Photo: Eurocup-3
MP Motorsport’s Javier Sagrera will start both of this weekend’s Eurocup-3 races at Zandvoort from pole position.
There were two test sessions on Thursday (although three had been scheduled), and Global Racing Service driver Nikola Tsolov set the pace. The FIA Formula 3 regular (who will be serving a race ban in that championship due to appearing in Eurocup-3) set a 1m33.522s to lead MP’s Emmo Fittipaldi by 0.424 seconds.
Sainteloc Racing’s Jose Garfias was 0.821s back in third, with Sagrera, team-mate Brino del Pino and GRS’s Isaac Barashi the only others within a second of Tsolov’s pace.
Campos Racing’s Michael Shin went 10th fastest overall by topping the second session with a 1m34.952s lap. He did the joint most running of anyone with five laps, and there were 12 drivers with laptimes next to their names compared to 25 in the earlier session.
F1 Academy racer Emely de Heus was back in GRS’s line-up, while Yevan David replaced Finley Green at Sainteloc. Green injured himself in round three at Algarve, missing all three races there and then round four at Paul Ricard too. David usually races for Sainteloc in Spanish Formula 4, where he is currently 17th in the standings.
Free practice and qualifying one took place on Friday, and a wet track led to significantly slower laptimes. Sagrera set a 1m43.680s to top practice by 0.548s over Sainteloc’s Alexander Abkhazava, with MP’s Owen Tangavelou 0.796s behind in third. Drivex School’s Daniel Nogales was 1.097s off the pace in fourth.
Sagrera’s form continued in a twice red-flagged qualifying, posting a 1m43.172s to take race one pole by 1.3s. Cabanelas and Shin went second and third fastest late on, with points leader Christian Ho climbing from ninth to fourth ahead of del Pino and Tsolov as the chequered flag fell, while fellow title contender Tangavelou improved to seventh on his final lap.
Conditions remained slippery on Saturday for qualifying two, which was again dominated by Sagrera who recorded an opening effort of 1m46.581s and gradually improved following an early stoppage to a 1m42.776s. Tangavelou edged del Pino to second before the session was halted with one minute remaining, with Valentin Kluss qualifying fourth and Ho occupying fifth place on the race two grid.
Results round-up
Qualifying 1
1 Javier Sagrera MP Motorsport 1m43.172s
2 Dario Cabanelas MP Motorsport +1.296s
3 Michael Shin Campos Racing +1.426s
4 Christian Ho Campos Racing 1.460s
5 Bruno del Pino MP Motorsport +1.631s
6 Nikola Tsolov Global Racing Service +1.655s
7 Owen Tangavelou MP Motorsport +1.714s
8 Alexander Abkhazava Sainteloc Racing + 1.719s
9 Noah Lisle Campos Racing +1.792s
10 Jose Garfias Sainteloc Racing +1.845s
Qualifying 2
1 Sagrera 1m42.776s
2 Tangavelou +0.996s
3 del Pino +1.357s
4 Valentin Kluss Campos Racing +1.694s
5 Ho +1.780s
6 Abkhazava +1.887s
7 Shin +1.887s
8 Cabanelas +2.020s
9 Lisle +2.076s
10 Emmo Fittipaldi MP Motorsport +2.110s