Teppei Natori and Carlin dominate second EF Open Barcelona race

Photo: Fotospeedy

Teppei Natori led from lights-to-flag for his first Euroformula Open victory in a dominant race for Carlin at Barcelona.

The Japanese youngster, whose best previous finish this year is sixth, was untouchable in the hot conditions and took victory by a massive 5.563 seconds.

Carlin had the strongest package across the grid, despite a variety of set-ups and tyre choice combinations within the team, and Natori’s team-mates Nicolai Kjaergaard, Billy Monger and Christian Hahn finished second, third and fourth behind him.

Kjaergaard went for a combination of two new and two old tyres, which gave the Dane a steady car as his fuel load decreased. Monger went for an all-new set of rubber, and had a dash problem midway through the race when he was closing in on Kjaergaard.

Recently crowned champion Marino Sato initially looked like he’d break Carlin’s hold over the top four, but the Motopark driver ended up not having an answer to Hahn and ended up being preoccupied holding off his Red Bull-backed team-mates Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda.

Teo Martin Motorsport’s Lukas Dunner, Sato’s sole title rival until the first race of the weekend, made an incredible start from ninth on the grid but then got squeezed through Turn 2 and lost the positions he had gained.

He ended up finishing where he started, sandwiched by Double R Racing pair Linus Lundqvist and Jack Doohan.

Race results