Team West-Tec F3 is a motor racing team owned by Gavin Wills and John Miller based in Corby in the United Kingdom, the most successful team in the history of the European F3 Open Championship, it also won two drivers championships in the ASCAR Racing Series.

United Kingdom Team West-Tec
Founded1988[1]
Founder(s)Gavin Wills
BaseCorby, Northamptonshire, England
Team principal(s)Gavin Wills
John Miller
Former seriesEuroformula Open
British Formula 3
FIA Formula 3 European Championship
British LMP3 Cup
ASCAR Racing Series
Teams'
Championships
2011 European F3 Open
Drivers'
Championships
ASCAR Racing Series 2005 (Vergers)
ASCAR Racing Series 2006 (Playle)
2009 European F3 Open Copa Class (MacLeod)
2011 European F3 Open Copa Class (Gamberini)
2013 European F3 Open (Jones)
Websitehttp://www.teamwest-tec.com/

History

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Team West-Tec car of Oli Playle competing at Rockingham in 2004.

From 2001 to 2006 the team took part in the ASCAR Racing Series which was mainly based locally at the Rockingham Motor Speedway. The team took two consecutive drivers titles in 2005 and 2006 with Michael Vergers and Oli Playle.

In 2007 Team West-Tec F3 became the first British team to compete in the Spanish Formula Three Championship, purchasing assets from leading GP2 team Racing Engineering. In 2009 the series was renamed the European F3 Open. Since 2007 the team has taken 44 wins and 116 podiums and three championship titles – including winning the support race at the 2008 European Grand Prix at Valencia.

In 2009 the team also returned to British Formula 3 International Series completing a full campaign with Max Snegirev as well as part campaigns for Mathieu Maurage, Miky Faccin, Jay Bridger and Ma Qinghua.

In 2010 the team continued in the European F3 Open but primarily used their British F3 cars for testing with drivers from F1, GP2 and GP3 – where young drivers get very little track time to develop and hone their skills. However the team continued to make occasional British F3 race starts and took a national class win with young Mexican, Juan Carlos Sistos on his series debut at Silverstone.

The team also announced a plan to form a new joint venture with China's motorsport team, Champ Racing, to enter an additional car under the banner of "Champ Motorsport with Team West-Tec". This venture started in September 2010 with experienced driver Michael Ho racing at Brands Hatch, Monza, Jerez and Barcelona. In his second race weekend, at Monza, Ho took third place in the Copa class, fifth overall.

The team was successful in the European F3 Open in 2010, challenging at the front in both classes and winning races with more than one driver, eventually finishing as runner-up in both the driver's and teams' championships.

For 2011 the European F3 Open team featured four full-season drivers in Victor Corrêa, Fabio Gamberini, Luca Orlandi and Sam Dejonghe, plus a number of other drivers racing on part programmes during the year such as Fahmi Ilyas, Kotaro Sakurai and Tatiana Calderón.

The 2011 season was also successful. Victor Corrêa won two races and Fahmi Ilyas one in the team's newest Dallara F308s, Ilyas having made a debut at Brands Hatch in the car later used by Tatiana Calderón who scored points at Barcelona after she stepped up from Star Mazda in the USA. Fabio Gamberini also won a race outright at Spa and also won an impressive ten times in the Copa class, where he was champion as well as being third overall. Sam Dejonghe twice featured on the overall podium and took four Copa class wins to finish as Copa runner-up and Luca Orlandi, despite missing two races, secured third in Copa for an unprecedented 1-2-3 for the team. Kotaro Sakurai featured on the Brands Hatch Copa podium in Luca's place on his debut in the series. The team won the overall 2011 Teams' Championship.

For 2012, Sam Dejonghe returned with a single win before being dropped at the end of the year, to be replaced by Ed Jones. Manu Bejarano started the season but stopped with no budget after two rounds, although Roberto La Rocca, from Venezuela, joined the team. Jordan Oon and Luca Orlandi drove the team's Copa F308 entries, with Orlandi replaced by Kiwi Chris Vlok after an injury at Brands Hatch. After a much improved end to 2012, with Dejonghe and new signing Ed Jones taking second place at each of the last three meetings, Team West-Tec F3 remained the most successful team in the history of the series.

