Carrasquedo converts pole into victory in shortened Eurocup-3 race one

Photo: Eurocup-3

Campos Racing’s Jesse Carrasquedo Jr won a shortened first Eurocup-3 race of the day at Spa-Francorchamps.

His car was pointed left when he lined up on the grid, ready to move to the outside line once racing got underway. But the start was aborted, and the race time was reduced as the car of Palou Motorsport’s Luciano Morano was stuck on the grid.

A second formation lap took place, sans Morano, and Carrasquedo did not repeat his earlier tactic.

MP Motorsport’s Mattia Colnaghi made the best launch, going from fourth into second by diving to the inside into the opening corner, then there was a three-wide moment down the Kemmel Straight.

Having retained his starting position of third, Campos’s Kacper Sztuka tried passing Colnaghi around the outside at Les Combes and they remained side-by-side through to Bruxelles. He could not make a pass, and by the end of the lap was under attack from team-mate Enzo Tarnvanichkul.

The pair swapped places at Les Combes on lap two, with more three-wide action behind them. MP’s front row starter Valerio Rinicella had dropped to sixth behind Campos’s Jules Caranta, who then attacked Sztuka around the outside of Les Combes on lap three.

He was lining up another attempt to pass later in the lap when rain began to fall, and the final corners only got wetter thereon.

Racing continued under green flag conditions initially, with Palou’s James Egozi and MP’s Maciej Gladysz making contact and going off at Les Combes on lap four as they disputed seventh place.

Rinicella had reclaimed a place by passing Caranta at Raidillon, but conceded that spot and many more by pitting at the end of lap five for wet-weather tyres.

The rain had extended to sector one by lap six, and Palou’s Alceu Feldmann Neto had a scary spin at Eau Rouge while Carrasquedo had to defend his lead and several drivers had offs. Race control put the race under safety car conditions later in the lap, and Feldman was among four drivers to pit for more suitable rubber.

Although the rain reduced in the final sector on lap seven, the clouds releasing it moved to sector two and drivers faced sunny conditions and torrential rain on lap eight. Racing resumed on lap nine, but race-ending red flags were waving by the time the field reached Eau Rouge and the results were taken from the end of lap seven.

Carrasquedo was victorious, and Colnaghi grew his championship lead by 18 points as title rival Rinicella finished 22nd.

Race results (7 laps)