1st pagraph In what feels like the blink of an eye, the 2019 FIA Formula 3 Championship will draw to a close this weekend at the Sochi Autodrom in Russia – and Devlin DeFrancesco is determined to end his season on a high note.

Sochi is no easy place for the season to bow out on. At 5.8km long, it is the fourth longest track of the F1 calendar and is situated around the Olympic park that housed the 2014 Winter Games.

It is one of the less familiar tracks for the young Canadian-Italian, as he has only competed there once, in last season’s GP3 Series. Nevertheless, Devlin showed last year at the track that his lack of experience need not hinder him, with a strong showing in the sprint race leaving him just outside of the point scoring positions.

As for this year, Devlin is ready to give the final round of the Championship everything he’s got as he looks to continue his upward trend of ever improving results and performances.

‘Sochi this weekend will be a challenge, but I’m excited to see what I can get out of it,’ he said.

Devlin knows the importance of qualifying well this weekend, as whilst it isn’t a circuit that is impossible to overtake on, a good starting spot certainly won’t hinder his chances of a good race.

‘It’s a tricky track and qualifying well is super important. It’s an area we’re definitely improving on. The season has flown by and been really enjoyable. We’ve had potential for some really strong results, and I feel my race craft has definitely improved over the year. I hope we can put that into place again this weekend at Sochi.’

Running a slightly different timetable to the European rounds track action gets underway with a 45-minute Free Practice Session Friday 08:20 am local time – full timetable below (UTC +3)

Friday

Free Practice – 08:20 – 09:05

Qualifying – 13:00 – 13:30

Saturday

Race 1 – 10:15 – 11:00

Sunday

Race 2 – 09:55 - 10:40