Photo: Fotospeedy
Motopark’s Brad Benavides and Yevan David won the final two races of the Euroformula season at Monza.
Benavides started on reversed-grid pole for a very wet race two on Saturday ahead of team-mates Jakob Bergmeister, Fernando Barrichello and Jose Garfias.
He cut the first two corners on the opening lap, and further back David passed team-mate Vladislav Ryabov for sixth at Curva Grande before drivers hit near-zero visibility on the next straights.
Benavides ended the lap 1.8 seconds ahead, and Barrichello made an aborted move on Bergmeister at Curva Grande on lap two before gaining second place from Bergmeister slowing with a rear-left puncture. BVM Racing’s Francesco Simonazzi slipstreamed past Barrichello before the end of the lap.
David attacked Garfias at turn one on lap three then went around the outside of him at the della Roggia chicane on lap four, and a few moments later gained further places as Simonazzi and Barrichello collided at Lesmo 2. Barrichello got going again, and the safety car was summoned as Simonazzi’s car was retrieved.
Racing resumed on lap seven of 14, and Benavides had to hold off Garfias at turn one. After that he pulled away, winning by 5.169s. David was a further 1.8s behind, Ryabov cut the first corners en route to fourth and Bergmeister passed the penalised Barrichello for fifth.
Race three on Sunday was drier, but still took place on a wet track, and Ryabov had reversed-grid pole ahead of Simonazzi, Barrichello, Garfias and David.
There was chaos at the opening corner as Garfias drove into the rear of Garfias, causing him to cut the corners and sending Barrichello and Simonazzi off too. David stayed on track and found himself with a big lead at Curva Grande, with Barrichello, Benavides and Ryabov following.
Ryabov passed Benavides at the della Roggia chicane, and Simonazzi went to the inside of him at Lesmo 1 before the safety car was called out due to Garfias’s stopped car.
The restart took place on lap three and David left it as late as possible to return to racing speed. Barrichello immediately slipstreamed past, and Ryabov was ahead too before missing turn one entirely.
Simonazzi went past Ryabov after Curva Grande, but was then spun around by him at della Roggia. David reclaimed the lead at Ascari, where Bergmeister overtook Benavides for third in a great side-by-side move.
David braked early for turn one on lap four but parked his car on the racing line so Barrichello could not attempt a move, and the gaps opened up thereon.
In the middle of the race Barrichello closed back in on David, and while the leader was actively looking in his mirrors he was never truly under pressure until the final lap when Barrichello got very close in the first sector and utilised the slipstream to finish 0.5s behind.
Bergmeister trailed by 7.596s in third, and Benavides ended his title-winning season by lapping more than seconds per lap off the pace and finishing 35.4s back in fourth.
Results round-up
Race 2 (14 laps)
1 Brad Benavides Motopark 30m06.784s
2 Jose Garfias Motopark +5.169s
3 Yevan David Motopark +6.942s
4 Vladislav Ryabov Motopark +13.424s
5 Jakob Bergmeister Motopark +15.472s
6 Fernando Barrichello Motopark +21.799s
7 Roman Roubicek STK Melnik +1m00.467s
Ret Francesco Simonazzi BVM Racing
Fastest lap: Benavides, 1m56.173s
Race 3 (15 laps)
1 David 30m00.963s
2 Barrichello +0.509s
3 Bergmeister +7.596s
4 Benavides +35.400s
5 Simonazzi +1m24.649s
6 Roubicek +1m26.009s
Ret Ryabov
Ret Garfias
FL: Barrichello, 1m51.449s
Championship standings
1 Benavides 431 2 Simonazzi 345 3 Barrichello 264 4 Bergmeister 243 5 Levente Revesz 236 6 Michael Shin 187 7 Garfias 99 8 Edward Pearson 80 9 Lorenzo Fluxa 59 10 Ryabov 58