Photo: Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull
Mattia Colnaghi clinched the Eurocup-3 title with a win in the penultimate round at Jerez, where fellow Red Bull junior Enzo Tarnvanichkul also tasted victory.
MP Motorsport driver Colnaghi had a quiet start to the weekend, going only 14th fastest in the first of Friday’s two pre-event test sessions while team-mate and closest championship rival Valerio Rinicella set the pace by 0.677 seconds over Kacper Sztuka. Colnaghi did lead the slower second session by 0.432s over Sztuka, still more than a second down on Rinicella’s earlier time, but set a new best lap in Saturday morning’s free practice session.
It was Sztuka who hit the front in first qualifying however, 0.026s ahead Campos Racing team-mate Tarnvanichkul, with Jules Caranta completing a Campos 1-2-3 just 0.033s further back in third. Colnaghi had to settle for fourth, with Maciej Gladysz between he and Rinicella.
With Sztuka and Gladysz serving five-place grid penalties carried over from the last race at Spa-Francorchamps, it was Tarnvanichkul and Caranta who shared the front row, with Colnaghi and Rinicella on row two.
Colnaghi – racing in Red Bull colours for the first time – got the best getaway of the front four, and took to the grass trying to get around Tarnvanichkul. He appeared to get to the apex of the first corner first but emerged back in third, with Caranta instead challenging Tarnvanichkul for the lead around the outside onto the back straight.
A brief safety car – after Lorenzo Castillo found the gravel – neutralised the initial fight with Tarnvanichkul quickly able to build a gap of close to a second at the restart.
Caranta did close back in at the end, finishing just 0.281s from maiden winner Tarnvanichkul. Colnaghi finished a second and a half back in third, and one second in front of Rinicella.
Alexander Abkhazava and Emmo Fittipaldi completed the top six. Title outsider Ernesto Rivera had been on their tail in seventh until he dropped out and pitted to retire.
Colnaghi went on to take pole for race two, 0.062s in front of Sztuka and 0.083s ahead of Rinicella. While Rivera was fourth, Caranta was only eighth and Tarnvanichkul 14th.
The two points for pole increased Colnaghi’s championship lead to 54 points, and only needed to add two more points to that advantage in the race to secure himself the title.
He made an excellent getaway to lead Sztuka easily into turn one, while Rinicella didn’t get away well and slipped from third to sixth, with Rivera, Fittipaldi and Francisco Macedo all getting past him.
It was an uneventful race from there, just as Colnaghi would have wanted, and he opened up an advantage of 4.6s over Sztuka by the chequered flag. Rivera completed the podium, followed by Fittipaldi, Macedo and Rinicella.
Results round-up
Race 1 (18 laps)
1 Enzo Tarnvanichkul Campos Racing 31m43.648
2 Jules Caranta Campos Racing +0.281s
3 Mattia Colnaghi MP Motorsport +1.839s
4 Valerio Rinicella MP Motorsport +2.908s
5 Alexander Abkhazava MP Motorsport +7.486s
6 Emmo Fittipaldi MP Motorsport +7.921s
7 Jesse Carrasquedo Campos Racing +9.831s
8 Kai Daryanani MP Motorsport +12.166s
9 James Egozi Palou Motorsport +16.226s
10 Garrett Berry Sainteloc Racing +20.288s
Pole: Kacper Sztuka Campos Racing, 1m37.885s
Fastest lap: Colnaghi, 1m39.729s
Race 2 (20 laps)
1 Colnaghi 33m18.847s
2 Sztuka +4.636s
3 Ernesto Rivera Campos Racing +7.657s
4 Fittipaldi +8.953s
5 Francisco Macedo Campos Racing +12.571s
6 Rinicella +13.484s
7 Maciej Gladysz MP Motorsport +16.198s
8 Caranta +16.657s
9 Egozi +20.561s
10 Andres Cardenas MP Motorsport +20.850s
P: Colnaghi, 1m36.646s
FL: Sztuka, 1m39.231s
Championship standings
1 Colnaghi 256 2 Rinicella 185 3 Rivera 176 4 Sztuka 162 5 Carrasquedo 135 6 Caranta 103 7 Egozi 97 8 Tarnvanichkul 95 9 Gladysz 87 10 Cardenas 60