Sean Walkinshaw has his sights set on podium glory when the European Formula 3 Open season gets under way at Paul Ricard this weekend.

The 19-year-old Chipping Norton driver impressed during the opening round of the two-weekend winter series at the French circuit in February.

He had a top-three class finish ripped from his grasp when shunted out of the race at the final corner of the penultimate lap.

Now the Team West-Tec driver is determined to make amends on his return to the Le Castellet track, near Marseille, and get the main championship season off to a successful start, with one race taking place today and one tomorrow.

“I’m really confident for Paul Ricard and really looking forward to getting back out there racing,” said Walkinshaw.

“The weather has got in the way of some of the testing we’ve done, but we’ve made good progress in the last few weeks, hopefully we can make a strong start to the season.

“Having raced at Paul Ricard does make me that bit more confident going into the first round, but it’s the same for a lot of the other drivers in the championship and especially the ones who did the winter series.

“I think most of us will be on a level playing field really, so we’ll see how it goes, I would like to try and start the season with a podium though.”

Last year, Walkinshaw dovetailed racing in Protyre Formula Renault and the InterSteps Championship, while also making a double-winning debut in Formula 3 in the MSV F3 Cup.

As well as embarking on a pre-season testing programme in F3 in recent months, he has also been busy with the Sean Walkinshaw Racing (SWR) team, which the teenager owns and runs in the UK-based BRDC Formula 4 Championship.