Liam Lawson wins first race of Euroformula Open season at Paul Ricard

Photo: Fotospeedy

Liam Lawson led a Motopark one-two in the first race of Euroformula Open’s new era at Paul Ricard.

Although beaten to pole by Teo Martin Motorsport’s HWA-powered Lukas Dunner, it was the Spiess-powered Motopark team that looked the strongest in both qualifying and the race.

Dunner held the lead from the start, but a safety car period caused by a clash between Cameron Das and Artem Petrov allowed Lawson to launch himself and team-mate Yuki Tsunoda past Dunner at the restart.

The two Red Bull-backed Motopark drivers then set off at the front, but as Tsunoda started to challenge Lawson it allowed Dunner back into play. After two failed moves down the Mistral straight, Dunner tried on the penultimate lap to go around the outside of Tsunoda at Turn 10, but could not find a way past.

This handed some breathing space to Lawson, who crossed the line to take Motopark’s first win since last year’s Macau Grand Prix.

Behind the front three was Double R Racing’s Linus Lundqvist, who had started in 10th, and Motopark’s Marino Sato.

Teppei Natori was the top Carlin driver in sixth, avoiding several incidents along the way. His team-mate Billy Monger took the final point, climbing from 19th on the grid to do so.

Race results (17 laps)