Photo: Fotospeedy
Motopark’s Bryce Aron and Cian Shields won Euroformula’s two reversed-grid races at Paul Ricard on Sunday.
The debuting Attila Penzes started on pole for race two, ahead of fellow debutant Vladislav Ryabov, Shields, Aron, Jakob Bergmeister and race one winner Juju Noda.
Penzes started slowly and Shields stalled, with Francesco Simonazzi having to go off track to avoid him. Ryabov briefly assumed the lead, but Aron overtook him exiting turn one. Noda was third after resisting several challenges from points leader Noel Leon, and Simonazzi got into fifth.
Simonazzi passed Leon into turn one on lap two, and Shields got by him two corners later while Aron streaked two seconds clear of Ryabov. On lap four of 15, Ryaboc went wide at Signes and conceded second to Noda, but then briefly got back ahead before Noda went wide and passed again off-track, leading to her dropping back behind him before the final corner.
That helped Aron build his lead to 5.3s, and on the next lap Shields went past Simonazzi and Noda at turn one. They then caught Ryabov again, and Ryabov repeated his earlier error but did not lost position. Shields tried the outside of the final corner but made contact with Simonazzi instead, and dropped behind him and Leon.
But Shields regained a place with a driving move at turn three next time by, and climbed another spot when Ryabov went off at Beausset, flew over a kerb and dropped down the order.
Aron was 12s clear at the race’s halfway point, and he managed the gap thereon to take his third win.
Shields got into second and streaked away as Simonazzi dropped behind Leon, but he reclaimed third at the chicane on lap 11. Leon lost two places the next lap, as he suffered from an engine issue, and he finished seventh.
Noda passed Bergmeister into the chicane on lap 13 for fourth place, but was too far away from Simonazzi to fight for the podium.
Shields and Noda shared the front row for race three, and Shield was slow off the line while Noda spun her rear wheels. They managed to avoid being overtaken and Shields used late braking and inside line to lead into turn one.
Simonazzi went from fifth to third, and at the chicane he tried passing Noda. She cut the corner entirely, rejoining way ahead while Simonazzi lost out to Leon. Noda avoided a penalty for gaining an advantage, and on lap three she went off at turn one as she was passed by Leon.
Shields was unchallenged up front and won by 1.364s over Leon, Noda finished a distant third and Aron went down the inside of Simonazzi at Beausset to take fourth.
Results round-up
Race 2 (15 laps)
1 Bryce Aron Motopark 29m27.431s
2 Cian Shields Motopark +10.730s
3 Francesco Simonazzi BVM Racing +19.003s
4 Juju Noda Noda Racing +20.687s
5 Jakob Bergmeister Motopark +22.141s
6 Vladislav Ryabov CryptoTower Racing Team +25.262s
7 Noel Leon Motopark +33.322s
8 Attila Penzes CryptoTower Racing Team +43.352s
Fastest lap: Shields, 1m57.142s
Race 3 (15 laps)
1 Shields 29m27.109s
2 Leon +1.364s
3 Noda +6.650s
4 Aron +9.412s
5 Simonazzi +13.520s
6 Bergmeister +15.968s
7 Ryabov +17.097s
8 Penzes +45.244s
FL: Shields, 1m57.087s
Championship standings
1 Leon 201 2 Aron 184 3 Shields 165 4 Simonazzi 154 5 Noda 118 6 Bergmeister 98 7 Josh Mason 96 8 Tim Tramnitz 55 9 Enzo Trulli 50 10 Ryabov 24