Photo: FOTOSPEEDY
Brazilian driver Vitor Baptista scored his maiden victory in European single-seaters in the first Euroformula Open race at Paul Ricard.
Having started first, Baptista didn’t have the best of getaways as he entered the first corner in third, only to immediately reclaim the lead as his opponents ran wide.
Alessio Rovera spent the entire race in second with a late charge on Baptista for the lead. He took the checkered flag a second behind the Brazilian.
Although he qualified eighth, championship leader Konstantin Tereshchenko quickly fought his way up to third after a series of impressive overtakes.
He finished ahead of Yu Kanamaru and Tanart Sathienthirakul, with the Japanese driver almost snatching the final podium spot on the final lap.
Yarin Stern secured sixth, followed by a quarter of RP Motorsport drivers – rookie Igor Walilko ahead of experienced teammates Damiano Fioravanti, Dzhon Simonyan and Andres Saravia.
Race results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Vitor Baptista | RP Motorsport | 14 laps in 28:43.083 |
| 2 | Alessio Rovera | BVM Racing | +1.178 |
| 3 | Konstantin Tereshchenko | Campos Racing | +15.118 |
| 4 | Yu Kanamaru | EmiliodeVillota Motorsport | +15.273 |
| 5 | Tanart Sathienthirakul | Team West-Tec F3 | +15.735 |
| 6 | Yarin Stern | Team West-Tec F3 | +16.762 |
| 7 | Igor Walilko | RP Motorsport | +20.281 |
| 8 | Damiano Fioravanti | RP Motorsport | +20.700 |
| 9 | Dzhon Simonyan | RP Motorsport | +28.391 |
| 10 | Andres Saravia | RP Motorsport | +28.756 |
| 11 | William Barbosa | BVM Racing | +29.162 |
| 12 | Diego Menchaca | Campos Racing | +31.631 |
| 13 | Henrique Baptista | Campos Racing | +33.524 |
| 14 | Luis Michael Dorrbecker | EmiliodeVillota Motorsport | +38.133 |
| 15 | Ahmad Al Ghanem | Campos Racing | +55.816 |
| 16 | Antoni Ptak | RP Motorsport | +1:00.639 |
| 17 | Jose Manuel Vilalta | EmiliodeVillota Motorsport | +1:01.390 |
| 18 | Leonardo Pulcini | DAV Racing | +1:04.443* |
* 10-second penalty