Before the Sudamericana championship existed, the Codasur series filled the regional single-seater role between 1983 and 1986, using local or second-hand Formula Three chassis with Renault or Volkswagen engines of 1500–1600cc. All four Codasur titles went to Argentine driver Guillermo Maldonado, who also operated as a team owner. Organisers and national governing bodies then worked to replace Codasur with a recognised international formula that would give South American drivers experience transferable to European or North American careers, settling on the long-established Formula Three regulations.
The inaugural 1987 season used a purpose-built chassis commissioned from Oreste Berta's Argentine engineering company, the Berta Mk3, constructed to F3 specification. From 1988 onward the field opened to other suppliers, and chassis from Reynard, Ralt, TOM's and Dallara became common. By the mid-1990s, Dallara's performance advantage had become decisive in South America just as it had in Europe, and the Italian chassis became the de facto standard for front-runners.
From 2005 the series introduced a control specification engine produced by Berta to hold down running budgets, permitting teams to service the units themselves. This created two competition classes: Class A, running the Berta engine in Dallara F301 chassis; and Class B (or Light), continuing with older customer engines such as Mugen-Honda in older Dallara F394 chassis dating to 1994.
The championship was initially held across Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. Between 2002 and 2008 the calendar contracted to events exclusively in Brazil and Argentina, reflecting local economic pressures on venue development and promotion. The Grand Prix of Piriápolis, in Uruguay, returned to the calendar in 2009. The 2010 points system was updated to mirror the new Formula One scoring structure introduced that year. Petrobras joined as title sponsor for 2010 through the Brazilian Law for Encouragement of Sport, contributing three million dollars and supplying fuel and lubricants to all entries.
Despite the series' geographical distance from the major motorsport centres of Europe and North America, it became a consistent source of internationally competitive talent. Hélio Castroneves, a four-time Indianapolis 500 winner, passed through the championship before his rise to prominence in American open-wheel racing. Ricardo Zonta and Christian Fittipaldi, nephew of double Formula One world champion Emerson Fittipaldi, both used the series as a launchpad for Formula One careers. Nelson Piquet Jr., son of three-time F1 champion Nelson Piquet, is among the more recent graduates. Cristiano da Matta, who won the Champ Car World Series title, also emerged from the Sudamericana ranks.
Other alumni who reached the Champ Car series include Bruno Junqueira, while GP2 competitors Lucas di Grassi — runner-up in the 2003 Sudamericana — and Alexandre Sarnes Negrão, the 2004 champion, continued the series' tradition of feeding drivers into European formulae. F3 Sudamericana shared Brazilian venues with the Trofeo Maserati championship in 2007 as part of efforts to raise its public profile.
Economic constraints consistently limited the number of non-Brazilian and non-Argentine competitors willing to contest the full season, a demographic imbalance that intensified through the 2000s. Series organisers made repeated efforts to attract drivers from smaller South American nations by reducing costs and improving the championship's marketing appeal. After running for 26 seasons, the Sudamericana championship was replaced for 2014 by the Brazilian Formula Three Championship, which concentrates on Brazilian circuits and a primarily Brazilian driver field.