Photo: Spanish Winter Championship
Hitech GP’s Keanu Al Azhari won Eurocup-3’s winter series in the Motorland Aragon, clinching the title a race early.
He started 12th for the reversed-grid second race of the weekend, with MP Motorsport’s Gianmarco Pradel on pole ahead of Drivex School’s Christopher Feghali.
Campos Racing’s Patrick Heuzenroeder and MP’s Rene Lammers both climbed two spots on lap one to sit third and fourth, as Palou Motorsport’s Bianca Bustamante had a race-ending off that triggered a safety car period.
The restart was on lap four, and Feghali ran side-by-side with Pradel for a few corners but Heuzenroeder then went around the outside of him as Al Azhari overtook title rival James Egozi (Palou) for seventh.
Lammers got alongside Feghali down the back straight on lap five, until Feghali dived down the inside at turn 16 to reclaim second and send Heuzenroeder off.
When Heuzenroeder rejoined the track he lost out to Lammers and had contact, but got back past at turn three next time by and passed Feghali into turn one on lap seven. Egozi’s title hopes ended that lap as contact with the rear of Bart Harrison (Double R Racing) caused race-ending damage.
Lammers took second on lap eight, and a turn 15 off by Heuzenroeder enabled Feghali to get back past. Lap nine contact then put the pair out of the race, and promoted Al Azhari to third after he had fought past Harrison. Campos’s Thomas Strauven took fourth into turn 16, and team-mate Enzo Tarnvanichkul cleared Harrison a lap later. Harrison got back past, but a 15-second track limits penalty demoted him to 15th as Pradel held off Lammers for victory.
In qualifying for the season-ending race three, 11 drivers had all laptimes deleted for track limits abuse. Tarnvanichkul took pole by 0.126s over Feghali, with a gap of 0.164s to Egozi and 0.275s to Pradel. Harrison qualified fifth, Lammers was seventh and Al Azhari was 16th. An eight-place penalty put Heuzenroeder 21st on the grid.
Formation lap issues meant Egozi was a non-starter, and Al Azhari climbed to 12th on lap one. Lammers went around the outside of Pradel at the opening corner of the race for third, while Harrison crashed at the lap’s last corner and triggered a safety car period.
Racing resumed on lap four, and this time Global Racing Service’s Yani Stevenheydens and Palou’s Rafael Perard crashed at the last corner. The safety car reappeared on lap six, and left the field for lap eight. This time Al Azhari jumped to sixth, and on lap nine Lammers, Pradel, Powell and then Al Azhari overtook Feghali.
Tecnicar’s Kacper Sztuka and Heuzenroeder collided at turn 16 on lap 10 but it did not interrupt the race, Al Azhari later passed Powell as Tarnvanichkul pulled away for victory and Feghali retired at turn 15 on the last lap.
Five-second track limits penalties for Lammers and Powell lifted Pradel and Al Azhari to second and third, and MP’s Ean Eyckmans to fifth.
Results round-up
Race 2 (11 laps)
1 Gianmarco Pradel MP Motorsport 23m08.107s
2 Rene Lammers MP Motorsport +0.056s
3 Keanu Al Azhari Hitech GP +4.372s
4 Thomas Strauven Campos Racing +4.529s
5 Enzo Tarnvanichkul Campos Racing +6.096s
6 Alex Powell Campos Racing +6.583s
7 Santino Panetta Hitech GP +6.960s
8 Ean Eyckmans MP Motorsport +7.749s
9 Rafael Perard Palou Motorsport +12.732s
10 Lorenzo Campos Double R Racing +13.334s
Fastest lap: Lammers, 1m49.802s
Race 3 (16 laps)
1 Tarnvanichkul 32m34.990s
2 Pradel +3.039s
3 Al Azhari +3.116s
4 Lammers +6.000s
5 Eyckmans +8.534s
6 Powell +11.407s
7 Yuanpu Cui Double R Racing +14.879s
8 Gino Trappa Hitech GP +16.789s
9 Panetta +17.372s
10 Luca Viisoreanu TC Racing +20.272s
Pole: Tarnvanichkul, 1m49.892s
FL: Strauven
Championship standings
1 Al Azhari 144 2 Egozi 92 3 Lammers 83 4 Tarnvanichkul 80 5 Powell 74 6 Pradel 61 7 Eyckmans 53 8 Strauven 43 9 Patrick Heuzenroeder 31 10 Perard 24