Masson edges Garfias to pole for first Eurocup-3 race at Valencia

Photo: Campos Racing

Campos Racing’s Esteban Masson took pole in a super close Eurocup-3 qualifying session at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit.

There were several changes to the entry list, with Palou Motorsport’s Georgis Markogiannis returning after missing the previous round, Global Racing Service running Spanish Formula 4 graduate Carl Bennett and FIA Formula 3 regular Nikola Tsolov (who made his Eurocup-3 debut two rounds ago with the team), and Drivex School adding Georgi Zhuravskiy – another Spanish F4 graduate – to its line-up.

MP Motorsport’s Sebastian Ogaard set the pace at first in qualifying, a 1m29.222s putting him 0.063 seconds ahead of Masson.

In the 20-minute session’s second half he was bettered by several drivers, with team-mate Mari Boya going to the top with seven minutes left on the clock. He set a 1m28.850s, with Jose Garfias 0.109s behind in second place and Bruno del Pino 0.158s behind in third.

Masson was fifth fastest, but became the benchmark driver with three-and-a-half minutes to go as he set a 1m27.694s to lead Garfias by 0.005s.

Boya improved on his final lap but stayed in third, 0.062s off pole, and Ogaard went fourth fastest after dropping as low as sixth.

Del Pino and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak improved as they met the chequered flag, putting them fifth and sixth on the race one grid, and Sebastian Gravlund qualified seventh.

Markogiannis and Tsolov were 11th and 13th fastest on their returns, with Bennett propping up the 18-car field and 2.213s off the pace.

Qualifying results