How British and Euro Series F3 could merge without harming the British series

The F3 Euro Series is dying. Multiple champion team ART have withdrawn for 2011, and reigning champions Signature say they will consider a move to British F3 if the Euro Series grids are not big enough. I have come up with a solution of how the two series could merge, while still maintaining a series for British teams.

Currently the British championship calls itself the 'British F3 International Series'. It then calls its secondary class for older cars the 'National class'. For 2011 the calendar is made up of six rounds on English circuits and four rounds on European circuits.

If Euro Series teams such as Signature wished to join British F3 they would probably ideally want more European rounds than currently. However, this would not be the preference of the smaller British teams, who may not have the budget. It would also stop the British F3 Championship from being much of a British championship!

The way to solve this would be to take a leaf out of the Superstars touring car series, which is based in Italy, but now has an 'International Championship' with races abroad. The British F3 Championship could have an International Series and a National Series. The International Series would be open to whoever wants to enter it, while the National Series would be open to only the British teams.

Both series would have 10 race weekends (the current amount), with four shared rounds that would count towards both series. The six 'International' rounds would take place alongside FIA GT1 World Championship rounds, which shares the same promoter, SRO.

The calendar could be as follows (italics races are shared between both series):

International:

1. Monza
2. Silverstone Arena
3. Brands Hatch GP
4. Paul Ricard
5. Spa
6. Portimao
7. Rockingham
8. Nurburgring
9. Donington Park
10. Navarra

National:

1. Oulton Park
2. Silverstone Arena
3. Snetterton
4. Brands Hatch GP
5. Thruxton
6. Brands Hatch Indy
7. Croft
8. Rockingham
9. Donington
10. Silverstone Bridge

For the International Calendar, I took the three 'main' UK circuits that British F3 visits (Brands Hatch, Donington and Silverstone) and added a fourth UK 'International Standard' venue - Rockingham. Using the 2011 British F3 calendar, I moved the Silverstone round to the FIA GT1 event in May, retained the four overseas races in Monza, Spa, Paul Ricard and Nurburgring, and added FIA GT1 supporting races in Portimao and Navarra.

For the National Calendar, I took the existing six UK venues on the 2011 calendar (Oulton Park, Snetterton, Brands Hatch GP, Rockingham, Donington Park and Silverstone). I needed to add three additional rounds in addition to the Silverstone GT1 support (which would mean the later Silverstone date would be run on the shorter 'Bridge' layout). I chose to use Brands Hatch Indy, as well as the two most recent British circuits to feature on the calendar - Thruxton and Croft.