The 2006 Formula 3 Euro Series season was the fourth championship year of Europe’s premier Formula Three series. As in previous years, there were ten rounds – each with two races – held at a variety of European circuits. Each weekend consisted of one 60-minute practice session and one qualifying session, followed by one c.110 km race and one c.80 km race. In a revised qualifying system that used only one session, the starting order for race 2 was determined by the finishing order of race 1, with the top eight positions reversed.

Summary

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2006 saw the Euro Series make its debut at three venues: Brands Hatch in the UK, the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona in Spain, and Le Mans. This was the first time that rounds had been held in Britain and Spain.

A number of regulatory changes took place prior to the 2006 season. Mid-season testing was heavily restricted to a maximum of 10 days per driver/car, with no testing at race venues, leaving teams and drivers to make the most of the race weekend test sessions. The qualifying session for race 2 was dropped in favour of a result-based reverse grid system. The finishing order of race 1 decided the grid for race 2, with the top eight finishers reversed. Chassis specifications of between two and four years old (from 2002–2004) were permitted for the first time, with the creation of the Drivers' Trophy title. Eligibility for this award was restricted to drivers who were not more than 22 years old.[1]

After Lewis Hamilton's domination of the 2005 season, the 2006 championship battle was considerably closer. The title was won by Scotsman Paul di Resta, who ended the year 11 points ahead of Germany's Sebastian Vettel. For much of the season, di Resta and Vettel were exchanging the points lead, but the German's focus wavered towards the end of the year. BMW-Sauber's motorsport director Mario Theissen attributed this to the busy schedule that Vettel undertook as his team's test driver in the last three Grands Prix of the 2006 F1 season.[2] Other drivers worthy of note included Kamui Kobayashi, who finished on the podium twice on the way to winning the Rookie Cup, and race winner Kazuki Nakajima, whose performances attracted a testing contract with Williams.

Not surprisingly, the two main championship contenders were team-mates at ASM Formule 3, the French-based team that has dominated the Euro Series for the last three seasons with three Drivers' and Teams' Championship titles in succession. 2006 saw another improvement in form from Manor Motorsport – a former multiple champion team in British F3. With Japan's Kohei Hirate and the experienced Esteban Guerrieri, it was frequently ASM's closest challenger and finished 2nd in the Teams' Championship standings. This year, Manor was no longer the sole British team in the Euroseries – it was joined by entries from Hitech Racing and Fortec Motorsport at Hockenheim (round 1) and Brands Hatch (round 4).

With only one race win for an Opel-powered car – from a reverse-grid pole position – it was another season of domination by the HWA-built Mercedes engine. Dallara was the de facto sole supplier of chassis, with the Signature SLC project on indefinite hold and the Mygale chassis still yet to race in this series.

Teams and drivers

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2006 Entry List[3]
Team # Driver Rookie Chassis[N 1] Engine Rounds
  ASM Formule 3 1   Sebastian Vettel F305/059 Mercedes All
2   Paul di Resta F305/021 All
16   Giedo van der Garde F306/012 All
17   Kamui Kobayashi R F305/012 All
  Manor Motorsport 3   Kohei Hirate F305/001 Mercedes All
4   Esteban Guerrieri F305/020 All
18   Kazuki Nakajima F305/062 All
  Prema Powerteam 5   Alejandro Núñez F306/004 Mercedes All
6   Ronayne O'Mahony F305/023 All
19   João Urbano R F306/005 1–5
  Paolo Maria Nocera 6–9
  Roberto Streit 10
  ASL Mücke Motorsport 7   Sébastien Buemi F305/011 Mercedes All
8   Jonathan Summerton R F305/028 All
  Signature-Plus 9   Guillaume Moreau F305/035 Mercedes All
10   Romain Grosjean F305/029 All
20   Charlie Kimball F306/010 All
21   Tim Sandtler R F305/036 All
  HBR Motorsport 11   Richard Antinucci F305/045 Mercedes All
  Team ISR 14   Filip Salaquarda F306/009 Opel All
  Bas Leinders Junior Racing Team 22   Michael Herck[N 2] F306/016 Mercedes All
  Jo Zeller Racing 24   Peter Elkmann F306/014 Opel 1–7
  Natacha Gachnang 9–10
  Julia Kuhn 25   Julia Kuhn F305/063 Opel 1–2, 4, 6
  Fortec Motorsport 26   Yelmer Buurman F305/002 Mercedes 1, 4
  Hitech Racing 29   James Jakes F305/037 Mercedes 1, 4
30   James Walker F305/003 1, 4
  Bordoli Motorsport 31   Natacha Gachnang F305/026 Opel 5–6
  Van Amersfoort Racing 32   Dominick Muermans F306/023 Opel 7
33   Récardo Bruins Choi F305/046 7
Trophy
  Janiec Racing Team 40   Anthony Janiec F302/063 Renault 1, 3, 5–7, 9–10
46   Julien Abelli F302/067 9
  HBR Motorsport 41   Cemil Çipa F304/012 Opel 1, 3, 5–7, 9–10
  SMS Seyffarth Motorsport 42   Kevin Fank F302/032 Mercedes 1
  Gina-Maria Adenauer 5
43   Julian Theobald F303/015 1, 3, 5–7
44   Bruno Fechner F302/012 1, 6–7
  Dominik Schraml 3
  FS Motorsport 45 F302/050 Opel 5
Icon Legend
R Rookie

