Photo: Fotospeedy
Euroformula raced with the Dallara 324 car for the first time last weekend at Algarve, which also marked the championship’s largest grid in three years.
The 12-car field for the first two races of the season matched the number achieved at the first three rounds of the 2022 campaign. What was once a Formula 3 series, Euroformula is now a spec competition for the first time since TOM’S engines are used in all cars.
Pre-event testing took place on Thursday, and Motopark’s Yevan David set a 1m35.761s to comfortably lead session one by 0.655 seconds over team-mate Jose Garfias.
BVM Racing’s Tymek Kucharczyk got between them by topping session two, posting a 1m36.307s. Nielsen Racing’s Ed Pearson was 0.25s behind in second, putting him fifth overall behind Motopark’s Michael Shin.
Free practice followed on Friday, and a 1m38.250s put Kucharczyk ahead of David by 0.113s and Pearson by 0.124s in FP1. Kucharczyk then lowered the pace to 1m38.096s in FP2, pipping Nielsen’s Shawn Rashid by 0.003s. BVM’s Vladislav Ryabov trailed by 0.442s in third.
The field was spread by 4.6s in qualifying the next day, with GB3 graduate Kucharczyk earning pole by 0.226s thanks to a 1m36.272s on his penultimate lap. David was second fastest, Pearson was 0.421s back in third and Motopark’s Diego de la Torre was fourth. Five over drivers were within a second of pole.
Kucharczyk was one of four drivers who struggled to get off the line in race one, and David led into turn one but then had contact with Shin – who started fifth – and jumped over the kerbs on the run to turn two. Shin found himself leading Garfias and Pearson, who had wheelspin as he swerved around Kucharczyk’s car.
By the end of the lap, following an embarassing first sector of action for the field, David had recovered to third ahead of de la Torre and Pearson. Rashid stopped on track early in lap two, but made it to the pits to retire along with NV Racing’s Paolo Brajnik.
Shin pulled away thereafter, as David passed Garfias on the inside of turn one on lap five. A lap later, Pearson cleared Garfias who was repeatedly locking up and then pursued David. He passed him on on lap 10 of 18, and inherited the lead when Shin spun on lap 16.
Pearson, a two-time podium-finisher in GB3, not only claimed a landmark victory for himself following that but also delivered Nielsen victory on its single-seater racing debut.
Shin still came home second and David was a lonely third, then there was a thrilling four-car battle far behind with particular value on sixth place since it delivered reversed-grid pole for race two.
Stack cleared de la Torre as he ran wide on lap eight, then pressured Garfias. On lap 12 they beganged wheels and Garfias stayed ahead, with de la Torre and Motopark’s Fernando Barrichello also clashing right behind. Barrichello soon got ahead, and after side-by-side action lap 17 they began the last lap three wide and almost hitting the pit wall. Stack went to the inside of Garfias, Barrichello had the outside and overtook both.
Not too far behind at the end was Kucharczyk, who claimed a point for fastest lap.
Barrichello and Kucharczyk made the bad starts in race two, as Garfias led Stack. David got into third, then passed Stack at turn two on lap two after going off at turn one.
Garfias fell to fifth on lap seven following an off, putting David into a lead he would not give up. Shin inherited second, and Pearson claimed third on lap 12 in a double move. Kucharczyk had passed Stack down the pit straight after being squeezed on the inside, but then both went off at turn one and Pearson was ahead by turn three.
Rashid was penalised for colliding with Ryabov on the final lap, and Garfias came seventh after being penalised for spinning Stack. However he started race three on reversed-grid pole, having come sixth in qualifying, with Shin alongside on the front row.
Brajnik was absent from race three, which began with Pearson and team-mate Finley Green stalling. Shin found space on the inside to take the lead, went off at turn one but stayed ahead under pressure from David.
The lead changed hands at the start of lap three, and Kucharczyk took third from de la Torre entering turn one on lap four. Garfias was his next target and a diving move at turn five on lap six led to him going off. Kucharczyk ended the lap ahead, but was already far behind the top two.
De la Torre stopped on the pit straight on lap 11, which eradicated David’s sizeable lead as the safety car came out. The field had to go through the pits for two laps, then racing got going again on lap 14.
Shin went around the outside of David at turn one, but he sliced back ahead on the inside at turen three. They were almost alongside again at turn seven, then the safety car was summoned again as Barrichello had stopped on the pit straight. Drivers went through the pits again, then red flags waved and results were taken from the end of lap 13.
Points leader David therefore won by 0.212s over Shin, with Kucharczyk completing the podium. Barrichello was classified in seventh.
Results round-up
Race 1 (18 laps)
1 Ed Pearson Nielsen Racing 29m28.137s
2 Michael Shin Motopark +2.824s
3 Yevan David Motopark +6.399s
4 Fernando Barrichello Motopark +16.998s
5 Everett Stack Motopark +17.570s
6 Jose Garfias Motopark +18.207s
7 Diego de la Torre Motopark +18.493s
8 Tymek Kucharczyk BVM Racing +20.417s
9 Vladislav Ryabov BVM Racing +22.465s
10 Finley Green Nielsen Racing +47.545s
Pole: Kucharczyk, 1m36.272s
Fastest lap: Kucharczyk, 1m37.310s
Race 2 (18 laps)
1 David 29m11.347s
2 Shin +0.849s
3 Pearson +3.702s
4 Kucharczyk +4.839s
5 de la Torre +11.275s
6 Barrichello +13.820s
7 Garfias +18.086s
8 Green +29.607s
9 Stack +33.405s
10 Ryabov +41.909s
FL: Pearson, 1m36.546s
Race 3 (13 laps)
1 David 24m46.581s
2 Shin +0.212s
3 Kucharczyk +0.585s
4 Garfias +0.750s
5 Ryabov +1.210s
6 Stack +1.591s
7 Barrichello +2.266s
8 Shawn Rashid Nielsen Racing +2.287s
9 Pearson +2.379s
10 Green +2.916s
FL: Shin, 1m36.602s
Championship standings
1 David 65 2 Shin 55 3 Pearson 43 4 Kucharczyk 33 5 Barrichello 26 6 Garfias 26 7 Stack 20 8 de la Torre 16 9 Ryabov 13 10 Green 6