Competitors in the 2018 BRDC British F3 Championship will be eligible for the Sunoco Whelen Challenge, one of Europe’s biggest motorsport prizes.
The overall winner of the prize will be rewarded with a drive in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona in 2019 with the front-running Action Express team at the wheel of a Cadillac V.R. DPi car, with pre-event testing, flights, hotels and race suits included - a package worth more than $250,000.
British F3 drivers will be up against pro drivers from British GT3 and GT4 and the Radical Euro Masters for the prize, categories which all use Sunoco as a control fuel. All competing drivers will be awarded points for wins, top-10 race finishes, fastest laps and pole positions, with the driver with the highest average points securing the Daytona drive.
Felipe Nasr was the most recent British F3 competitor to win the Sunoco Whelen Challenge in 2012 and subsequently went on to finish on the podium in the race, before going on to race in GP2 and F1.
The Rolex 24 is one of the world’s foremost endurance races, and has attracted a star line-up for the 2018 event including two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso and previous BRDC British F3 race winner Lando Norris, as well as several NASCAR and Indycar front-runners.
Speaking at the Autosport International Show, Anglo American Oil Company Managing Director Anders Hildebrand commented: “When Felipe Nasr won the Sunoco Whelen Challenge in 2012 and finished on the podium, it was a great highlight for us. We’ve been following and monitoring the BRDC British F3 Championship for a long time, and we’re very pleased that British F3 drivers will now be eligible for the award. I’m very confident that a British F3 driver will be right up there at the top of the standings and challenging for that drive at Daytona.”
MSV Group Operations and Engineering Manager Giles Butterfield commented: “We are thrilled to be taking part in this, and great to see BRDC British F3 involved with the Sunoco Whelen Challenge. British F3 is getting ever stronger and MSV is always keen to promote talent and give the best opportunities to our competitors. This is a real tick in the box for us, the award has a long history and it would be fantastic if one of our 2018 drivers could follow in the footsteps of the previous winners and put in a real strong showing at Daytona.”
