With a six-event, 12-race calendar that takes in some of the finest circuits in Europe and excellent levels of competitor interest, the Historic Formula 2 Championship is shaping up to have one of its best seasons to date in 2009.
The series, which is administered by the Historic Sports Car Club, is the pan-European series for both 1600cc and 2-litre Formula 2 cars from an era that started in 1967 and ended when Formula 3000 replaced the F2 category in 1984. The 2009 season will mark the 25th anniversary of the final season of F2 as the key stepping-stone to Grand Prix racing, while the historic race series caters for cars built up to 1978.
"We've now had 32 registrations for the coming season and that's very promising at this stage of the year," said Grahame White, CEO of the HSCC. "We've got a lot of interest from Europe and already have registrations from six French drivers, four from Germany and four from Switzerland. We are aiming for a grid of 28 cars for the opening races at Spa."
After the first two races at Spa-Francorchamps at the end of April, the calendar takes in races at Lausitz in Germany and Monza in Italy before two British rounds, starting on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit on 4/5 July at the HSCC Historic Superprix.
Then, on 16/17 August, Historic F2 will be a support race to the new FIA Formula 2 Championship created for 2009. The partnership between the modern and historic series was formed when Grahame White and Jonathan Palmer, Chief Executive of FIA Formula 2 Championship organiser MotorSport Vision, met and discussed their shared passion for Formula 2.
The calendar is as follows:
25/26 Apr Spa (B) RMU Classic
16/17 May Lausitzring (D) Jim Clark Revival
6/7 Jun Monza (I) Coppa Intereuropa
4/5 Jul Brands Hatch (UK) Super Prix
16/17 Aug Donington Park (UK) FIA F2 Championship
17/18 Oct Dijon-Prenois (F) Trophee Historique de Bourgogne