2017 Euroformula Open – Scott in Charge at Le Castellet

Harrison Scott Extends Lead with Paul Ricard Win

British driver records his fourth win of the season at Le Castellet converting pole into a lights-to-flag victory. Troitskiy (Drivex) was second on the podium ahead of Vaidyanathan (Carlin). Troitskiy takes win in the Rookie class ahead of Fittje (Fortec) and Martínez (Teo Martín Motorsport).

An extremely hot day at Circuit Paul Ricard saw another exciting Saturday of Euroformula Open action. Great Britain’s Harrison Scott (RP Motorsport) converted his pole position to his fourth race win of the season in Race 1 ahead of Russia’s Nikita Troitskiy (Drivex) and India’s Ameya Vaidyanathan (Carlin). Scott has extended his lead at the top of the Euroformula Open on 124 points and Vaidyanathan still sits second ahead of Troitskiy as his third place finish today helped him minimize the points damage. In the Rookie class, Troitskiy leads in the overall standings on 36 points following his second win ahead of German Jannes Fittje (Fortec). RP Motorsport also took honors to strengthen its points lead in the Teams’ classification on 48 points.

In the morning, Scott also continued his impressive performance in qualifying and secured his second consecutive pole position and third of the season. At the beginning, Scott clocked a fastest lap of 2:00.465 but later improved his own time. In his second attempt, with four minutes to go, Scott posted a record qualifying lap of 1:59.569, two tenths quicker than Troitskiy’s best effort in his Drivex Dallara. Fittje took third spot on the grid ahead of Vaidyanathan and DeFrancesco, the Carlin duo. Spaniard Eliseo Martínez (Teo Martín Motorsport) qualified 6th, his best starting position of the season in the series. Behind, Petru Florescu (Campos Racing) and Alex Karkosik (RP Motorsport) shared row four ahead of Tarun Reddy (Carlin) and Thiago Vivacqua (Campos Racing).

Scott kept the race under control from the very first lap. Behind, Troitskiy also fended off charges from Fittje and Vaidyanathan. Behind, DeFrancesco, Karkosik and Martínez were fifth, sixth and seventh respectively in the order, all in a train ahead of three Campos Racing drivers: Florescu, Vivacqua and Matheus Iorio. Reddy was forced to retire on lap one following a clash with a rival.

With Scott building a solid gap up the front by posting the fastest lap of the race on lap five, it was a drama-filled race for DeFrancesco as he was forced to retire while running in fifth place.

After eight laps Scott pulled away to a 3.3 seconds lead with Troitskiy still second. Fittje was struggling to keep Vaidyanathan at bay, and the Indian driver finally passed him on the flat-out Mistral straight for third on lap nine.
The series leader was just out of reach of Troitskiy and the standings remained that way right up to the end. Scott took the chequered flag in first place with the Russian driver bringing second place home. Vaidyanathan took third place on the rostrum as he was just out of reach of Fittje, despite his charge in the dying moments. Martínez came fifth after overtaking Karkosik with four laps to go. Florescu finished seventh ahead of his teammates Vivacqua and Iorio. Brazil’s Pedro Cardoso scored his first point with a tenth place finish.