1997 German Formula Three Championship Explained

The 1997 German Formula Three Championship (German: 1997 Deutsche Formel-3-Meisterschaft) was the 23rd edition of the German Formula Three Championship. It commenced on 26 April 1997 and ended on 15 October. Opel Team BSR driver Nick Heidfeld won the championship title after a title battle with Benetton RTL Junior's Timo Scheider.^[1]

Teams and drivers

1997 Entry List^[2] Team Driver Chassis Engine Status Rounds Class A Benetton RTL Junior Team 1 Timo Scheider Dallara 397/002 Opel All 2 Dominik Schwager Dallara 397/045 1–5, 7–9 3 Alexander Müller Dallara 397/023 All Opel Team BSR 4 Nick Heidfeld Dallara 397/049 Opel All 5 Sascha Bert Dallara 397/029 All 6 Tim Verbergt Dallara 397/003 All 7 Tomáš Enge Dallara 397/030 All 22 Andreas Scheld Dallara 397/003 8–9 GM Jordan F3 Team 8 Norman Simon Dallara 397/052 Opel All 9 Steffen Widmann Dallara 397/054 1–3 Josef Kaufmann Racing Martini MK73/05 Opel 5–9 12 Wolf Henzler Martini MK73/02 All 14 Jarosław Wierczuk Martini MK73/01 1–7 36 Tom Schwister 9 Trella Motorsport 10 Pierre Kaffer Dallara 396/012 Opel All IPS Motorsport 16 Johan Stureson Dallara 397/046 Opel All JB Motorsport Boxy's Jeans 17 Yves Olivier Dallara 397/007 Opel All Tokmakidis Motorsport 18 Tim Coronel Dallara 397/018 Opel 1–6 Van Amersfoort Racing 20 Bas Leinders Dallara 397/009 Opel All GM Motorsport 21 Tim Bergmeister Dallara 397/062 Opel 6–9 25 Ronny Melkus Dallara 395/033 4 Dallara 397/054 5 Dallara 397/051 6–9 KUG ELU Motorsport 22 Andreas Scheld Dallara 397/051 Opel 1–5 MKL F3 Racing 27 Lucas Luhr Dallara 397/056 Opel All Olympia Sport System 30 Riccardo Moscatelli Dallara 397/057 Opel 6–8 Leoš Prokopec 31 Leoš Prokopec Dallara 397/047 Fiat 9 Class B TKF Racing 50 Luciano Crespi Dallara 396/022 Opel 1, 3–4 56 Marcin Biernacki 5, 7–8 59 Jarosław Wierczuk 9 Chemopetrol Mus Team F3 Racing 51 Jaroslav Kostelecký Dallara 396/023 Opel All Tokmakidis Motorsport 55 Michael Stelzig Dallara 395/071 Opel All 58 Nikolaos Stremmenos Dallara 395/071 7–8 GM Motorsport 52 Michael Becker Dallara 395/062 Opel All 53 Roman Truschev Dallara 395/033 1–2

Race calendar and results

• The series supported the ADAC events at all nine rounds.^[3] With the exception of round at Salzuburg in Austria, all rounds took place on German soil.

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning driver	Winning team	B Class Winner
1	R1	Hockenheimring	26 April	Alexander Müller	Nick Heidfeld	Nick Heidfeld	Opel Team BSR	Luciano Crespi
	R2		27 April	Nick Heidfeld	Nick Heidfeld	Nick Heidfeld	Opel Team BSR	Michael Stelzig
2	R2	Nürburgring	24 May	Alexander Müller	Nick Heidfeld	Timo Scheider	Benetton RTL Junior Team	Jaroslav Kostelecký
	R2		24 May	Timo Scheider	Dominik Schwager	Wolf Henzler	Josef Kaufmann Racing	Jaroslav Kostelecký
3	R1	Sachsenring	14 June	Bas Leinders	Nick Heidfeld	Timo Scheider	Benetton RTL Junior Team	Jaroslav Kostelecký
	R2		15 June	Timo Scheider	Timo Scheider	Timo Scheider	Benetton RTL Junior Team	Luciano Crespi
4	R1	Norisring	28 June	Bas Leinders	Alexander Müller	Dominik Schwager	Benetton RTL Junior Team	Luciano Crespi
	R2		29 June	Dominik Schwager	Norman Simon	Dominik Schwager	Benetton RTL Junior Team	Jaroslav Kostelecký
5	R1	Wunstorf	12 July	Wolf Henzler	Bas Leinders	Alexander Müller	Benetton RTL Junior Team	Marcin Biernacki
	R2		13 July	Alexander Müller	Timo Scheider	Alexander Müller	Benetton RTL Junior Team	Michael Becker
6	R1	Zweibrücken	9 August	Wolf Henzler	Pierre Kaffer	Pierre Kaffer	Trella Motorsport	Michael Becker
	R2		10 August	Pierre Kaffer	Nick Heidfeld	Wolf Henzler	Josef Kaufmann Racing	Jaroslav Kostelecký
7	R1	Salzburgring	23 August	Nick Heidfeld	Timo Scheider	Nick Heidfeld	Opel Team BSR	Michael Becker
	R2		24 August	Nick Heidfeld	Nick Heidfeld	Nick Heidfeld	Opel Team BSR	Jaroslav Kostelecký
8	R1	Regio-Ring	5 September	Tomáš Enge	Norman Simon	Alexander Müller	Benetton RTL Junior Team	Jaroslav Kostelecký
	R2		6 September	Alexander Müller	Norman Simon	Alexander Müller	Benetton RTL Junior Team	Michael Becker
9	R1	Nürburgring	4 October	Nick Heidfeld	Nick Heidfeld	Nick Heidfeld	Opel Team BSR	Jarosław Wierczuk
	R2		5 October	Nick Heidfeld	Pierre Kaffer	Norman Simon	GM Jordan F3 Team	Jaroslav Kostelecký

