|
 |
|
 |
| June 23, 2012 |
| F3 Open: Raimondo Extends Championship Lead with Spa Win |
 | Championship leader Gianmarco Raimondo added another F3 win to resume with the victory at Spa
(Photo: Fotospeedy) |
Canadian Gianmarco Raimondo (RP Motorsport) won at the Circuit Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday (June 23) in one of the most closely-fought races in the history of the European F3 Open, with a huge number of overtaking movements. Both Raimondo and Mans Grenhagen (Emilio de Villota Motorsport) were bright stars during the race.
Grenhagen, who set the pole position time early in the morning, was overtook by Raimondo at the start, but then the Swedish driver managed to recover the leadership shortly later. First and second places kept the same way for a while, followed by Niccolò Schirò (RP Motorsport), Sam Dejonghe (Team West-Tec), Moisés Soriano (Cedars Auto Sport), Matteo Beretta (Cedars Auto Sport) and Tatiana Calderón (Emilio de Villota Motorsport). However, Gerard Barrabeig (Corbetta Competizioni), a debutant driver this weekend, hit the wall and the safety car was deployed.
When the race resumed a few laps later, Raimondo overtook Grenhagen once again. But the Swedish wasn´t giving up and passed Raimondo a few moments later. Behind, Schirò and Dejoghe was playing a similar game to claim another podium finish. On the last lap came a final attempt from Raimondo to take the leadership and it worked. The Canadian driver won when Grenhagen was so close to his second victory of the year, but achieved another podium finish. At his home track, Dejonghe was third, with Schirò fourth. Soriano ended fifth after an impressive performance, claiming his maiden victory in the Cup classification as well with his Dallara F308. Beretta and Noel Jammal, both with Cedars´ cars too, were sixth and seventh.
Facu Regalia (Campos Racing), after a troublesome start when he and Kevin Giovesi (DAV Racing) collided with each other, improved to eighth. Giovesi was forced to retire at the final lap after another clash with Calderón. Juan Carlos Sistos (Emilio de Villota Motorsport) came from the back to ninth, ahead of other two Dallara F308 cars, Jordan Oon (Team West-Tec) and Matteo Davenia (DAV Racing).
After Saturday´s victory, Raimondo increases his lead in the overall standings, followed by Grenhagen, Dejonghe, Schirò, and Regalia.
The European F3 Open action resumes at the Circuit Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on Sunday (June 24) with Round Six.
The top-three, along with how the North American racers did, will be posted following every session on the EFCN Facebook page, and EFCN Twitter page.
Full European F3 Open Race results available HERE |
|
|
|
Go Top
|
|
|
|
|