Driver changes

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Changed Teams
Entering/Re-Entering Formula 3 Euro Series
Entering Trophy Class
Leaving Formula 3 Euro Series

Additional participations

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Prema Powerteam's third entry was taken over by Italy's Paulo Maria Nocera for four rounds, starting at the Nürburgring. He in turn was replaced by Brazil's Roberto Streit at the final round of the season. Bruno Rudolf Fechner started five races in SMS Seyffarth Motorsport's #44 entry, but was substituted by fellow German Dominik Schraml in round 3 at Oschersleben. The #44 car was not present at every round. Schraml made a one-off return at the Norisring, driving a Dallara-Opel for FS Motorsport. Kevin Fank's #42 SMS Seyffarth Motorsport entry returned at the Norisring in the hands of Gina Maria Adenauer before it, too, failed to make another appearance. Like the drivers that they replaced, Schraml and Adenauer were eligible for the Drivers' Trophy. Julien Abelli, of Janiec Racing, did not make any appearances until the Le Mans round.

In round 5 at the Norisring, F3 rookie Natacha Gachnang of Switzerland drove a second entry for Jo Zeller Racing. She also competed in rounds 6, 9, and 10. In the F3 Masters at Zandvoort, ATS F3 Cup team Van Amersfoort Racing made a one-off appearance with two cars for its Cup regulars, Dominik Muermans and Récardo Bruins Choi.

Calendar

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Round Circuit/Location Country Date
1 R1 Hockenheimring   Germany 8 April
R2 9 April
2 R1 EuroSpeedway Lausitz   Germany 29 April
R2 30 April
3 R1 Motorsport Arena Oschersleben   Germany 20 May
R2 21 May
4 R1 Brands Hatch   United Kingdom 1 July
R2 2 July
5 R1 Norisring, Nuremberg   Germany 22 July
R2 23 July
6 R1 Nürburgring   Germany 19 August
R2 20 August
7 R1 Circuit Park Zandvoort   Netherlands 2 September
R2 3 September
8 R1 Circuit de Catalunya   Spain 23 September
R2 24 September
9 R1 Bugatti Circuit, Le Mans   France 14 October
R2 15 October
10 R1 Hockenheimring   Germany 28 October
R2 29 October

