Photo: Eurocup-3
Campos Racing’s Esteban Masson extended his Eurocup-3 points lead with victory at Estoril.
MP Motorsport’s Mari Boya was fastest in the first free practice session, a 1m34.963s putting him 0.056 seconds ahead of team-mate Bruno del Pino in second place. Campos Racing’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak was 0.1s behind in third, and his team-mate Masson was the slowest driver of all as he was 6.51s off the pace in 17th place.
Boya was on top again in FP2, setting a 1m35.001s to lead by Inthraphuvasak by 0.022s. Masso showed his true pace, going 0.115s slower than Boya in third, and del Pino was fourth. Palou Motorsport’s Jorge Campos was unable to set a representative laptime in the session.
Masson went even faster in qualifying, taking pole with a 1m34.869s lap. Boya could not match his pace from earlier in the day, qualifying 0.638s off the pace in fourth and behind Campos’s Francesco Braschi and Sebastian Ogaard. Drivex School’s Nick Gilkes and Inthraphuvasak were within 0.04s of him.
The FP1 struggles were a distant memory for Masson by the end of race one, as he claimed his fifth win of 2023 by 6.357s.
Braschi was similarly unrivalled in second, whiole Ogaard had to resist attacks from Boya for third on lap seven, then keep him at bay through lap nine before going too aggressively to the inside down the pit straight on lap 11 and enabling Boya to easily sweep past on the outside before turn one.
Gilkes was pressuring Ogaard by the end of the 20-lapper, and Jose Garfias was a lonely sixth.
Miron Pingasov finished seventh, passing Suleiman Zanfari on lap three and then Dario Cabanelas on lap 16 to get into the position. Cabenelas conceded his position with an unforced error that sent him off track, and at the start of the next lap he lost eighth to del Pino.
Zanfari had fallen behind del Pino on lap six, then behind Inthraphuvasak – whose attempted lap one pass on Gilkes dropped him to 10th – on lap seven and behind Daniel Nogales on lap 10 to eventually finish 12th.
Race result (20 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Esteban Masson | Campos Racing | 32m04.132s |
| 2 | Francesco Braschi | Campos Racing | +6.357s |
| 3 | Mari Boya | MP Motorsport | +12.592s |
| 4 | Sebastian Ogaard | MP Motorsport | +18.307s |
| 5 | Nick Gilkes | Drivex School | +18.898s |
| 6 | Jose Garfias | MP Motorsport | +21.754s |
| 7 | Miron Pingasov | Palou Motorsport | +26.005s |
| 8 | Bruno del Pino | MP Motorsport | +28.674s |
| 9 | Dario Cabanelas | Sainteloc Racing | +30.984s |
| 10 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | Campos Racing | +36.120s |
| 11 | Daniel Nogales | Drivex School | +38.709s |
| 12 | Suleiman Zanfari | Campos Racing | +40.861s |
| 13 | Javier Sagrera | Palou Motorsport | +43.357s |
| 14 | Emmo Fittipaldi | GRS | +57.064s |
| 15 | Daniel Mavlyutov | GRS | +1m08.635s |
| 16 | Jorge Campos | Palou Motorsport | +1m10.164s |
| 17 | Sebastian Gravlund | MP Motorsport | +1m24.519s |
| Pole: Masson, 1m34.869s Fastest lap: Masson, 1m35.174s
Championship standings |
|||