Piquet, Fittipaldi in F3 test action

Two Brazilian racing dynasties have met on track as Formula 3 European Championship winter testing continues at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya this week.

While Pietro Fittipaldi, grandson of two-time world champion Emerson, continues his testing program with Fortec Motorsport, Pedro Piquet, son of three-time Formula 1 title winner Nelson, is running with T-Sport.

Formula Renault BARC champion Fittipaldi tested last week at Silverstone with Fortec, while Brazilian F3 frontrunner Piquet [pictured] has previously run at Silverstone with Carlin. Fittipaldi is joined in Fortec's line-up of Dallara-Mercedes by Indian Arjun Maini, runner-up in the BRDC Formula 4 Championship, while the sister T-Sport Dallara-NBE to Piquet's is being driven by Indonesian Philo Paz Armand, a graduate of Formula Renault NEC.

Double R Racing is the other British squad present, with German Niki Pohler, a graduate of Euroformula Open, in the team's Dallara-Mercedes.

Germany's two Euro F3 teams are also running at Barcelona. Mercedes-powered Mucke Motorsport is testing Santino Ferrucci and Michele Beretta, both of whom raced in the series this season, plus the leading finishers from the ADAC Formel Masters Championship.

Motopark's Volkswagen-engined Dallaras are present, with Malaysian Nabil Jeffri (runner-up in German F3 with the team), Briton Sam MacLeod (a race winner in German and British F3) and Dutch Formula Renault ace Steijn Schothorst.

The other leading VW teams – Carlin, Van Amersfoort Racing and Signature – are all testing on the other side of the country at Monteblanco, with Prema Powerteam in action at Jerez.