Results

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Round Circuit Pole Position Fastest Lap Winning Driver Winning Team Winning Rookie Trophy Winner
1 R1   Hockenheimring   Esteban Guerrieri   Kazuki Nakajima   Kohei Hirate   Manor Motorsport   Kamui Kobayashi   Julian Theobald
R2   Kohei Hirate   Sebastian Vettel   ASM Formule 3   Kamui Kobayashi   Julian Theobald
2 R1   EuroSpeedway Lausitz   Paul di Resta   Kohei Hirate   Esteban Guerrieri   Manor Motorsport   Jonathan Summerton
R2   Kazuki Nakajima   Kazuki Nakajima   Manor Motorsport   Jonathan Summerton
3 R1   Motorsport Arena Oschersleben   Esteban Guerrieri   Peter Elkmann   Paul di Resta   ASM Formule 3   Kamui Kobayashi   Julian Theobald
R2   Sébastien Buemi   Sébastien Buemi   ASL Mücke Motorsport   Kamui Kobayashi   Julian Theobald
4 R1   Brands Hatch   Paul di Resta   Paul di Resta   Paul di Resta   ASM Formule 3   Kamui Kobayashi
R2   Sebastian Vettel   Peter Elkmann   Jo Zeller Racing   Kamui Kobayashi
5 R1   Norisring   Giedo van der Garde   Sebastian Vettel   Paul di Resta   ASM Formule 3   Jonathan Summerton   Gina-Maria Adenauer
R2   Sébastien Buemi   Giedo van der Garde   ASM Formule 3   Kamui Kobayashi   Anthony Janiec
6 R1   Nürburgring   Sebastian Vettel   Sebastian Vettel   Sebastian Vettel   ASM Formule 3   Kamui Kobayashi   Bruno Fechner
R2   Kamui Kobayashi   Sebastian Vettel   ASM Formule 3   Kamui Kobayashi   Julian Theobald
7 R1   Circuit Park Zandvoort   Paul di Resta   Sébastien Buemi   Paul di Resta   ASM Formule 3   Kamui Kobayashi   Bruno Fechner
R2   Sebastian Vettel   Charlie Kimball   Signature-Plus   Tim Sandtler   Julian Theobald
8 R1   Circuit de Catalunya   Paul di Resta   Sebastian Vettel   Sebastian Vettel   ASM Formule 3   Kamui Kobayashi
R2   Kohei Hirate   Richard Antinucci   HBR Motorsport   Tim Sandtler
9 R1   Bugatti Circuit   Giedo van der Garde   Esteban Guerrieri   Paul di Resta   ASM Formule 3   Jonathan Summerton   Cemil Çipa
R2   Sébastien Buemi   Richard Antinucci   HBR Motorsport   Jonathan Summerton   Julien Abelli
10 R1   Hockenheimring   Paul di Resta   Sébastien Buemi   Esteban Guerrieri   Manor Motorsport   Jonathan Summerton   Anthony Janiec
R2   Sébastien Buemi   Jonathan Summerton   ASL Mücke Motorsport   Jonathan Summerton   Cemil Çipa

Season standings

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The Drivers' Trophy is restricted to drivers who are not more than 22 years old, using chassis specifications that are 2 to 4 years old.

Drivers Standings

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  • Points are awarded as follows:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 PP
Race 1 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1 1
Race 2 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0
Pos Driver HOC1
 
LAU
 
OSC
 
BRH
 
NOR
 
NÜR
 
ZAN
 
CAT
 
LMS
 
HOC2
 
Pts
1   Paul di Resta 3 Ret 2 3 1 12 1 5 1 18† 2 13 1 14 10 6 1 6 10 6 86
2   Sebastian Vettel 5 1 3 6 5 14 2 7 2 Ret 1 1 24† 2 1 Ret 9 9 3 12 75
3   Kohei Hirate 1 4 18 11 4 2 DNS 17 4 Ret 5 Ret 3 13 2 4 5 3 5 7 61
4   Esteban Guerrieri 14 3 1 5 2 3 16 12 10 DNS Ret 5 8 4 3 7 6 8 1 4 58
5   Richard Antinucci 7 DNS 5 2 9 Ret 3 23† DSQ EX 7 2 14 16 8 1 8 1 12 8 38
6   Giedo van der Garde Ret 7 12 9 Ret 11 4 19 6 1 3 11 2 5 16 8 DNS 12 9 2 37
7   Kazuki Nakajima 2 6 8 1 6 5 14 13 Ret 5 9 18 22 3 4 3 11 7 Ret DNS 36
8   Kamui Kobayashi 6 5 11 10 11 7 6 3 5 2 8 3 5 Ret 5 Ret DNS 14 Ret 9 34
9   Jonathan Summerton Ret 11 4 7 17 Ret 12 10 3 13 24† 16 6 17 Ret Ret 2 4 8 1 32
10   Guillaume Moreau 4 2 7 Ret 8 4 13 20 18† 6 11 Ret 7 7 9 10 3 5 4 Ret 32
11   Charlie Kimball 22† 12 9 8 10 Ret 15 11 13 4 10 6 11 1 6 2 4 2 6 Ret 31
12   Sébastien Buemi 19 14 Ret 12 7 1 21 16 7 11 4 8 Ret 8 7 5 DSQ 11 2 3 31
13   Romain Grosjean 21† 13 6 4 3 6 9 6 12 8 18 10 4 11 NC 9 20 10 DSQ DSQ 19
14   Peter Elkmann 12 21 13 18 21 13 8 1 9 3 12 4 10 9 14
15   Michael Herck Ret 16 Ret 14 Ret DNS 7 2 Ret 10 6 Ret 9 23 12 Ret 7 13 11 Ret 12
16   James Jakes 9 8 5 4 7
17   Roberto Streit 7 5 4
18   Tim Sandtler 15 22† 16 16 16 17 Ret 22 19† 9 13 9 13 6 11 11 10 15 18 15 1
19   João Urbano 11 9 10 13 12 9 19 24 8 Ret 1
20   Yelmer Buurman 8 Ret 11 9 1
21   Alejandro Núñez 10 10 19 17† 13 8 18 15 Ret 7 22 21 12 22 13 12 14 16 14 Ret 0
22   Filip Salaquarda Ret 15 14 Ret 14 10 20 18 14 17† 15 7 15 10 15 Ret 16 18 Ret 11 0
23   James Walker 20† Ret 10 8 0
24   Natacha Gachnang 15 DNS 23 15 12 Ret 13 10 0
25   Ronayne O’Mahony Ret 17 15 15 15 15 17 14 11 12 14 22† 23† 19 14 Ret 13 17 15 13 0
26   Paolo Maria Nocera Ret 12 17 Ret Ret Ret 15 19 0
27   Récardo Bruins Choi 16 12 0
28   Julia Kuhn DNQ DNQ 17 Ret 22 21 20 20 0
29   Dominick Muermans Ret 20 0
Trophy Class
1   Julian Theobald 13 18 18 16 17 15 17 14 19 15 73
2   Anthony Janiec 16 19 Ret 20 Ret 14 19 17 21 DNS 19 21 16 16 67
3   Cemil Çipa 18 20 19 18 Ret DNS 21 19 20 21 17 Ret 17 14 65
4   Bruno Fechner Ret DNS 16 Ret 18 18 25
5   Gina-Maria Adenauer 16 16 14
6   Dominik Schraml 20 19 DSQ Ret 10
7   Kevin Fank 17 Ret 6
guest drivers ineligible for championship points
  Julien Abelli 18 20 0
Pos Driver HOC1
 
