Photo: Eurocup-3
Christian Ho has been confirmed as the 2024 Eurocup-3 champion after the conclusion of an appeal process that went to the FIA.
Campos Racing driver Ho won the final race of last season at Barcelona, but fifth place for MP Motorsport’s Javier Sagrera provisionally crowned him champion by two points. The results of the previous day’s race were under appeal at that point, and soon the finale would be too.
In race one of the weekend, Ho had finished second behind MP’s Emmo Fittipaldi. On lap 16 of 20, Ho dived down the inside of Fittipaldi at turn one and got ahead. Fittipaldi tried staying alongside but went off, and after rejoining via the designated escape road he swept around the outside of Ho at turn three to get back ahead.
Once the race-winning moment was reviewed there was no further action taken by the stewards and it was confirmed several hours after the finish that Fittipaldi was victorious. Campos moved quickly to lodge an appeal against that decision.
A penalty of any kind applied to Fittipaldi would have meant a seven-point swing in Ho’s favour, which at the time of the chequered flag the next day would have been more than enough for Ho to take the title.
Ho started race two on pole, and moved across at the start to keep Fittipaldi at bay, while Sagrera got involved in a four-wide fight for third down to the first turn. Sagrera went off, and was one of nine drivers who got to turn three by using the designated escape road. By doing so he moved ahead of Campos’s Valentin Kluss and Drivex School’s Nikita Bedrin.
It took a few corners for Bedrin to get back past Sagrera, who later shook off Kluss and was not investigated for the pass until post-race. That led to a five-second penalty, but he gained back a place when MP breached parc ferme regulations on Tangavelou’s car and he was disqualified. Sagrera therefore remained champion, and the situation escalated between Campos and MP as Formula Scout reported at the time. Three months later, the situation is now resolved:
The [FIA] International Court has upheld the decision made by the RFEDA’s Appeals and Disciplinary Committee, the highest national authority, which overturned the ruling of the Stewards in the final round of the Eurocup-3 held in Montmeló last November. At that time, the stewards validated an overtake that exceeded track limits, which was decisive in the final outcome of the championship.
Following the ruling of the RFEDA’s Appeals and Disciplinary Committee correcting this decision, a new appeal was filed before the International Court, the highest tribunal in our sport, leading to this final ruling, which is not subject to further appeal.
Therefore, Christian Ho, takes race one win in the season finale at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya after adding a five-second penalty to #24 driver’s final result and consequently extra seven points that definitively crown him 2024 Eurocup-3 champion.