Photo: Fotospeedy
BVM Racing’s Tymek Kucharczyk won both Euroformula races at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday to reduce Motopark driver Yevan David’s points lead.
The pair started fifth and sixth for the reversed-grid race two, with Motopark’s Michael Shin and Everett Stack occupying the front row. Nielsen Racing’s Ed Pearson and Motopark’s Diego de la Torre were also between the championship’s top two and the front of the field.
Pearson was slow off the line but was still third into La Source. David passed him around the outside exiting the corner, then he cleared Stack down the Kemmel Straight. At Les Combes, Motopark’s Jose Garfias was spun around.
Stack went off at Pouhon on lap two and conceded two places, putting Kucharczyk into fourth. Down the Kemmel Straight on lap three he took third, as David passed Shin for the lead.
On lap six Kucharczyk moved into second, and as the track became moist he was one of several drivers to make major errors. He went off at turn 11 on lap seven, but rejoined, while Stack crashed out there heavily. Stack had passed Pearson a few laps earlier.
The safety car was summoned, and racing resumed on lap 10. Kucharczyk took the lead on the inside at La Source, as Shin locked up heavily and spun David around. They fell to the back, with Shin cradling a damaged car, and Pearson was promoted into second ahead of BVM’s Vladislav Ryabov.
Pearson very briefly had the lead at Les Combes but Kucharczyk had the better drive exiting the corner, and David was a long way back in sixth.
On lap 11 Pearson got the job done, and David rapidly joined the battles behind. He passed Nielsen’s Shawn Rashid before the end of the lap, then watched the top four battle on lap 12.
Kucharczyk reclaimed the lead down the Kemmel Straight and tried to break the tow after, which he succeeded in doing to win. On the final lap David overtook Ryabov at Les Combes, went off and rejoined still ahead.
Motopark’s Fernando Barrichello finished third and started on pole for race three. Kucharczyk tried passing him around the outside at La Source on lap one, but that left the door open for de la Torre to take the lead on the inside.
A four-wide battle ensued down the Kemmel Straight, and de la Torre fell to fourth at Les Combes. Kucharczyk overtook both he and Barrichello for the lead on the outside, and Shin took third on the inside.
There was a 3.25s gap up front by the start of lap two, and de la Torre was fifth behind Garfias. He overtook Shin next, and Barrichello for second at Les Combes.
David cleared Shin at the end of the lap, and Barrichello at Les Combes on lap three. But Kucharczyk now had a 4.1s lead and Garfias had a two-second gap of his own.
Those began to be reduced on lap seven, and David took second into Les Combes on lap nine. In the remaining laps he reduced Kucharczyk ‘s lead from 3.1 to 0.98s, bringing Garfias along in his tow.
Results round-up
Race 2 (13 laps)
1 Tymek Kucharczyk BVM Racing 31m37.031s
2 Ed Pearson Nielsen Racing +0.759s
3 Fernando Barrichello Motopark +1.720s
4 Yevan David Motopark +1.852s
5 Vladislav Ryabov BVM Racing +2.989s
6 Shawn Rashid Nielsen Racing +3.568s
7 Michael Motopark +2m32.343s
8 Jose Garfias Motopark +3 laps
Ret Everett Stack Motopark
Ret Finley Green Nielsen Racing
Fastest lap: Kucharczyk, 2m10.387s
Race 3 (13 laps)
1 Kucharczyk 28m20.585s
2 David +0.981s
3 Garfias +1.617s
4 Shin +6.790s
5 Barrichello +10.112s
6 Diego de la Torre Motopark +10.801s
7 Stack +19.228s
8 Ryabov +19.745s
9 Rashid +20.957s
10 Pearson +21.801s
FL: David, 2m09.684s
Championship standings
1 David 122 2 Kucharczyk 102 3 Shin 81 4 Pearson 74 5 Barrichello 51 6 Garfias 47 7 de la Torre 39 8 Stack 36 9 Ryabov 27 10 Rashid 18