Team West-Tec had eight drivers in 2013, with Ed Jones winning the championship and Nelson Mason and finishing third. Two further F312 cars were campaigned by Orlandi and La Rocca. The team also operated four Copa F308 cars for Sean (son of Tom) Walkinshaw, South African Liam Venter, Chinaman Huan Zhu and young British driver Cameron Twynham.

 
Félix Serrallés competing in the 2014 FIA F3 European season at Hockenheim.

Team West-Tec F3 also returned with a three-car team to the reorganised British F3 series in 2013. Ed Jones took five wins from the twelve races in the second tier National Class.

In 2014, Yarin Stern, Tanart Sathienthirakul and Wei Fung Thong raced full-time for West-Tec in the renamed Euroformula Open. Nici Pohler did all rounds bar the final at Barcelona due to illness and was replaced by Fabian Schiller. Stern managed to grab the team 5 podiums over the year.

2014 also saw the beginning of West Tec's attack on the incredibly competitive FIA European F3 Championship with Felix Serralles taking on the whole season while Hector Hurst and Macau's Andy Chang split the season between each other.

Former series results

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British Formula 3

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Class B
Year Car Drivers Races Wins Poles F/Laps Points D.C.
1991 Reynard 893 Volkswagen   Thornton Mustard 3 0 0 0 1 14th
British Formula Three Championship
2009 Mygale M-09F3 Mugen-Honda   Jay Bridger 2 0 0 0 28 15th†
National Class
2009 Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda   Max Snegirev 14 0 0 0 108 4th
  Mathieu Maurage 2 0 0 0 12 9th
  Qinghua Ma 2 0 0 0 10 10th
  Michele Faccin 2 0 0 0 20 8th
2010 Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda   Luiz Razia 3 0 0 0 23 4th
  Juan Carlos Sistos 6 1 0 0 72 3rd
Rookie Class
2011 Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda   Luca Orlandi 3 1 0 0 45 3rd
National Class
2013 Dallara F312 Toyota   Roberto La Rocca 3 0 0 0 33 7th
  Chris Vlok 12 1 0 0 121 2nd
  Huan Zhu 3 0 0 0 19 10th
  Jordan Oon 3 0 0 0 45 5th
  Ed Jones 6 5 0 0 103 3rd
Dallara F308 Toyota   Cameron Twynham 6 0 0 0 82 4th
  William Barbosa 3 0 0 0 38 6th
  Sean Walkinshaw 3 0 0 0 20 9th
  Liam Venter 3 0 0 0 23 8th

