Thirteen teams provisionally entered for the 2018 FF1M Season

The AFIA today announced that a total of thirteen teams have been provisionally entered for the 2018 FF1M Season, two more than the accepted limit of eleven.

The teams provisionally entered are (Team Name/Status/Tyre):

• Ajay Motorsports / Manufacturer / Avon
• FJR / Manufacturer / Goodyear
• Gojira / Manufacturer / Goodyear
• Shake N Bake / Manufacturer / Firestone
• Tornado / Manufacturer / Firestone
• Andrew Racing / Customer / Goodyear
• CBA Racing / Customer / Firestone
• Galaxy / Customer / Firestone
• GRM / Customer / Goodyear
• Mitchell / Customer / Goodyear
• Monolith / Customer / Goodyear
• Tildesley / Customer / Firestone
• Willows / Customer / Firestone

A spokesman from the AFIA said “Unfortunately for us, unlike previous years, there were no bad entries so we couldn’t just throw any of them out. The teams still have a few hurdles to jump though such as securing an engine supply and two drivers, but if they are able to do that then we will have to find some solutions”.

One of those solutions is clear from the engine supply form that will be posted to teams this evening, the mid season test has been removed and a second pre-season test has been reinstated. These tests will take place at Jerez and Barcelona and teams will be asked to choose which of the two tests they travel to.

One of the biggest problems with the amount of teams will be weekend practice time, and, with a limit of 22 cars on track, a pre-qualifying, or similar system would need to take place to bring the field down to 11 teams. The format this would take is unclear, however series organisers are known to be fond of the Indycar method, whereby the field is split into two groups for the first stage of qualifying, before coming together for the rest of qualifying.

It does seem likely that if one of the teams fails to complete the entry, the Ajay team will drop out as had been expected, thereby removing the need for any of these complications, though it is understood that the team will still take part in the engine manufacturer test and one of the pre-season tests to develop the Hart engine.

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