Stunning Maiden Victory for Vaidyanathan at Spa

In a fantastic display of skill at Spa-Francorchamps Carlin’s Ameya Vaidyanathan has taken his maiden victory in the EuroFormula Open Championship this afternoon. Vaidyanathan had lined up in second position and launched well off the line before using the slip stream to his advantage to take the lead of the race. Pulling a gap, and not once being troubled, the young Indian assuredly crossed the line to take his maiden win in the Series. Vaidyanathan was joined on the podium by his rookie team mate Devlin Defrancesco who took the flag in an impressive third position. Fellow rookie Tarun Reddy crossed the line in a strong sixth place and joined Defrancesco on the rookie podium.

Off the line the front row starters both launched well with Harrison Scott holding the lead and Vaidyanathan slotting in nicely behind in second. Defrancesco had also got a fantastic start and was soon up in to third position while Reddy was running in seventh and in a group of cars who were all extremely close as they streamed up Eau Rouge.

At the very front the leading pair of Scott and Vaidyanathan were quick to pull a gap over the rest of the field with the latter keeping the race leader honest and staying tucked up close behind. On lap three however things were to change as a brilliant move going in to Les Combes saw the Carlin driver clinch the lead of the race as his own. Not only did Vaidyanathan steal the lead but he was quick to pull a gap and break the all-important tow early on.

The next fight in the field came in the shape of rookie racer Defrancesco who was involved in a tense battle for the podium with Nikita Troitskiy. The pair swapped positions in the early laps with the Russian driver in third position however Defrancesco was intent on his podium position and fought incredibly well to take the final step of the podium back as his own. Defrancesco then began to hunt down Scott just up the road – bringing Troitskiy along with him for the upcoming battle. Reddy meanwhile was also enjoying a solid race and sitting very comfortably in sixth position – with the Indian racer showing clear race pace and looking strong for a podium in the rookie class.

In the final few laps the excitement came in the form of Scott, Defrancesco and Troitskiy who by this point were running nose to tail in their battle over second, third and fourth. Defrancesco tried to use the slip stream to his advantage and as the flag fell took a brilliant podium position in third – his first in the series – while Reddy came home in a strong sixth place overall.

However at the front, and having pulled a commanding lead over Scott, it was a stunning win for Vaidyanathan who took the chequered flag as the victor and claimed his maiden win of the Series. Vaidyanathan said of his win, “Firstly I want to say a huge thanks to all of the team. They’ve been working so hard and it’s such a great feeling to see everything come together like it did in the race. I knew that starting in second was no bad thing, and I had real confidence in the car underneath me. The first few laps were all about sticking with [Harrison] Scott so that I could make a move on him up the hill into Les Combes which happened! From then on, I just had to break away from the field and thanks to everybody at Carlin, I was able to do that and win.”

Making it two Carlin cars on the podium, and taking a rookie win, Defrancesco added, “Today was a big step forward for us. The team did a brilliant job with the car and even though we struggled a little bit in the middle sector we were still right up where we want to be. We have a few things to work on for tomorrow when we will be coming back with maximum attack!”