MP Motorsport leads the way in second Eurocup-3 qualifying at Valencia

Photo: Eurocup-3

MP Motorsport drivers filled the top four places in Eurocup-3’s second qualifying session at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit.

Campos Racing held the advantage at first, with Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak fastest at first with a 1m31.662s lap.

Palou Motorsport’s Jorge Campos then set a 1m30.606s, although he would later have that laptime deleted, and Sainteloc Racing’s Dario Cabanelas posted a 1m30.879s.

Jose Garfias was the first MP driver to make it to the top, setting a 1m30.301s to go half a second clear of the rest of the field. His team-mate Bruno del Pino then went another half a second faster than him, becoming the first driver to lap in the 1m29s, and a few seconds later it was an MP lockout of the top four as Mari Boya went fastest with a 1m29.561s lap and Sebastian Ogaard slotted into third place with a 1m30.081s.

Campos’s Esteban Masson interrupted that domination by knocking another half-second off the pace with a 1m28.999s, but Garfias was able to respond with a 1m28.514s. Del Pino then got within 0.026s of Garfias, and Ogaard improved to return to third place.

Red flags waved with just under 12-and-a-half minutes left of the session after Campos struck trouble in sector two of the lap.

Masson was one of the first to improve when qualifying restarted, going third fastest in the last nine minutes. A minute-and-a-half later he was back on top, by 0.125s, but it was short-lived as Boya set a 1m28.135s to lead the field by a quarter of a second.

Boya improved to 1m28.004s to lead Garfias by 0.107s with five-and-a-half minutes to go, but Ogaard the demoted him to second by breaking into the 1m27s.

The drivers kept improving, and Boya emerged with pole – for the fifth time this year – by setting a 1m27.641s.

Ogaard qualified second, 0.143s behind, and Garfias also managed to lap sub-1m28s to go third fastest.

Del Pino completed MP’s 1-2-3-4 result, and Cabanelas was best of the rest over half a second off the pace in fifth.

Campos did not rejoin qualifying after his off and that meant he ended up without a representative laptime once his fastest lap was deleted.

Qualifying results