Egozi beats Al Azhari to Eurocup-3 victory to tighten their title fight

Photo: Spanish Winter Championship

Palou Motorsport’s James Egozi was victorious in the first Eurocup-3 winter series race at Motorland Aragon.

The grid was set by qualifying in the morning, and Hitech GP’s points leader Keanu Al Azhari claimed pole.

Wet conditions faced the field after heading out, and Egozi was first to the top. Double R Racing’s Yuanpu Cui took over first place six minutes in, then Egozi improved to 2m06.505s to move back ahead.

Two seconds later, Double R’s Bart Harrison went fastest by a massive 1.055 seconds. When the pace was next lowered, it was also by Harrison as he improved to 2m04.286s almost 11 minutes in.

He was challenged for pole three minutes later by Cui, who he went quickest by 0.503s. But when Harrison crossed the line, first place returned to him by 0.44s.

Other teams’ drivers entered contention for pole later on, with Egozi the first driver to break into the 2m02s.

Al Azhari’s penultimate lap, a 2m02.708s, put him on pole and then with his last lap he improved to 2m02.453s to grow the gap to second place. That went to Harrison, who was 0.261s off pole, with Egozi improving in third.

Gino Trappa and Santino Panetta made it three Hitech drivers in the top five, with Cui 1.067s off the pace in sixth as he failed to improve on his final lap.

Aside from Al Azhari and Egozi, the top two in the championship, it was a bad session for title contenders. MP Motorsport’s Rene Lammers qualified seventh, Alex Powell was 13th and Campos Racing team-mate Enzo Tarnvanichkul was 21st. The pair were 2.086s and 3.315s off pole respectively.

The track was fully dry and it was sunny by the time race one began, and Harrison attacked Al Azhari into the first corner. Later in lap one he would lose second to Egozi though, as Lammers got up to fifth.

Egozi took the lead into turn one on lap two, and Harrison was cleared by Trappa and Lammers who went side-by-side for several corners. At the turn 16 hairpin, Harrison had a lock-up that sent Campos’s Patrick Heuzenroeder off and meant he dropped to 11th.

On lap three, the safety car was summoned as Global Racing Service’s Yani Stevenheydens crashed out at the hairpin. Racing resumed on lap six, and Egozi waited until he was on the pit straight to return to racing speeds. That proved effective, but the slipstream effect meant Al Azhari was attacking him again by the end of the back straight.

He applied a lot of pressure at turn 16 each lap, then on lap nine he dived down Egozi’s inside at turn one to get back ahead. Egozi almost went off down the back straight as he tried reclaiming the lead, then Harrison had a big crash. Before the safety car was called on lap 10, Egozi reclaimed first place down the pit straight.

At that point Lammers was third, with a gap to Powell, Trappa and Campos’s Thomas Strauven who had fought hard to get past the recovering Heuzenroeder.

Egozi repeated his previous approach for the lap 12 restart, and Trappa overtook Powell at turn three. Strauven then tried following him through, while Heuzenreoder was left defending against Tarnvanichkul.

Al Azhari starting attacking Egozi at turn 16 again, and his lap 13 effort put him ahead but he turned in too late and Egozi went straight back past. On the last lap the rear of his car snapped out as soon as he braked, and he regained control but that moment ensured Egozi won and means their pair are now the only title contenders.

A 15s track limits penalty dropped Trappa from fourth to 20th, and Tarnvanichkul finished fifth after passing Heuzenroeder as a five-second penalty for Strauven demoted him to 11th.

Race results (15 laps)