Devlin DeFrancesco will be looking to pick up where he left off in the F3 Asian Championship certified by the FIA as he takes to the Dubai Autodrome, with Absolute Racing, for the first time this weekend.

2019 ended in the best way possible for Devlin with his impressive showing at the Sepang International Circuit in the opening round of his Asian F3 Championship campaign, with the Italian-Canadian taking home two podiums on his debut. This healthy haul of points left him in fourth in the highly competitive championship heading into round two.

Set to a desert backdrop, the Dubai Autodrome boasts several elevation changes, a number of fast sweeping corners and technical sections. The 5.39km track is a completely new proposition for Devlin, who will be making his track debut this weekend.

With just one official practice session before Thursday’s double hit of qualifying, the youngsters are given a relatively short amount of time to get to grips with their surroundings. They are then thrown straight in at the deep end as the hectic schedule kicks into action, with three races over the two days.

After ending a testing 2019 on a high, Devlin is eager to get things underway for 2020 as he seeks to build on his podiums from last time. “Last time out, things felt good,” he commented. “I was happy with the podiums and also the pace that we showed throughout the weekend, and I’m hoping that it’s a similar story this round.”

Being a relatively short season, there is no room for error, with Devlin looking to extract the maximum from every round. After this week’s racing, the action will carry straight on to the Yas Marina Circuit, before revisiting Sepang. With the season finale to take place at the Chang International Circuit, in just 7 weeks time, on the 22nd-23rd of February.

Full timetable below All Times Local (UTC+4)

Thursday 9th January
Free Practice —09:40 – 10:10
Qualifying 1 — 12:45 – 13:00
Qualifying 2 — 13:05 – 13:20
Race 1 — 17:15 – 17:45

2020 F3 Friday 10th January
Race 2 — 09:45 – 10:15
Race 3 — 13:20 – 13:50