Photo: Palou Motorsport
Jesse Carrasquedo Jr and James Egozi won Eurocup-3’s two Saturday races at Algarve.
Kacper Sztuka led a Campos Racing lockout of the top five places on the race one grid, and managed to keep the lead into the opening corner.
Racing was neutralised midway through the opening lap as MP Motorsport’s Alexander Abkhazava spun out, while Sainteloc Racing’s Garrett Berry and Theodor Jensen had to pit.
MP’s Maciej Gladysz climbed from 13th to 10th before the safety car came out, while Valerio Rinicella passed MP team-mate Andres Cardenas for eighth.
Sztuka left it as late as possible to return to racing speeds for the lap four restart, and Carrasquedo went past on the outside while Ernesto Rivera overtook on the inside before turn one.
Enzo Tarnvanichkul and Jules Caranta were ahead of Sztuka too by turn three, while Palou Motorsport’s Egozi regained a spot against Gladysz. He overtook Campos’s Francisco Macedo at turn one on lap five, as Rinicella and Cardenas squabbled and Gladysz dropped to 12th.
Palou’s Isaac Barashi and Zack Scoular went a lap down by pitting, and the race settled down.
Sztuka reclaimed fourth from Caranta on lap 10, as Berry collided with Palou’s Lenny Ried and they both retired. The safety car returned, with racing continuing on the penultimate lap.
Carrasquedo nailed the restart but still had to weave down the long pit straight, and Tarnvanichkul tried fighting Rivera but went off at turn one and dropped behind Sztuka.
He proceeded to lose further ground and finished 22nd, as Carrasquedo had to defend against Rivera several times to hold him off for victory.
MP’s points leader Mattia Colnaghi had followed Sztuka passed Caranta, but the latter got back past for fourth. Cardenas lost out to Egozi and Gladysz on the restart lap.
The first ever reversed-grid race in the main Eurocup-3 series followed a few hours later, with Egozi and Abkhazava on the front row as a three-place grid penalty for his race one clash meant Berry started fifth.
Sztuka and Tarnvanichkul stalled on the grid and avoided being hit, with Sztuka not able to regain any of his lost places with passes while Tarnvanichkul charged up to 10th.
Macedo overtook Cardenas for fourth on lap one, then went around the outside of Rinicella at turn one on lap two. Colnaghi passed Cardenas at turn three, as Ried spun and Allay Racing’s Emil Hellberg got beached in the turn four gravel.
The safety car appeared, and on the lap five restart Cardenas lost out to Berry and Carrasquedo as MP’s Kai Daryanani, Jensen and Drivex School’s Oscar Wurz collided at turn three. Racing was neutralised again, and next resumed on lap nine.
Egozi did not accelerate until on the pit straight, but it worked and he pulled away to win. Rivera and Caranta threw away top-10 finishes by colliding at turn eight, lifting fellow Red Bull junior Tarnvanichkul into 10th.
Results round-up
Race 1 (16 laps)
1 Jesse Carrasquedo Jr Campos Racing 32m40.261s
2 Ernesto Rivera Campos Racing +0.528s
3 Kacper Sztuka Campos Racing +0.941s
4 Jules Caranta Campos Racing +2.461s
5 Mattia Colnaghi MP Motorsport +2.655s
6 Valerio Rinicella MP Motorsport +3.764s
7 James Egozi Palou Motorsport +4.206s
8 Maciej Gladysz MP Motorsport +4.916s
9 Andres Cardenas MP Motorsport +6.596s
10 Yani Stevenheydens Global Racing Service +7.186s
Fastest lap: Carrasquedo, 1m41.207s
Race 2 (10 laps)
1 Egozi 21m52.203s
2 Alexander Abkhazava MP Motorsport +0.967s
3 Francisco Macedo Campos Racing +1.692s
4 Rinicella +2.143s
5 Colnaghi +2.474s
6 Carrasquedo +2.886s
7 Garrett Berry Sainteloc Racing +4.026s
8 Cardenas +4.807s
9 Gladysz +5.696s
10 Enzo Tarnvanichkul Campos Racing +7.529s
FL: Sztuka, 1m40.881s
Championship standings
1 Colnaghi 63 2 Sztuka 45 3 Rivera 41 4 Carrasquedo 37 5 Rinicella 35 6 Gladysz 31 7 Caranta 29 8 Egozi 27 9 Berry 20 10 Abkhazava 9