F3 gears up for annual battle in the dunes.

This weekend, Zandvoort will once again provide the venue for one of Formula Three racing's blue riband events, the annual - and last - Marlboro Masters.

F3 fans need not worry too much, however, as only the event title will slip away at the end of this year's race, although there will be an impressive field to wave goodbye to long-time sponsor Marlboro.

Nearly the entire F3 Euroseries grid will be in place at Zandvoort for the 15th edition of the Masters, with only the Czech Republic's Filip Salaquarda absent. Euroseries points leader Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, will contest the 25-lap event with the #1 on his ASM car as he defends the title won last season by predecessor Alex Premat.

In addition to Hamilton, Adrian Sutil (ASM), James Rossiter and Lo?c Duval (both Signature-Plus) will also be regarded as favourites to win the 107km race, although a total of 38 drivers from 16 nations will actually battle it out for the victory. Only one of them will be the successor to Pr?mat and Red Bull F1 pilot Christian Klien, who won the Masters in 2004 and 2003 respectively.

Mike Conway will be travelling to Zandvoort together with his team-mates at Fortec Motorsport - James Walker and Ronayne O'Mahony. Estonian Marko Asmer, currently leading the British series, has also been entered, along with Christian Bakkerud. Bruno Senna, a nephew of the legendary Ayrton Senna will be running for R?ikk?nen-Robertson Racing, the F3 team founded this year by grand prix driver Kimi R?ikk?nen and manager Steve Robertson, with Dan Clarke filling the squad's second seat.

The Belgian JB Motorsport team will be representing the German Recaro F3 Cup at the Masters with 'honorary Dutchman' Steven Kane joining Ferdinand Kool and Dutch-born Chinese driver Ho Pin Tung in the line-up.

"With so many good international drivers, the battle will be hard, but that only makes it even better," Tung admitted, while team-mate Kool hoped that "maybe our home advantage at Zandvoort will give us just that little bit extra."

Among those hoping that 'home advantage' comes into play is Dutchman Giedo van der Garde, who has struggled for form in his Team Rosberg Euroseries entry, but has a good feeling about this weekend.

"Zandvoort is my home circuit and, quite obviously, I am keen on gaining a good result in the Masters," he said, "The circuit has been beautifully bedded into the dunes. Yet, the frequent see breeze could turn out to be a problem as it uses to blow sand onto the track, thus causing extremely slippery conditions."

Since the foundation of the championship, back in 2003, the Euroseries has provided every winner of the event, despite the added attraction of some of the world's leading F3 drivers adding to the strength of the field. At the same time, the battle of the international F3 elite regularly turns out to also be a battle of the engine manufacturers and, this year, there will be four manufacturers on the Masters grid - Honda/Mugen, Mercedes-Benz, Opel and Toyota Likewise, 35 of the 38 drivers will rely on Dallara chassis. The only driver to contest the race with an in-house design is Fabio Carbone, who will race Team Signature's SLC R1, while JB-Motorsport's Kool and Kane will be behind the wheel of Lolas bedecked with the event sponsor's colours.

Last year, the French ASM F3 squad succeeded in dominating the event, with Pr?mat and Eric Salignon taking a dominant one-two. Rossiter, in fourth, was the best of those drivers who are going to contest this year's Masters, while Lucas di Grassi and Hamilton, in fifth and seventh respectively, also know what it takes. The only former Masters winner on the grid is Carbone, who won the event back in 2002.