Home Formula 3Euroformula Hurst holds off Mason to score maiden F3 Open win

Hurst holds off Mason to score maiden F3 Open win

by Peter Allen

Photo: F3 Open/Fotospeedy

Hector Hurst secured his first win in the F3 Open in race two at the Nurburgring from pole position, but he had to work hard to keep Nelson Mason at bay.

Hurst kept the lead off the start and set about opening up a gap over Mason, but that was eliminated when the safety car was deployed on lap four after Artur Janosz went off at high speed after clipping Sean Walkinshaw under braking for turn one, taking out Gerardo Nieto as he went.

After the restart, Mason closed right up on Hurst at the start of lap ten, forcing Hurst to defend his position into the first corner. The gap then remained at around just over half a second until the final lap, when Hurst crossed the line 0.413s ahead.

Sandy Stuvik finished seven seconds back in a distant third place, five seconds ahead of the battle between his RP Motorsport team-mates Santiago Urrutia and?Alexander Toril. Urrutia stayed ahead until the chequered flag, only to be handed a three second penalty afterwards and relegated behind Toril.

Saturday winner Ed Jones finished sixth ahead of a close three-way fight for seventh. Yarin Stern claimed the place two laps from the end after running side-by-side with Emilio de Villota Motorsport team-mate Andres Saravia, with Alexandre Cougnaud finishing close behind. Richard Gonda secured victory in the Copa class in tenth overall.

The consistent Stuvik holds a 32 point lead in the standings over Hurst, with Jones just one further behind. Round four takes place at Jerez in two weeks’ time.

Race results
Pos Driver? Team Time/Gap
1 Hector Hurst EmiliodeVillota Motorsport 16 laps in 35:30.625
2 Nelson Mason Team West-Tec +0.413
3 Sandy Stuvik RP Motorsport +7.047
4 Alexander Toril RP Motorsport +12.630
5 Santiago Urrutia RP Motorsport +14.658
6 Ed Jones Team West-Tec +15.380
7 Yarin Stern EmiliodeVillota Motorsport +18.744
8 Andres Saravia EmiliodeVillota Motorsport +19.713
9 Alexandre Cougnaud RP Motorsport +19.997
10 Richard Gonda Drivex School +21.083
11 Roberto La Rocca Team West-Tec +21.815
12 Vicky Piria BVM Racing +24.991
13 Valeria Carballo Campos Racing +30.561
14 Denis Nagulin Campos Racing +31.006
15 Tommaso Menchini Corbetta Competitzioni +31.991
16 Cameron Twynham Team West-Tec +32.746
17 Igor Urien EmiliodeVillota Motorsport +34.187
18 Mattia Vita Top F3 +38.245
19 Damiano Fioravanti Corbetta Competitzioni +41.193
20 Alexey Chuklin EmiliodeVillota Motorsport +41.556
21 Lorenzo Paggi Corbetta Competitzioni +43.284
22 Sean Walkinshaw Team West-Tec +43.736
23 Che One Lim EmiliodeVillota Motorsport +45.218
24 Saud Al-Faisal RP Motorsport +1:05.391
25 Nicolas Pohler DAV Racing +2 laps
Not classified
Huan Zhu Team West-Tec 6 laps
Gerardo Nieto DAV Racing 2 laps
Artur Janosz Campos Racing 2 laps
Mario Marasca BVM Racing 1 lap
Liam Venter Team West-Tec 0 laps