Photo: Fotospeedy
Motopark will expand to six cars for this weekend’s Euroformula round at the Red Bull Ring, as Jose Garfias and Edward Pearson join its line-up.
The German team has dominated the Formula 3-level series since joining it in 2019, and it fielded five cars through the second half of that campaign. For 2020 it ran four cars full-time and two others part-time, although on the entry list that was split in half as three cars competed under the banner of its Japanese satellite squad CryptoTower Racing Team.
That continued into 2021 and ’22, with all six cars entered full-time, then last year Motopark had four full-time drivers of its own (with the sporting regulations allowing no more), with two full-timers at CryptoTower. A seventh car, also entered through CryptoTower, contested the season finale.
Although Euroformula kept its four-car cap on team sizes for 2024, there have only been six full-time entries and five of those are Motopark’s. It added a sixth car to its line-up for round three at Spa-Francorchamps. Michael Shin will be back in his regular seat with the team this weekend after being replaced by Enzo Richer last time out.
The 17-year-old Pearson steps up to Euroformula from GB3, where he is currently 18th in the standings with a best finish of eighth place. He will not complete his second season with Fortec Motorsports there, having come 19th in the 2023 standings with two podiums, but is not currently set to see out the campaign in Euroformula either as he has signed only for this month’s rounds at the Red Bull Ring and at Barcelona.
Garfias meanwhile was a race-winner in NACAM Formula 4 and came through the Seven GP driver development run by Mexican racer Picho Toledano. He stepped up to GB3 in 2021, and had a best finish of fifth from the first six rounds before leaving the series. Garfias then joined Monolite Racing for three Formula Regional European Championship rounds, with two 20th places being the highlight of his six races there.
He spent 2022 on the sidelines, but returned to action last year in Eurocup-3 where he came fourth in the standings with MP Motorsport. The 19-year-old switched teams to Sainteloc Racing for 2024, coming 27th in a part-time FRegional Middle East campaign and then returning to Eurocup-3 where he is currently ninth in the standings.
Eurformula’s grid size at the Red Bull Ring will also be boosted by the all-Czech combination of STK Melnik and its driver (and managing director) Roman Roubicek. He will drive a HWA-powered Dallara 320, and if his debut goes well he may do further rounds. He already has experience of the car, since he races it in the Austrian Formula 3 Cup where he sits eighth in the overall points table.