Photo: Fotospeedy
Euroformula had three different winners in round six at the Red Bull Ring.
There were two practice sessions on Friday, and BVM Racing’s Tymek Kucharczyk set the pace by 0.189 seconds over Motopark’s Jose Garfias.
It marked the debuts of Alessandro Famularo (BVM), Formula 4 Central European Zone race-winner Lucas Viisoreanu (Motopark), single-seater rookie Ricardo Baptista and Francisco Soldavini (both Nielsen Racing). Soldavini is a race-winner in the Ultimate Cup Series’ Formula Cup for Formula Regional cars.
Qualifying took place on Saturday morning, and it was closely fought with 0.086s covering the top three. Kucharczyk was quickest, claiming pole by just 0.054s over Motopark’s Michael Shin.
Yevan David was third, and Motopark team-mate Diego de la Torre was 0.22s off pole in fourth. A second covered the top eight, with Famularo the second-best non-Motopark driver in seventh.
De la Torre burst into the lead at the start of race one, and at turn three Garfias demoted David to fourth. Shin tried reclaiming the lead at turn four, and got it after the corner as de la Torre went off. He ended up with a 1.1s lead over Garfias, with de la Torre rejoining in third ahead of Kucharczyk, Nielsen’s Ed Pearson and Motopark’s Everett Stack.
Kucharczyk overtook de la Torre on the inside of turn three on lap three, but de la Torre swept back past not long after. David meanwhile continued his descent. The fight for third heated up again on lap 10, with two passes and then an off for Kucharczyk.
But then de la Torre had an off at the end of lap 12 and Kucharczyk was gifted third. He went chasing Garfias, and repeatedly tried overtaking him through the last five laps. Garfias was always better under braking and stayed ahead. Shin meanwhile was 7.5s up the road celebrating victory.
David finished sixth behind Stack, so had reversed-grid pole for race two which he led lights to flag. Kucharczyk jumped to second at the start, but Stack reclaimed the spot on the outside at turn three. Shin overtook Garfias for fourth, then little happened until a backmarker clash triggered a safety car period.
On the lap seven restart David sprinted away, while Shin was on the attack then defence. On lap 11 he gained a place as Kucharczyk tried passing Stack at turns three and five but locked up. Shin went side-by-side with Stack on lap 12, and got him into turn one a lap later.
Stack went off and then came under more pressure from behind. A failed overtake by Kucharczyk at turn five on lap 17 allowed Garfias to get past briefly, and the squablled on the penultimate lap too. They moved ahead of Stack when he got a five-second track limits penalty.
In race three, Stack converted reversed-grid pole into a maiden victory. David got a puncture at the start by sweeping across de la Torre, and Garfias and Shin were second third. Kucharczyk rose to fourth on lap two, and the top four ran as a group.
On lap 11, Garfias took the lead after Stack put a wheel off exiting turn five. Kucharczyk overtook Shin a lap later, and on lap 13 Garfias locked up at turn three and dropped back to second. He had to be defensive thereon, while Stack pulled away.
Garfias succeeded, and Shin was demoted to fifth by a five-second penalty for jumping the start. De la Torre’s track limits penalty dropped him one spot to eighth.
Results round-up
Race 1 (20 laps)
1 Michael Shin Motopark 28m24.868s
2 Jose Garfias Motopark +7.254s
3 Tymek Kucharczyk BVM Racing +7.612s
4 Diego de la Torre Motopark +11.094s
5 Everett Stack Motopark +12.269s
6 Yevan David Motopark +14.143s
7 Ed Pearson Nielsen Racing +14.644s
8 Alessandro Famularo BVM Racing +18.743s
9 Luca Viisoreanu Motopark +28.469s
10 Francisco Soldavini Nielsen Racing +32.088s
Pole: Kucharczyk, 1m23.501s
Fastest lap: Shin, 1m24.484s
Race 2 (20 laps)
1 David 30m21.610s
2 Shin +5.135s
3 Kucharczyk +15.813s
4 Garfias +16.018s
5 de la Torre +17.010s
6 Pearson +18.470s
7 Famularo +18.737s
8 Stack +20.479s
9 Viisoreanu +30.967s
10 Soldavini +40.961s
FL: Shin, 1m24.188s
Race 3 (20 laps)
1 Stack 28m32.101s
2 Garfias +2.184s
3 Kucharczyk +2.773s
4 Pearson +4.702s
5 Shin +8.171s
6 Famularo +11.221s
7 Viisoreanu +21.628s
8 de la Torre +22.272s
9 Soldavini +24.371s
10 Ricardo Baptista Nielsen Racing +51.474s
FL: Kucharczyk, 1m24.789s
Championship standings
1 Kucharczyk 277 2 Shin 267 3 David 246 4 Garfias 241 5 Pearson 173 6 Stack 155 7 Barrichello 149 8 de la Torre 123 9 Shawn Rashid 41 10 Finley Green 31