Motopark’s Yevan David quickest in Euroformula pre-season testing

Photo: Fotospeedy

Motopark’s Yevan David was quickest in Euroformula’s pre-season test at Barcelona this week.

There were three 80-minute sessions on each of the first two days, then two on Wednesday for the 10-car field.

Six were entered by Motopark, the dominant team of recent years, and there were three of the new TOM’S-powered Dallara 324 chassis on track from new team Nielsen Racing.

Jose Garfias started testing on top, setting a 1m33.126s in session one on Monday to lead team-mates Everett Stack and Fernando Barrichello by 0.275 and 0.687 seconds. Motopark was the only team on track, with 3.283s splitting its sextet.

Michael Shin was slowest, then the only improver in session two. A 1m34.414s earned him first place in that session, and fifth overall. He was 0.255s ahead of Stack, 0.456s faster than David and 0.594s up on Barrichello. Nielsen joined the track action with Ed Pearson and Shawn Rashid, but neither lapped at a representative pace.

Heavy rain hit session three, and a 1m48.968s put David atop the timesheet. Pearson was 0.497s slower in second, and Rashid was the sole improver in sixth. Nielsen’s third car for Finley Green remained in the garage, with STK Menik’s Roman Roubicek also avoiding getting wet.

Tuesday began in a similar fashion, with dry and warm conditions that Garfias was fastest in. He set a 1m33.471s, pipping the improving David by 0.09s. Motopark filled the top six places, as Diego de la Torre and Shin set personal bests in third and fifth. They were 0.283s and 0.356s off Garfias’s session benchmark.

The pace was lowered to 1m33.019s by Garfias in session five. David languished 0.548s behind in second, and 0.021s split the improving Barrichello and Stack in third and fourth.

Rain returned in session six, restricting the pace but providing an opportunity for teams to learn the car’s limits in wet conditions. David set a 1m39.492s to be fastest by 1.671s over Barrichello and by 8.342s over Stack.

Green and Roubicek were absent from the day’s proceedings, the latter two also missing Wednesday where Green only did one of the sessions.

With dry conditions returning for the final day, there was the opportunity for more running on the Pirelli slick tyres that are new to Euroformula after many years of the championship using Michelin rubber.

David left it until his 23rd and final lap of the seventh session to post a new benchmark: a 1m32.263s. That put him 0.651s up on Shin, and Garfias was third fastest. Pearson moved into fourth overall with a 1m33.109s, ahead of Barrichello and Stack. Green set eight laps but none at a representative pace.

Pearson made another gain in session eight, topping the times with a 1m32.390s. While there was a 1.173s gap between himself and de la Torre in second, 0.82s split second and seventh place.

Test results