Photo: Spanish Winter Championship
Mattia Colnaghi took a points lead-extending victory in the third Eurocup-3 winter series at Algarve on Sunday.
In qualifying there were three drivers ahead of Colnaghi, and MP Motorsport team-mate Valerio Rinicella set a 1m38.823s to secure pole by just 0.075 seconds over Maciej Gladysz.
Campos Racing’s Kacper Sztuka prevented it from being an MP lockout of the top four places, but he started eighth due to a five-place grid penalty. Colnaghi and Campos’s Jules Caranta therefore filled row two, ahead of Drivex School’s Juan Cota and Palou Motorsport’s James Egozi.
Rinicella made a slow start, and Colnaghi swerved around him to take the lead. Gladysz was somehow unable to get past Rinicella, while Cota was sent spinning at turn one.
It was then a three-car train at the front for most of the 19-lap race, with Gladysz filling Rinicella’s mirrors through lap 11 but then relinquishing his pressure and striking technical trouble on lap 18 that led to him slowing and then retiring at the side of the track.
Rinicella ran in Colnaghi’s wheeltracks throughout and never attempted a pass, but finishing second still lifted him to third in the standings.
Egozi held fourth ahead of Sztuka, Caranta and Campos’s Enzo Tarnvanichkul after lap one, and Caranta was the fastest of the bunch. He briefly held the fastest lap after passing Sztuka, and harassed Egozi through lap five.
Caranta could find no way through, and Egozi weaved down the pit straight on lap 12 to keep him at bay. On lap 14 he was attacking Egozi at multiple corners, and they began lap 16 side-by-side. Egozi managed to hold his position through turn one, and Caranta tried a switchback at the turn five hairpin. They were side-by-side through the next section, and when Caranta finally got the pass done they were both overtaken by Sztuka.
Caranta then got a 10-second penalty, dropping him to 11th place.
Tarnvanichkul was passed by several drivers and ended up finishing eighth, behind MP’s Emmo Fittipaldi, Campos’s Lucas Fluxa and MP’s Andres Cardenas.
Race results (19 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mattia Colnaghi | MP Motorsport | 31m40.991s |
| 2 | Valerio Rinicella | MP Motorsport | +0.593s |
| 3 | Kacper Sztuka | Campos Racing | +11.156s |
| 4 | James Egozi | Palou Motorsport | +13.515s |
| 5 | Emmo Fittipaldi | MP Motorsport | +14.085s |
| 6 | Lucas Fluxa | Campos Racing | +15.066s |
| 7 | Andres Cardenas | MP Motorsport | +17.092s |
| 8 | Enzo Tarnvanichkul | Campos Racing | +17.779s |
| 9 | Alexander Abkhazava | MP Motorsport | +18.158s |
| 10 | Garrett Berry | Sainteloc Racing | +20.781s |
| 11 | Jules Caranta | Campos Racing | +22.048s |
| 12 | Oscar Wurz | Drivex School | +25.383s |
| 13 | Jesse Carrasquedo Jr | Campos Racing | +25.619s |
| 14 | Juan Cota | Drivex School | +28.584s |
| 15 | Preston Lambert | Drivex School | +30.834s |
| 16 | Adam Hideg | Palou Motorsport | +33.037s |
| 17 | Luciano Morano | Palou Motorsport | +36.160s |
| 18 | Isaac Barashi | Palou Motorsport | +39.194s |
| 19 | Cristian Cantu | Global Racing Service | +40.354s |
| 20 | Lorenzo Castillo | Sainteloc Racing | +40.592s |
| 21 | Emil Hellberg | Allay Racing | +43.337s |
| 22 | Linus Hellberg | Allay Racing | +46.113s |
| 23 | Zack Scoular | Palou Motorsport | +49.930s |
| 24 | Lenny Ried | Drivex School | +52.735s |
| 25 | Alceu Feldmann Neto | Palou Motorsport | +57.257s |
| 26 | Maciej Gladysz | MP Motorsport | +2 laps |
| Pole: Rinicella, 1m38.823s Fastest lap: Rinicella, 1m39.696s
Championship standings |
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