Photo: Eurocup-3
Campos Racing’s Christian Ho claimed pole for and then won Eurocup-3’s first race at Algarve on Saturday.
Palou Motorsport’s Luciano Morano initially set the pace in qualifying, then Drivex School’s Joao Diaz set a 1m40.036s benchmark that stood for 70 seconds before Ho set a 1m39.993s. Ho lowered the pace four more times, ending the session with a 1m39.049s that earned him pole by 0.253s over MP Motorsport’s Bruno del Pino.
MP’s Owen Tangavelou, Campos’s Valentin Kluss and Sainteloc Racing’s Alexander Abkhazava were also within 0.4s of pole, with 0.965s covering the top 14. Points leader Javier Sagrera was only 10th fastest.
Ho avoided having to worry about being overtaking into turn one on the opening lap due to Tangavelou attacking del Pino through the first two corners. He got into second place, and after that they continued to fight and del Pino got back past. By the end of the lap they were 1.3s behind the leader.
Sainteloc’s Finley Green failed to make the start, while Global Racing Service’s Emely de Heus immediately struck car issues and retired in the pits on lap two after the safety car came out due to Sainteloc’s Jose Garfias stopping at the side of the track while Palou Motorsport’s Luciano Morano drove around slowly with a mangled front wing.
The restart took place on lap six, and Abkhazava tried going around the outside of Tangavelou at turn one. Although he did get ahead, Tangavelou moved pack past on lap seven down the pit straight. They were quickly gapped by the top two, and del Pino stayed within a second of Ho for four laps.
There were two seconds splitting the top two on lap 13 when the safety car returned due to Campos’s Suleiman Zanfari getting into race-ending trouble. Four laps later the drivers met the chequered flag in formation, as there was no restart, and Ho – who had driven with an injured hand – jumped up to fourth in the championship standings by taking victory.
Sagrera made it up to fifth place, with Campos’s Valentin Kluss sixth and MP’s Dario Cabanelas seventh. Before the final safety car period, Campos’s Noah Lisle and GRS’s Nikola Tsolov got past Drivex’s Daniel Nogales and that led to them finishing eighth and ninth once Zanfari retired.
Race results (17 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christian Ho | Campos Racing | |
| 2 | Bruno del Pino | MP Motorsport | +0.650s |
| 3 | Owen Tangavelou | MP Motorsport | +0.975s |
| 4 | Alexander Abkhazava | Sainteloc Racing | +1.174s |
| 5 | Javier Sagrera | MP Motorsport | +1.964s |
| 6 | Valentin Kluss | Campos Racing | +2.229s |
| 7 | Dario Cabanelas | MP Motorsport | +2.411s |
| 8 | Noah Lisle | Campos Racing | +2.577s |
| 9 | Nikola Tsolov | Global Racing Service | +2.949s |
| 10 | Daniel Nogales | Drivex School | +3.958s |
| 11 | Diego de la Torre | Sainteloc Racing | +4.194s |
| 12 | Nick Gilkes | Drivex School | +4.985s |
| 13 | George Zhuravskiy | Drivex School | +5.148s |
| 14 | Gaspard Le Gallais | Drivex School | +6.012s |
| 15 | Isaac Barashi | Global Racing Service | +6.280s |
| 16 | Victoria Blokhina | Drivex School | +6.647s |
| 17 | Joao Diaz | Drivex School | +7.256s |
| 18 | Garrett Berry | Palou Motorsport | +7.872s |
| Ret | Suleiman Zanfari | Campos Racing | |
| Ret | Emmo Fittipaldi | MP Motorsport | |
| Ret | Michael Shin | Campos Racing | |
| Ret | Theodor Jensen | Palou Motorsport | |
| Ret | Luciano Morano | Palou Motorsport | |
| Ret | Jose Garfias | Sainteloc Racing | |
| Ret | Emely de Heus | Global Racing Service | |
| DNS | Finley Green | Sainteloc Racing | |
| Pole: Ho, 1m39.049s Fastest lap: Fittipaldi, 1m39.684s
Championship standings |
|||