Hitech Racing will field two Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA’s for this weekend’s RTL GP Masters F3 race; for British series regular Max Chilton and Spanish Formula Renault/F3 star Roberto Merhi. With the team’s existing driver Walter Grubmüller having other commitments that weekend, the reigning British F3 champions will pin its hopes on the two 17 year-olds to uphold honours against the cream of European opposition.The Masters of Formula 3 attracts the best drivers from the Formula 3 Euroseries pitted against some of the top British runners as they go head-to-head for the accolade of being the best in Europe. Traditionally the event has favoured the Euroseries runners as all drivers compete on the preferred tyre of that championship, Kumho Tyres.

This immediately puts the British outfits at a disadvantage ahead of the race which takes place on Sunday. However the Buckingham-based team, who clinched the British title with Marko Asmer last season and finished top British team at the Masters, will be determined to finish top British runner for the second year successive year.

BRDC Superstar Max Chilton, the youngest ever driver in Formula 3, has had mixed results in only his second season in single-seaters. The Reigate teenager took a podium at his first race of the year at Oulton Park and scored pole position in Monza this year, becoming the youngest ever, and followed that with a repeat at Rockingham. He currently lies second in the Mirror.co.uk Challenge Cup for the top British driver in the series.

Merhi is one of the stars of the 2008 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Championship despite being in only his first season in the series.  Two podiums and two other top seven finishes in the opening five races put him fourth in the points standings, while he collected a point in the last round of the FIAT Spanish F3 Championship in Valencia.

The Hitech team stayed on in Belgium following the latest rounds of the British series at Spa at the weekend and will take part in two one-hour free practice sessions at 13.05 and 15.15 on Friday.  Two pre-qualifying sessions, split between odd and even numbers takes place on Saturday morning prior to qualifying in the afternoon. The RTL GP Masters of F3 race will take place at 14.00 local time on Sunday.