Dunner drives through storm to win Euroformula’s first Mugello race

Photo: Fotospeedy

Lukas Dunner held off pressure from behind in treacherous conditions to win Euroformula’s first ever race at Mugello.

The race started behind the safety car due to the lack of visibility in the heavy rain, and when the field was released on lap three of 17 (reduced from 19 due to time limits) it was Dunner who led the field away from pole.

While Dunner watched Van Amersfoort Racing’s Andreas Estner in his mirrors in the opening laps of action, Carlin’s debuting Ben Barnicoat moved past team-mate Ido Cohen for fifth and set about hunting down Dunner’s points-leading CryptoTower team-mate Yifie Ye for fourth.

It took him two laps to do that, and he then joined a podium battle that lasted much of the race. Barnicoat seemed the most comfortable in the spray, but for a long time could not find a way to pass Motopark’s Niklas Krutten for third despite often getting his nose in into corners.

Eventually Krutten ran off track and conceded the place, and Barnicoat immediately closed onto the back of Estner. Once he started pressuring for second place, that enabled Dunner to pull away in the lead and the Austrian took his third win in a row.

Barnicoat faced the same problem trying to pass Estner in the wet, and ended up rounding out the podium on his second single-seater return of the year.

Krutten dropped back after his off in fourth, but was 10s clear of Ye behind.

Cohen challenged Ye for much of the race but ended up coming under pressure from Drivex School’s Glenn van Berlo late on, and the pair ended up colliding after the chequered flag.

Zane Maloney finished eighth in the third Carlin car, while VAR’s Alexandre Bardinon conceded ninth to Motopark’s Cameron Das with an off.

Race results (17 laps)