Home Formula 3Euroformula Harrison Scott seals Euroformula Open title with 10th win at Monza

Harrison Scott seals Euroformula Open title with 10th win at Monza

by Ida Wood

Harrison Scott

Harrison Scott was crowned 2017 Euroformula Open champion at Monza after taking his 10th victory of the season.

The RP Motorsport driver dominated qualifying, taking pole by over a second from Ameya Vaidyanathan.

The race then followed its usual path for the Englishman: fending off any challenges from pole and pulling away to victory unopposed.

It wasn?t quite that simple though, as two safety car periods meant he had to handle restarts on a circuit renowned for slipstreaming.

The first safety car came straight after the start when Devlin DeFrancesco was span into the pit wall and debris was strewn across the track.

This meant the race really started on the third lap, and Scott judged the restart perfectly to pull away from Ameya Vaidyanathan and Simo Laaksonen.

Laaksonen got a slipstream on Vaidyanathan and he moved ahead at the Retafillo chicane, putting Vaidyanathan into the clutches of those behind.

With Vaidyanathan now focused on maintaining third, Laaksonen asserted himself in second place until the second safety car of the race was called out.

On the sixth lap Nikita Troitskiy finally put a move on Vaidyanathan, but made contact at the Roggia chicane and dropped down the order with a puncture. A crash between Daniel Lu and Thiago Vivacqua led to Vivacqua abandoning his car on the exit of Ascari, and the safety car was called out on lap eight.

Vaidyanathan was still in third, with RP Motorsport drivers Alex Karkosik and Jannes Fittje now his closest rivals.

The Indian lost the place to Fittje on the run to Parabolica after the safety car restart, before pulling off a stunning move to reclaim the place at the final corner.

Fittje moved back past after cutting across the Retafillo chicane on the next lap, and started to hunt down second place man Laaksonen.

WIth two laps to go Fittje took the place, handing RP Motorsport their first one-two of the season.

Laaksonen took his second podium of the season in third, with Karkosik finishing fourth.

Vaidyanathan had maintained fourth after a short battle with Karkosik, and eventually lost the place on lap 15 to Pedro Cardoso. He lost fifth and sixth further round the lap, before eliminating himself and Tarun Reddy at Lesmo 1 on the next lap.

Karkosik also overtook Cardoso for fourth on that lap, and miraculously kept the position despite the Teo Martin Motorsport driver rear-ending him on the final lap.

Ben Hingeley benefited to take fifth, and briefly held fourth on the final lap, with Troitskiy finishing a remarkable sixth and taking fastest lap. Matheus Iorio, Cameron Das, Eliseo Martinez and Guilherme Samaia rounded out the points.

Lu finished 15th on his second Formula 3 start, an unrewarding result after spending the beginning of the race in the top five.

Race Result (18 laps)
1 Harrison Scott RP Motorsport 35m41.834s
2 Jannes Fittje RP Motorsport +1.112s
3 Simo Laaksonen Campos +1.685s
4 Alex Karkosik RP Motorsport +9.175s
5 Ben Hingeley Fortec +9.682s
6 Nikita Troitskiy Drivex +12.219s
7 Matheus Iorio Campos +13.379s
8 Cameron Das Campos +14.177s
9 Eliseo Martinez Teo Martin +14.700s
10 Guilherme Samaia Carlin +14.900s
11 Christian Hahn Drivex +15.153s
12 Yan Leon Shlom Fortec +15.501s
13 Petru Florescu Fortec +16.367s
14 Daniil Pronenko BVM Racing +19.017s
15 Daniel Lu BVM Racing +44.963s
NC Pedro Cardoso +1 lap
Ret Ameya Vaidyanathan Carlin
Ret Tarun Reddy Drivex
Ret Lodovico Laurini RP Motorsport
Ret Thiago Vivacqua Campos
Ret Devlin DeFrancesco Carlin
Fastest Lap: Troitskiy, 1m45.209s

Championship Standings
1 Scott 286 2 Troitskiy 158 3 Vaidyanathan 119 4 Fittje 115 5 DeFrancesco 99 6 Vivacqua 88 7 Laaksonen 72 8 Karkosik 62 9 Iorio 43 10 Florescu 40