Photo: FOTOSPEEDY/f3open.net
Nelson Mason claimed victory in the opening race of the F3 Open season at Paul Ricard.
The drivers had to start the 2013 season under difficult conditions in a foggy and rainy Saturday afternoon in southern France. The race was started behind the safety car, however, after four laps, the race was on.
Despite the demanding weather, pole-sitter Mason couldn’t be disturbed by anything or anyone, as he pulled away from Hector Hurst and Roberto La Rocca and won the race in a commanding way. The order of the top three didn’t change, so Hurst and La Rocca got to listen to the Canadian anthem alongside Mason.
Despite Santiago Urrutia overtaking Sandy Stuvik for fourth early on, the Uruguayan fell back after an accident. Alexey Chuklin?finished fifth, closely followed by Alex Toril and Alexandre Cougnaud.
Italian trio Mattia Vita, Mario Marasca and Luca Orlandi completed the top ten. The?Copa class winner was Team West-Tec’s Cameron Twynham, who finished eleventh overall.
The second race of the first round will be held tomorrow at 12.35 GMT.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Nelson Mason | Team West-Tec | 35:11.955 |
| 2 | Hector Hurst | EmillioDeVillota | + 3.361 |
| 3 | Roberto La Rocca | Team West-Tec | +?8.539 |
| 4 | Sandy Stuvik | RP Motorsport | +?9.207 |
| 5 | Alexey Chuklin | EmillioDeVillota | +?19.908 |
| 6 | Alexander Toril | RP Motorsport | +?22.518 |
| 7 | Alexandre Cougnaud | RP Motorsport | +?22.614 |
| 8 | Mattia Vita | Top F3 | +?28.138 |
| 9 | Mario Marasca | BVM | +?35.985 |
| 10 | Luca Orlandi | Team West-Tec | +?37.095 |
| 11 | Cameron Twynham | Team West-Tec | +?38.749 |
| 12 | Andr?s Saravia | EmillioDeVillota | +?39.444 |
| 13 | Che One Lim | EmillioDeVillota | +?40.359 |
| 14 | Liam Venter | Team West-Tec | +?41.018 |
| 15 | Gerardo Nieto | DAV Racing | +?41.105 |
| 16 | Tommaso Menchini | Corbetta Compeitizoni | +?41.746 |
| 17 | Igor Urien | EmillioDeVillota | +?42.658 |
| 18 | Nicholas Pohler | DAV Racing | +?43.081 |
| 19 | Damiano Fioravanti | Corbetta Compeitizoni | +?52.807 |
| 20 | Sean Walkinshaw | Team West-Tec | +?1:00.693 |
| 21 | Huan Zhu | Team West-Tec | +?1:01.669 |
| 22 | Artur Janosz | Campos Racing | +?1:26.388 |
| 23 | Vicky Piria | BVM | +?2:17.886 |
| 24 | Santiago Urrutia | RP Motorsport | +?1 Lap |
| 25 | Spencer Pigot | Team West-Tec | +?1 Lap |
| 26 | Yarin Stern | EmillioDeVillota | +?1 Lap |
| 27 | Lorenzo Paggi | Corbetta Compeitizoni | +?1 Lap |
| 28 | Denis Nagulin | Campos Racing | +?3 Laps |
| NOT CLASSIFIED | |||
| Valeria Carballo | Campos Racing | +?5 Laps | |
| Saud Al Faisal | RP Motorsport | +?5 Laps | |
| Richard Gonda | Drivex School | +?5 Laps | |