† Shared results with Bridger Motorsport

Spanish Formula 3/European F3 Open/Euroformula Open

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Spanish Formula 3 Championship
Year Car Drivers Races Wins Poles F/Laps Points D.C. T.C.
2007 Dallara F300-FPT   Andy Merrick [C] 0 0 0 0 0 N/A [C] 9th
  Christian Ebbesvik [C] 16 7 0 0 118 1st [C]
Dallara F300-FPT
Dallara F306-FPT
  Sean Petterson 6 0 0 0 2 19th
2008 Dallara F306-FPT   Alex Waters [C] 4 0 0 0 0 N/A [C] 7th
  Qinghua Ma [C] 11 0 0 0 24 7th [C]
Dallara F306-FPT   Christian Ebbesvik 17 2 1 0 39 10th
Dallara F308-FPT
Dallara F300-FPT   Francisco Villar [C] 16 0 0 0 13 13th [C]
  Jonathan Legris [C] 17 3 0 0 76 3rd [C]
European F3 Open Championship
2009 Dallara F306-FPT   Kristján Einar [C] 12 0 0 0 20 9th [C] 5th
  Tom Tweedie [C] 2 0 0 0 0 16th [C]
  Callum MacLeod [C] 16 7 0 0 106 1st [C]
Dallara F308-FPT   Christian Ebbesvik 16 1 1 1 63 5th
2010 Dallara F308-Toyota   Callum MacLeod 14 3 1 1 112 2nd 2nd
Dallara F306-Toyota   Ramón Piñeiro [C] 2 0 0 0 8 10th [C]
  Kristján Einar [C] 2 0 0 0 4 11th [C]
  Michael Ho [C] 8 0 0 0 28 6th [C]
  Victor Corrêa [C] 14 2 0 0 62 5th [C]
2011 Dallara F308-Toyota   Victor Corrêa 16 2 0 0 59 6th 1st
  Fahmi Ilyas 4 1 2 1 30 12th
  Tatiana Calderón 6 0 0 0 3 21st
Dallara F306-Toyota   Luca Orlandi [C] 16 0 0 0 62 3rd [C]
  Kotaro Sakurai [C] 2 0 0 0 6 8th [C]
  Sam Dejonghe [C] 18 4 0 0 118 2nd [C]
  Fabio Gamberini [C] 18 10 0 0 130 1st [C]
2012 Dallara F312-Toyota   Sam Dejonghe 14 1 0 1 159 5th 4th
  Ed Jones [G] 2 0 0 0 0 N/A
  Manuel Bejarano 4 0 0 0 14 16th
  Roberto La Rocca 12 0 0 0 44 10th
Dallara F308-Toyota   Luca Orlandi [C] 9 0 0 0 10 10th [C]
  Chris Vlok [C] 2 0 0 0 3 13th [C]
  Jordan Oon [C] 16 0 0 0 50 5th [C]
2013 Dallara F312-Toyota   Roberto La Rocca 6 0 0 0 15 14th 2nd
  Emil Bernstorff 2 0 0 0 6 20th
  Jonathan Legris 2 0 0 0 1 30th
  Spencer Pigot 2 0 0 0 10 16th
  Ed Jones 14 6 4 3 256 1st
  Nelson Mason 16 3 4 4 159 3rd
  Luca Orlandi 8 0 0 0 1 29th
  Falco Wauer [G] 2 0 0 0 0 N/A
  Hector Hurst [G] 2 0 0 0 0 N/A
Dallara F308-Toyota
Dallara F312-Toyota
  Huan Zhu 16 0 0 0 2 27th
Dallara F308-Toyota   Sean Walkinshaw [C] 16 0 0 0 19 9th [C]
  Cameron Twynham [C] 16 2 0 0 19 2nd [C]
  Liam Venter [C] 13 1 0 0 31 6th [C]
  Christopher Höher [C] 2 0 0 0 0 15th [C]
Euroformula Open Championship
2014 Dallara F312-Toyota   Yarin Stern 16 0 0 0 125 5th 3rd
  Cameron Twynham 8 0 0 0 53 9th
  Igor Waliłko [G] 2 0 0 0 0 N/A
  Nicolas Pohler 14 0 0 0 38 12th
  Fabian Schiller [G] 2 0 0 0 0 N/A
  Tanart Sathienthirakul 16 0 0 0 69 7th
  Wei Fung Thong 16 0 0 0 16 18th
2015 Dallara F312-Toyota   Yarin Stern 16 0 1 0 119 5th 4th
  Mahaveer Raghunathan [G] 2 0 0 0 0 N/A
  Sam MacLeod [G] 2 0 0 0 0 N/A
  Tanart Sathienthirakul 16 0 0 0 133 4th
2016 Dallara F312-Toyota   Liang Jiatong 4 0 0 0 0 28th 9th

FIA Formula 3 European Championship

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FIA Formula 3 European Championship
Year Car Drivers Races Wins Poles F/Laps Points D.C. T.C.
2014 Dallara F314-Mercedes   Félix Serrallés[2] 33 0 0 0 82 12th[3] 6th[3]
Dallara F312-Mercedes   Hector Hurst[2] 24 0 0 0 3 24th[3]
  Wing Chung Chang[2] 9 0 0 0 0 30th
2015 Dallara F312-Mercedes   Fabian Schiller[4] 33 0 0 0 2 25th[5] 9th[5]
Dallara F314-Mercedes   Raoul Hyman[4] 33 0 0 0 14.5 21st[5]

References

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  1. ^ "History".
  2. ^ a b c "STARTERLISTE 2014 FIA FORMULA 3 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP" (PDF).
  3. ^ a b c "FIA Formula 3 European Championship 2014" (PDF).
  4. ^ a b "STARTERLISTE 2015 FIA FORMULA 3 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP" (PDF).
  5. ^ a b c "FIA Formula 3 European Championship 2015" (PDF).
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