The GP3 Series will open this weekend with a reduced grid of 19 drivers at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
24 drivers lined up for last year’s corresponding event but the withdrawal of Koiranen over the winter has reduced the number of teams from seven to six.
Jenzer, meanwhile, has opted to run only two cars, rather than the usual three or four.
The series has retained the GP3/16 chassis introduced last year, but the Drag Reduction System (DRS) has been added for the first time.
Each driver will be permitted six usages of DRS during the first race on Saturday evening, with four usages allowed in the second race on Sunday morning.
The move is a variation on the approach used in Formula 1 and Formula 2.
ART has dominated the category in recent years and once again enters the new campaign with a strong line-up, which includes three drivers backed by Formula 1 operations.
Jack Aitken (Renault), Nirei Fukuzumi (Honda) and George Russell (Mercedes) will race alongside Anthoine Hubert.
Elsewhere, F1 affiliated youngsters include Niko Kari (Red Bull) at Arden, Giuliano Alesi (Ferrari) at Trident, Tatiana Calderón (Sauber) at DAMS, with Santino Ferrucci and Arjun Maini (Haas) at DAMS and Jenzer respectively.
Discussion about this post