Championship standings

A-Class

• Points are awarded as follows:

B-Class

• Points are awarded as follows:

Pos Driver HOC NÜR1 SAC NOR WUN ZWE SAL LAH NÜR2 Pts Class A 1 Nick Heidfeld 1 1 2 3 2 6 Ret 8 12 4 5 4 1 1 2 2 1 2 224 2 Timo Scheider 3 9 1 4 1 1 5 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 16 5 3 3 218 3 Alexander Müller Ret Ret 3 2 4 Ret 15 7 1 1 7 6 11 11 1 1 5 5 147 4 Wolf Henzler Ret 3 4 1 5 3 3 3 Ret Ret 3 1 7 4 3 Ret Ret Ret 144 5 Norman Simon 16† Ret 9 5 15 15† Ret 6 Ret Ret 4 3 3 3 6 4 2 1 113 6 Pierre Kaffer 5 Ret 8 8 9 5 6 10 4 Ret 1 Ret 5 6 7 7 4 4 103 7 Bas Leinders 4 2 6 6 3 2 16† Ret 8 Ret 8 Ret 6 Ret 4 3 9 11 100 8 Sascha Bert 9 8 5 Ret 14 Ret 2 2 9 8 Ret 9 4 5 12 8 8 6 80 9 Tim Verbergt 2 4 7 7 Ret Ret 4 5 5 6 6 Ret 13 10 72 10 Dominik Schwager Ret 5 Ret 9 7 4 1 1 Ret 9 9 Ret 17† Ret Ret 14 68 11 Ronny Melkus 8 Ret 2 2 14 7 DNS DNS 9 6 13 8 48 12 Tomáš Enge 7 Ret 10 13 6 14† 14 Ret 10 7 9 Ret Ret 7 18† 9 6 12 30 13 Steffen Widmann Ret 13 Ret 10 18† 9 7 5 11 5 12 9 10 Ret Ret 15 26 14 Johan Stureson 10 Ret Ret DNS 8 12 7 9 6 11 15 Ret 8 8 13 Ret 7 Ret 26 15 Yves Olivier 11 7 17 18† 17† 8 Ret 15 14† 10 10 8 Ret 13 Ret DNS 11 7 16 16 Lucas Luhr 13 10 10 18 5 Ret 12 13 10 17 Tim Coronel 8 6 13 12 11 Ret 10 Ret Ret Ret 16 12 10 18 Luciano Crespi 6 Ret 13 10 9 Ret 9 19 Andreas Scheld 18 Ret 11 17 10 7 11 11 Ret Ret Ret 14 14 9 7 20 Tim Bergmeister 12 11 15 12 8 10 10 10 6 21 Michael Stelzig 13 10 15 Ret 1 22 Jaroslav Kostelecký 12 12 14 14 12 11 12 14 Ret Ret 19† 13 18 14 11 12 17 16 0 23 Michael Becker 17 11 16 16 16 Ret Ret 13 Ret 12 18 14 14 Ret Ret 11 16 18 0 24 Jarosław Wierczuk 14 DNS 12 11 19† 13† 13 12 13† Ret 17 15† 16 16 15 19† 0 25 Marcin Biernacki 11 13 19 17 14 Ret 0 26 Nikolaos Stremmenos 17 Ret Ret 13 0 27 Riccardo Moscatelli Ret Ret Ret 15 15 15 0 28 Roman Truschev 15 Ret Ret 15 0 29 Tom Schwister 18 17 0 30 Leoš Prokopec 19 Ret 0 Class B 1 Jaroslav Kostelecký 12 12 14 14 12 11 12 14 Ret Ret 19† 13 18 14 11 12 17 16 111 2 Michael Becker 17 11 16 16 16 Ret Ret 13 Ret 12 18 14 14 Ret Ret 11 16 18 83 3 Luciano Crespi 6 Ret 13 10 9 Ret 33 4 Marcin Biernacki 11 13 19 17 14 Ret 30 5 Michael Stelzig 13 10 15 Ret 19 6 Jarosław Wierczuk 14 DNS 12 11 19† 13† 13 12 13† Ret 17 15† 16 16 15 19† 13 7 Nikolaos Stremmenos 17 Ret Ret 13 10 8 Roman Truschev 15 Ret Ret 15 9 Pos Driver HOC NÜR1 SAC NOR WUN ZWE SAL LAH NÜR2 Pts Junior-Pokal (Rookie) standings Driver Points 1 Timo Scheider 163 2 Alexander Müller 116 3 Bas Leinders 97 4 Norman Simon 91 5 Pierre Kaffer 90 6 Tomáš Enge 62 7 Tim Coronel 21 8 Jaroslav Kostelecký 18 9 Michael Becker 10 10 Michael Stelzig 3

Bold - Pole Italics - Fastest Lap

† — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.

See also

• 1997 Masters of Formula 3

Notes and References

1. Web site: Biography. Pitpass.com. 19 February 2012.
2. Web site: Fotos 1997 Deutsche Formel 3 Meisterschaft. formel3guide.com. German. 19 February 2012.
3. Web site: Saison 1997. formel3guide.com. German. 19 February 2012.