MP’s Maciej Gladysz crowned Eurocup-3 winter champion at Aragon

Photo: Maciej Gladysz

Palou Motorsport’s James Egozi beat MP Motorsport’s Maciej Gladysz to victory in the final Eurocup-3 winter series race at Motorland Aragon, but Gladysz took the title.

Mattia Colnaghi went into the race level on points with team-mate Gladysz at the top of the standings, while Egozi trailed by 23 points after scoring two for claiming pole in the morning.

Gladysz had been just 0.042 seconds shy of pole, and Colnaghi had a disastrous session in which he was over three seconds off the pace and only 23rd fastest.

Egozi made a great start to lead Gladysz into turn one, with MP’s Valerio Rinicella and Andres Cardenas chasing the top two and with Campos’s Jesse Carrasquedo Jr behind them.

MP’s Kai Daryanani stalled and fell to the back, and team-mate Alexander Abkhazava was already losing ground before he ended up facing the wrong way and dropped outside of the top 20.

Egozi’s lead wavered between 0.8 and 1.1 seconds until lap eight, when it was slashed to 0.667s by Gladysz. He then sat less than 0.6s behind Egozi for several laps, with the leader responding slightly on lap 12. He then managed to manage his gap, and on the penultimate lap snatched the point for fastest lap from Rinicella. But he reclaimed it on the final tour, and Gladysz comfortably claimed the title when he met the chequered flag 0.791s behind Egozi.

Cardenas and Carrasquedo passed Rinicella on lap one, then Carrasquedo briefly cleared Cardenas too on lap two as Red Bull juniors Ernesto Rivera and Enzo Tarnvanichkul clashed behind.

Once Cardenas got back past, he was unable to shake off Carrasquedo and they finished the race 0.786s apart in third and fourth. On the penultimate lap, Carrasquedo had attacked Cardenas into the final chicane.

Rivera made a diving pass on Rinicella there on lap three, and two laps later Tarnvanickhul made his own lunging move on him. MP’s Emmo Fittipaldi aimed to get through too but then fell to 10th, as Palou’s Adam Hideg profited to demote Rinicella another spot.

Rinicella was back into seventh by the end of the lap, ahead of Red Bull junior Jules Caranta, Hideg and Fittipaldi, and thereon he and Rivera were two of the fastest drivers on track as they traded fastest laps.

They ultimately held their positions to the chequered flag though, and there was not much overtaking behind either in the race’s second half. Colnaghi recovered to 13th, with Drivex School’s Oscar Wurz weaving to keep him behind late on,

Fittipaldi retired in the pits, and Palou’s Isaac Barashi finished four laps down due to a technical issue.

Race results (17 laps)