Ho wins race two at Algarve as Tangavelou takes Eurocup-3 points lead

Photo: Eurocup-3

Christian Ho strengthened his Eurocup-3 title hopes with victory in race two at Algarve.

Palou Motorsport’s Luciano Morano was first to set a lap in qualifying, then Drivex School’s Daniel Nogales set a 1m40.901s to lead the way. He was followed across the line by team-mates Nick Gilkes and Joao Diaz, who set a 1m40.769s and a 1m40.174s respectively.

Global Racing Service’s Nikola Tsolov beat Diaz by 0.002 seconds, then Campos Racing’s Ho very briefly held pole with a 1m39.791s as less than a second later his team-mate Valentin Kluss went 0.188s faster.

Something similar happened on their next laps, as Ho set a 1m39.124s and in his slipstream Kluss improved to 1m38.977s. Kluss found another 0.002s on the lap after that, and spent the final eight minutes of qualifying unchallenged at the top.

MP Motorsport’s Owen Tangavelou went third fastest with just under six minutes remaining, demoting Campos’s Noah Lisle to fourth, and MP’s Emmo Fittipaldi was 0.431s off pole in fifth. Tsolov and MP’s points leader Bruno del Pino qualified 11th and 12th.

GRS’s Emely de Heus broke down en route to the grid for the race, and Sainteloc Racing’s Finley Green was also a non-starter.

Ho took the lead from Kluss before the opening corner, and Tagavelou passed Kluss too at turn two. Lisle tried following through at turn five but could not make it happen, and 2.2s covered the top three by the end of lap one.

They were bunched back together on lap three as Gilkes crashed into team-mate Victoria Blokhina at turn five, sending her airborne and into the gravel. The safety car came out while her car was retrieved, and Ho left it super late before returning to racing speed on the lap five restart.

Lisle tried going around the outside of Kluss at turn one but again failed to get ahead, then at turn two Jose Garfias made contact with Sainteloc team-mate Alexander Abkhazava, sending the latter hurtling into the barriers.

The safety car returned, and while Garfias stayed in sixth the remaining positions in the top 10 changed with Suleiman Zanfari (Campos), Fittipaldi, del Pino and Javier Sagrera (MP) slotting in behind him.

Racing resumed on lap 10, and Kluss passed Tangavelou down the pit straight. The Drivex trio of Gaspard Le Gallais, Gilkes and George Zhuravskiy collided at turn two, and GRS’s Isaac Barashi spun. The safety car was called while Barashi was stationary, but then he got going again unaided.

Lisle passed Tangavelou on the lap 12 restart, but only by sending him flying over the turn one kerbs. Tangavelou tried reclaiming third at turn five but Lisle forced him off, enabling Michael Shin to get past, and Zanfari passed Garfias.

The safety car was then called again as Diaz buried his car in the turn two gravel, securing Ho a second successive win and Tangavelou the point lead since there was no restart. On the last lap, Zanfari dropped from sixth to 19th and MP’s Dario Cabanelas fell from 11th to 21st.

Race results (15 laps)