Home Formula 3Euroformula Stuvik wins F3 Open thriller at Monza

Stuvik wins F3 Open thriller at Monza

by Gruz David

Photo: FOTOSPEEDY

Thai racer Sandy Stuvik emerged victorious in an eventful second F3 Open race at Monza, securing the lead of the race in the final sector of the final lap. As a result of this, he returned to first in the standings, having lost the lead to Team West-Tec’s Ed Jones after race one.

The drivers spent the first two laps behind the safety car and, when the race went green, polesitter Alexandre Cougnaud almost instantly surrendered the lead to Santiago Urrutia.

While Urrutia looked comfortable in first, leading the opening seven laps, his race came to an abrupt end after a mistake into the first Lesmo. The retirement of the race leader set up a huge fight for the win, with Nelson Mason,?Stuvik, Alex Toril, Mario Marasca and Cougnaud partaking in the battle for first.

The lone BVM challenger at the front was soon eliminated from victory contention after a mistake sent him down the order. Soon, it came down to a fight between the three RP drivers after Mason was forced to settle for fifth due to a mistake in the late stages of the race.

On the final lap, Stuvik narrowly edged out Cougnaud for the race win, with the Frenchman narrowly taking second ahead of Toril. Despite his mistake, Marasca recovered to fourth.

Behind the top five, all the pointscoring drivers recorded their best results of the season, with Artur Janosz leading Richard Gonda, Andres Saravia, Huan Zhu and Tommaso Menchini.

Gonda also celebrated his sixth Copa class victory, with the Slovakian closing in on class title as Menchini and Che One Lim completed the podium.

With the wrong tyre strategy leaving Jones without any chance to score points, Stuvik now leads the championship by 20 points with one more round to go.

Race results
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1 Sandy Stuvik RP Motorsport 16 laps in 35:39.433
2 Alexandre Cougnaud RP Motorsport 1.258
3 Alex Toril RP Motorsport 1.486
4 Mario Marasca BVM Racing 2.740
5 Nelson Mason Team West-Tec 4.718
6 Artur Janosz Campos Racing 6.939
7 Richard Gonda Drivex School 11.516
8 Andres Saravia EmiliodeVillota Motorsport 14.130
9 Huan Zhu Team West-Tec 28.818
10 Tommaso Menchini Corbetta Competizioni 30.607
11 Che One Lim EmiliodeVillota Motorsport 33.192
12 Vicky Piria BVM Racing 39.008
13 Sean Walkinshaw Team West-Tec 44.711
14 Nicola Pohler DAV Racing 53.328
15 Denis Nagulin Campos Racing 1:03.569
16 Alexey Chuklin EmiliodeVillota Motorsport 1:29.542
17 Trino Rojas RP Motorsport 1:34.989
18 Ed Jones Team West-Tec 1:36.449
19 Cameron Twynham Team West-Tec 1:37.995
20 Hector Hurst EmiliodeVillota Motorsport 1:47.659
21 Liam Venter Team West-Tec 1:59.127
22 Gerardo Nieto DAV Racing +1 lap
23 Saud Al-Faisal RP Motorsport +1 lap
24 Yarin Stern EmiliodeVillota Motorsport +2 laps
NOT CLASSIFIED
Damiano Fioravanti Corbetta Competizioni +7 laps
Santiago Urrutia RP Motorsport +10 laps
Igor Urien EmiliodeVillota Motorsport +12 laps
Falco Wauer Team West-Tec +13 laps
Valeria Carballo Campos Racing +15 laps
Championship standings
Pos Driver Pts
1 Sandy Stuvik 239
2 Ed Jones 219
3 Nelson Mason 182
4 Santiago Urrutia 158
5 Alex Toril 141
6 Alexandre Cougnaud 99
7 Hector Hurst 97
8 Yarin Stern 72
9 Mario Marasca 52
10 Vicky Piria 29
11 Alexey Chuklin 28
12 Artur Janosz 16
13 Roberto La Rocca 15
14 Valeria Carballo 14
15 Andr?s Saravia 14
16 Spencer Pigot 10
17 Brandon Maisano 10
18 Richard Gonda 10
19 Denis Nagulin 8
20 Emil Bernstorff 6
21 Mattia Vita 5
22 Gerardo Nieto 4
23 Liam Venter 4
24 Che One Lim 3
25 Nicolas Pohler 2
26 Huan Zhu 2
27 Luca Orlandi 1
28 Jonathan Legris 1
29 Tommasso Menchini 1