After a long winter break, the time has come for the Euroformula Open to start a new season, the tenth under its current denomination and the 16th since GT Sport expanded to the continental level its F.3-based series. 2023 is a year of milestones, as GT Sport Organización celebrates its 25th season of racing activity, which started in 1999 with the Spanish GT series.
The Euroformula Open has established itself as one of the key ladders in the pyramid of single-seater series, thanks to close racing and the quality of the Dallara 320, unanimously acclaimed as the best car in its segment. No wonder then that a lot of Euroformula Open graduates are doing well at the top of the pyramid. The examples of Carlos Sainz and Yuki Tsunoda in F.1 (with now also Jack Doohan, Liam Lawson and Felipe Drugovich in the ‘waiting room’, or Álex Palou, Colin Herta and Kyle Kirkwood in Indycar are well-known and even more impressive are the numbers of EF drivers competing in F.2, F.3, Indy Lights, or being professionals in GT, sportscar and touring cars racing.
The Euroformula Open will continue to play its role as a top-class school and springboard also in 2023, a season that can be dimmed of transition as the series prepares for an overhaul ahead of 2024, to further reduce costs and make it more attractive on the competitive market of single-seater formulae. In the meantime, it will continue to offer an exciting show even with fewer cars on the grid.
Jesús Pareja, CEO of GT Sport, explains: « Over the years, the Euroformula Open has proven its raison d’être and we strongly believe in our product. The Dallara 320 is a fantastic car, our calendar has only very great tracks, the format is the correct one, and the racing and the show of the like of everybody. Being a totally independent series has its cons but also its pros and gives us the flexibility to change and improve things for next year. Clearly, we want to be where we were before the pandemic and the economic slowdown, and we will. »
The 2023 starts in Portugal, but this time in the Autódromo internacional do Algarve, the beautiful and challenging 4.653-km circuit near Portimão, which recently seduced also the F.1 world. It will be the first time that Euroformula Open cars will be shod by Hankook tyres. The new partnership, though, has been hit by the unforeseen consequences derived from the fire in a Korean factory that has temporarily destroyed the manufacturing capacity and stocks of the tyre supplier for an undetermined period. Contingency plans will be announced shortly.
The 2023 field will see at the start faithful teams such as Team Motopark, BVM Racing and CryptoTower Racing Team. In total, six teams and drivers from four continents.
Motopark is entering four cars for four of the finest rising stars coming from junior series.
Mexico’s Noel León started last year his racing career in Europe after having taken the US and Mexican F.4 titles, which make him one of the drivers from the Americas with the highest potential.
Jakob Bergmeister is one of the youngest talents of German motorsports, on top of belonging to a well-known drivers’ dynasty, and has been very successful in karting.
Another very young contender, Cian Shields, from Scotland, joins after a very promising first campaign in GB3.
Bryce Aron, from the US, has already shone in Europe and will join with a little more formulae experience than his teammates.
BVM Racing, the small but competitive Italian outfit, is determined to fight for top positions, as it did in the final part of the 2022 season with its home-raised ace, Francesco Simonazzi, now turned into a race winner.
The most awaited new entry will be Juju Noda, the 17-year-old driver-daughter of Japanese racing hero Hideki Noda. Juju has a huge following in Japan and will be the tenth female driver to race in GT Sport’s formula. Her 2023 season started with a win at Mugello in the Drexler Cup earlier this year, driving the 320 taken care of by the family team, Noda Racing.
Another son of a former F.1 driver, Enzo Trulli, will be back to the series with CryptoTower Racing Team, another strong force in the series in recent years. Two years ago, Enzo visited the podium at Portimão and will go for it again. The other driver of the Japanese outfit will be Tim Tramnitz, from Germany, who has solid credentials in F.4, as Italian and German vice-champion in 2021.
The Euroformula Open has attracted also two ‘true racers’ in spirit, ready to defy age and younger blocks. Czechia’s Vladimír Netušil will be on his second campaign, after the great progress shown last year at the wheel of the Effective Racing-entered car.
On his side, former Superbike star Paolo Brajnik, from Serbia, will be making his debut, in the Dallara ran by NV Racing. Both have been very successful in F.3-based series organized in Central Europe, Austria and Italy and will be able to revive their rivalry, now for the newly-created Gold Cup.