CryptoTower’s Trulli and Tramnitz top Euroformula qualifying at Algarve

Photo: Fotospeedy

Enzo Trulli claimed the first pole position of the Euroformula season at Algarve ahead of fellow cameoing driver Tim Tramnitz.

The pair are driving for Motopark’s Japanese offshoot CryptoTower Racing Team this weekend, with their primary racing programmes being in other series.

BVM Racing’s Francesco Simonazzi was fastest at first, then Trulli went to the top by over a second as the second flying laps were set.

He improved again on his next effort, going 0.433 seconds clear of Motopark’s Cian Shields, while Simonazzi in third was the only other driver in a second of the pace.

Going into the final third of the session there was a change at the top as Tramnitz and Noel Leon bettered Trulli, who was yet to improve, and Bryce Aron slotted into fourth.

Leon then went fastest for Motopark, setting a 1m37.760s, and improvements from Tramnitz, Simonazzi and Aron put them in second, third and fourth while Trulli was demoted to fifth. However he was finally improving his pace again, and with five minutes remaining crossed the line in 1m37.689s to claim back provisional pole.

Tramnitz dropped to fourth, sandwiched between the improving Simonazzi and Aron.

Trulli and Simonazzi found even more pace, with Trulli setting a 1m37.454s to lead his fellow Italian by 0.256s. Tramnitz improved too, but was still in fourth place with two minutes left of qualifying.

A minute later he was back into second though, getting within 0.018s of Trulli’s benchmark laptime. Trulli responded on his last lap before the chequered flag by going even faster, and took pole by 0.278s.

Simonazzi and Leon qualified third and fourth, split by 0.050s, and Aron was only 0.005s further behind with a late improvement in fifth place.

Paolo Brajnik was 2.841s off the pace in ninth place as the last of the qualifiers, while his Gold Cup rival Vladimir Netusil failed to set a laptime and will require permission to race.

Qualifying results