. Budgets in the region of 300k I understand.

There is also lots of talent coming from F. Azzurra, I do not how many people noticed but Azzurra graduates are now leading both Italian and Spanish F3. AciSport is doing a pretty good job I guess although there is some concern on the way the category will develop next year. Perhaps FPT will expand to that, afterall it would be quite handy to create a formal link with F3. Let's hope.

Lightning Bug · 24 Jul 2008, 10:22 (Ref:2257090)

Quote:

Originally Posted by runshaw

Why is there a possibility of Italian FR stopping? It's always had huge grids and is one of the strongest FR championships.

Grids are still big, but quality is down a lot this year - some of the top teams (eg Epsilon) have now switched to WEC. All the top Eurocup drivers this year are from WEC and NEC, not Italian.

**gomick** · 25 Jul 2008, 08:34 (Ref:2257619)

Italian Formula Renault drivers Cesar Ramos & Michele Faccin are running 6th & 7th in Eurocup...

**gomick** · 30 Aug 2008, 23:33 (Ref:2278427)

Mirko Bortolotti will start from pole in both races at Varano (Rnd 9/10) from championship rival Edoardo Piscopo...

**gomick** · 1 Sep 2008, 10:23 (Ref:2279281)

Mirko Bortolotti won both races - thats 6 in a row

....

Points after 10 rounds...

1. Bortolotti - 93
2. Piscopo - 74
3. Cicatelli - 42
4. Castellacci - 37
5. Nava - 37

Go_For_Pole · 1 Sep 2008, 12:13 (Ref:2279347)

6 in a row is not such an achievement given that those two are in a league of their own. Still, Bortolotti looks a very interesting prospect.

Go_For_Pole · 13 Sep 2008, 15:06 (Ref:2289006)

Piscopo strikes back, double pole in front of Bortoloti. Not even a visiting Dillmann could get between them, they are in a league of their own!

**gomick** · 13 Sep 2008, 22:03 (Ref:2289296)

Ahh very good - lets hope he finishes in front of Bortolotti in both races aswell...

**gomick** · 15 Sep 2008, 09:27 (Ref:2290680)

Mirko Bortolotti & Edoardo Piscopo shared a race win each at Misano...

Points after 12 rounds...

1. Bortolotti 110
2. Piscopo 94
3. Cicatelli 50
4. Castellacci 43
5. Nava 43
6. Zipoli 39

Go_For_Pole · 15 Sep 2008, 11:09 (Ref:2290771)

Most importantly Dillmann managed to split them in race 2 which was held in heavy rain.

By the way you may watch videos from the races in acisport's official site:
http://www.acisportitalia.it/ACISpor...20Formula%203&

Go_For_Pole · 27 Sep 2008, 11:02 (Ref:2298913)

Double pole for Piscopo, Bortolotti got a 2nd and a 3rd as Dillmann managed to split them in race 2 grid. Piscopo has a chance to close in on Bortolotti if Dillmann has also good race pace. Also Giacomo Ricci was brought in by BVM Target to showcase their car, he improved all the time and ended up 4th and 5th. If he continues improving in the races he could easily get a podium. Overall, 8 in the same second for race 1 and 10 cars for race 2, not bad at all.

Race 1
1 E. Piscopo 1'11.998
2 M. Bortolotti 1'12.237
3 T. Dillmann 1'12.324
4 G. Ricci 1'12.795
5 M. Zipoli 1'12.889
6 F. Castellacci 1'12.897
7 M. Dalle Stelle 1'12.908
8 S. Cicatelli 1'12.928
9 G. Nava 1'13.036
10 A. Cicognani 1'13.037
11 F. Prandi 1'13.830
12 A. Comi 1'14.234
13 N. Piancastelli 1'14.550

Race 2
1 E. Piscopo 1'12.174
2 T. Dillmann 1'12.444
3 M. Bortolotti 1'12.506
4 M. Zipoli 1'12.902
5 G. Ricci 1'12.957
6 S. Cicatelli 1'12.970
7 F. Castellacci 1'12.995
8 A. Cicognani 1'13.096
9 G. Nava 1'13.109
10 M. Dalle Stelle 1'13.166
11 F. Prandi 1'13.950
12 A. Comi 1'14.309
13 N. Piancastelli 1'14.748

**gomick** · 28 Sep 2008, 08:36 (Ref:2299333)

Piscopo really needs a dnf from Bortolotti... Didnt get it in Race 1, though he did win from Bortolotti...

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