LAU
 
OSC
 
BRH
 
NOR
 
NÜR
 
ZAN
 
CAT
 
LMS
 
HOC2
 
Pts
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver Second place
Bronze Third place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap

† — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.

The effects of the new reverse-grid system – which put the 8th-placed finisher from race 1 on pole for race 2 – can be seen clearly in this chart. 50% of the race 2 pole sitters went on to win, while there was only one double winner (Vettel in round 6) and no other race 1 winner even reached the podium in race 2.

Rookie Cup

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Rookie drivers are only eligible for the Rookie Cup title if they have not previously competed in a national or international Formula 3 championship.

Pos Driver HOC1
 
LAU
 
OSC
 
BRH
 
NOR
 
NÜR
 
ZAN
 
CAT
 
LMS
 
HOC2
 
Pts
1   Kamui Kobayashi 6 5 11 10 11 7 6 3 5 2 8 3 5 Ret 5 Ret DNS 14 Ret 9 119
2   Jonathan Summerton Ret 11 4 7 17 Ret 12 10 3 13 24 16 6 17 Ret Ret 2 4 8 1 107
3   Tim Sandtler 15 22 16 16 16 17 Ret 22 19 9 13 9 13 6 11 11 10 15 18 15 104
4   João Urbano 11 9 10 13 12 9 19 24 8 Ret 53
Pos Driver HOC1
 
LAU
 
OSC
 
BRH
 
NOR
 
NÜR
 
ZAN
 
CAT
 
LMS
 
HOC2
 
Pts

Team Standings

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Team Points
1   ASM Formule 3 197
2   Manor Motorsport 147
3   Signature-Plus 91
4   ASL Mücke Motorsport 69
5   HBR Motorsport 42
6   Jo Zeller Racing 18
7   Bas Leinders Junior Racing Team 16
8   Hitech Racing 11
9   Prema Powerteam 7
10   Fortec Motorsport 2

Nations Cup

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Nation Points
1   Japan 124
2   United States 100
3   Great Britain 90
4   Germany 89
5   Argentina 56
6   France 53
7   Netherlands 38
8   Switzerland 32
9   Monaco 12
10   Brazil 4
11   Portugal 1
12   Australia 1

Notes

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  1. ^ All drivers competed in Dallara chassis; model listed.
  2. ^ Herck is a Romanian driver who raced this year under Monegasque racing license.

References

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  1. ^ Comprehensive regulation changes for 2006 Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine From f1prospects.com, 23 December 2005. Retrieved 7 September 2007.
  2. ^ Theissen regrets overloading Vettel From autosport.com, 21 November 2006. Retrieved 7 September 2007.
  3. ^ "2006 Entry List" (PDF). formel3guide.com. Retrieved 13 October 2009.
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