Photo: Fotospeedy
Euroformula had three different winners in round five at Paul Ricard.
Brad Benavides was fastest in qualifying, setting a 1m55.698s to lead Jakob Bergmeister by 0.205 seconds. Francesco Simonazzi was 0.303s behindin third, with Levente Revesz and Fernando Barrichello also within half a second of pole. The debuting Enzo Richer, who raced in French Formula 4 from 2021 to ’23, was 1.488s off the pace in sixth.
At the start of race one, Benavides lurched off the line and Barrichello was also slow away from his grid spot, with Bergmesiter taking the lead ahead of Simonazzi and Revesz.
Simonazzi tried taking the lead around the outside of Signes but could not make it work, and on lap two he came under pressure from Revesz who also attempted a Signes overtake and successfully claimed second place.
That helped Bergmeister break two seconds clear, but eventually Revesz began closing in. Benavides dived down the inside of Barrichello at the last corner for fourth on lap four, and by lap six he was all over Simonazzi. He passed him on the inside at Signes the next lap, which also enabled Barrichello to get through.
There were was 1.06s between the top two at the finish, with Benavides a further 1.14s behind. Richer retired mid-race due to technical issues.
Paolo Brajnik started on reversed-grid pole for race two, ahead of Simonazzi, Barrichello, Benavides, Revesz and Bergmeister.
Simonazzi and Barrichello stalled, with Brajnik sprinting off into the lead and with Benavides in pursuit under cloudy skies. Revesz then got past Benavides, and both cleared Brajnik t the chicane on the Minstral straight.
The top two finished lap one way clear of the rest of the field, and on lap two Brajnik spun and blocked the path of Richer as rain began to fall.
Benavides tried taking the lead at the start of lap three, with conditions worsening significantly at that part of the track. Race control trold Revesz to hand the lead to his team-mate a lap later, but then Benavides went off and Revesz had a big gap up front. So Revesz slowed down on lap four to allow Benavides and Simonazzi to close back in, and on lap five Benavides briefly took the lead before Signes but then went off.
Both were trying to keep Simonazzi at bay, and it was allowing Barrichello and Bergmeister to close in too. Benavides finally took the lead at Signes on lap six, Simonazzi took second at the start of lap seven.
The gaps then opened up again, Benavides took his sixth win of 2024, a mistake at the final corner of the penultimate lap meant Simonazzi lost second place and an off for Barrichello allowed Bergmeister to take fourth from him but he reclaimed the position late in the race.
Richer started on reversed-grid pole for race three, but was very slow off the line and immediately dropped to third as Revesz swept into the lead.
Barrichello held second until Benavides got inside of him at Signes on lap four, and by lap nine Benavides was fighting Revesz. He then eturned to just sitting in the leader’s tow, and Barrichello had caught them by lap 12 but also could not apply serious pressure for more than a lap. Benavides started attacking again on the last lap, but it was too late.
Results round-up
Race 1 (15 laps)
1 Jakob Bergmeister Motopark 29m36.576s
2 Levente Revesz Motopark +1.060s
3 Brad Benavides Motopark +2.205s
4 Fernando Barrichello Motopark +4.950s
5 Francesco Simonazzi BVM Racing +13.010s
6 Paolo Brajnik NV Racing +1m19.822s
Ret Enzo Richer Motopark
Pole: Benavides, 1m55.698s
Fastest lap: Benavides, 1m57.528s
Race 2 (15 laps)
1 Benavides 31m56.709s
2 Revesz +4.939s
3 Simonazzi +5.578s
4 Barrichello +14.351s
5 Bergmeister +21.186s
6 Richer +1m29.112s
Ret Brajnik
FL: Revesz, 2m03.072s
Race 3 (15 laps)
1 Revesz 29m39.467s
2 Benavides +0.589s
3 Barrichello +1.276s
4 Simonazzi +5.875s
5 Bergmeister +6.646s
6 Richer +17.141s
FL: Benavides, 1m56.927s
Championship standings
1 Benavides 321 2 Simonazzi 230 3 Revesz 209 4 Bergmeister 203 5 Barrichello 156 6 Michael Shin 134 7 Lorenzo Fluxa 59 8 Gerrard Xie 36 9 Brajnik 24 10 Richer 16