SMP Racing driver Alexander Smolyar will drive in the 2020 FIA Formula 3 Championship with the French team ART Grand Prix.
Last season the 18-year old Russian was the third overall of the Formula Renault Eurocup. He won three races, took second place three times and one third.Next year Alexander will step up to a more complex formula series, which is a support series of the FIA Formula 1 Championship. In 2020, the Formula 3 calendar has nine racing weekends, where the first round will take place in March in Bahrain and the final one in September in Russia, at the Sochi Autodrom.
“I am very happy that I will take part in the FIA Formula 3 Championship with the well-known and experienced ART Grand Prix team,” SMP Racing driver Alexander Smolyar said. “This championship will be a big challenge for me. I think for the first time in my life I will encounter such a serious level of competition. I will try to meet the expectations that SMP Racing and ART Grand Prix. I’m sure that with their support and help it will be easier for me to adapt to the new championship, and I’m already looking forward to the start of pre-season testing in March.”
ART Grand Prix has existed since 2005 and specializes in participating in junior formula series. In different years, many drivers competed for this team, subsequently reaching Formula 1 and also winning championships there: Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, Charles Leclerc, Valtteri Bottas, Romain Grosjean, Nico Hulkenberg and others. In 2016, SMP Racing driver Sergey Sirotkin drove for the ART Grand Prix team in GP2 and was classified third in the final standings of the series.
FIA Formula 3 Championship Calendar in 2020:
March 20-22 — Sakhir (Bahrain),May 1-3 — Zandvoort (Netherlands),
May 8-10 — Barcelona (Spain),
July 3-5 — Spielberg (Austria),
July 17-19 — Silverstone (Great Britain),
July 31 — August 2 - Budapest (Hungary),
August 28-30 — Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium),
September 4-6 — Monza (Italy),
September 25-27 — Sochi (Russia).