Vivacqua Leads Home a Campos Racing 1-2 in Budapest

Brazil´s Vivacqua took his maiden win in the series ahead of his teammate Laaksonen. Troitskiy (Drivex) stepped up onto the third placed podium. Laaksonen took win in Rookie class followed by Troitskiy and Fittje (Fortec Motorsports)

The Euroformula Open saw a new race winner today as Brazil’s Thiago Vivacqua has won his first race in the series at the Hungaroring. Another closely-fought race was expected and it didn´t disappoint at all. Vivacqua drove faultless and consistently to secure the first 1-2 finish for Campos Racing in 2017 as Finland’s Simo Laaksonen finished second. Nikita Troitskiy (Drivex) took 3rd ahead of series newcomer Raoul Hyman (Campos Racing) and Jannes Fittje (Fortec Motorsports).

Hyman has been singled out as the surprise in Q1 in the morning. Saturday started with a surprising grid as there was a big rain storm just before the start of today’s qualifying session. There was still plenty of standing water when the 30-minute qualifying session began, despite in the dying minutes tracks conditions improved at the end.

With three minutes to go, Fittje was at the top but then Pedro Cardoso (Teo Martín Motorsport) crashed out and it brought out the red flag. As a result, track conditions improved considerable after the restart and, when the green flag waved, drivers traded their lap times. Finally, on his last flying lap, Hyman clocked a lap of 1:38.069, five tenths clear of his teammates Simo Laaksonen and Thiago Vivacqua. Laaksonen was the fastest amongst the rookies and had his best qualifying effort in the series. Vivacqua took third to start alongside Alex Karkosik (RP Motorsport) from row two. Fittje finally took fifth spot on the grid ahead of Troitskiy. Ameya Vaidyanathan (Carlin) and Matheus Iorio (Campos Racing) shared row four. Tarun Reddy (Carlin) and Petru Florescu (Fortec Motorsports) rounded off the top ten. Series leader Harrison Scott (RP Motorsport) was dumped to 14th on the grid as he got his best lap cancelled due to track limits.

At the start, Vivacqua stormed into the lead ahead of Laaksonen and Hyman. Behind, Troitskiy advanced into the fourth with Fittje, Reddy and Florescu right behind. Meanwhile, Iorio and Vaidyanathan made contact and both drivers were forced to retire with damage from their clash at the first corner.

Vivacqua was keeping the lead ahead of Laaksonen but Troitskiy moved up to third on lap 11, with Hyman dropping to fourth but still fending up the attack of Fittje, who was running in fifth.

After 17 laps, Vivacqua took the checkered flag with Laaksonen second – and claimed Rookies’ class win- as he kept Troitskiy’s late charge at bay. Hyman took fourth place and Fittje rounded off the top five. Reddy produced a nice drive to take a sixth place. Further adrift, Florescu brought seventh place home and Devlin DeFrancesco and Scott put in a recovery drive from the back of the grid to finish 8th and 9th respectively. Cardoso finished in the last points-scoring spot.

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Euroformula Open, 29-30 June 1-2 July (Local time):

Sunday:

Qualifying 2 08.30-09.00

Race 2 13.15 (17 laps – max. 35´)

 

Race 1

1st – No. 2, Thiago Vivacqua, BRA, Campos Racing, Dallara F312, 17 laps, 28:09.872

2nd – No. 3, Simo Laaksonen*, FIN, Campos Racing, Dallara F312, Gap: 0.680

3rd – No. 16, Nikita Troitskiy*, RUS, Drivex School, Dallara F312, Gap: 1.241

4th – No. 1, Raoul Hyman, RSA, Campos Racing, Dallara F312, Gap: 2.596

5th – No. 18, Jannes Fittje*, DEU, Fortec Motorsports, Dallara F312, Gap: 3.815

6th – No. 14, Tarun Reddy*, IND, Carlin Motorsport, Dallara F312, Gap: 8.188

7th – No. 1, Petru Florescu*, ROU, Campos Racing, Dallara F312, Gap: 12.194

8th – No. 17, Devlin DeFrancesco*, CAN/ITA, Carlin Motorsport, Dallara F312, Gap: 12.598

9th – No. 10, Harrison Scott, GBR, RP Motorsport, Dallara F312, Gap: 13.042

10th – No. 43, Pedro Cardoso, BRA, RACE, Dallara F312, Gap: 13.545

11th – No. 42, Eliseo Martinez Meroño*, ESP, RACE, Dallara F312, Gap: 14.470

12th – No. 12, Christian Hahn, BRA, Drivex School, Dallara F312, Gap: 16.392

13th – No. 11, Alex Karkosik*, POL, RP Motorsport, Dallara F312, Gap: 16.854

14th – No. 8, Lodovico Laurini*, ITA, RP Motorsport, Dallara F312, Gap: 25.526

15th – No. 22, Daniil Pronenko, RUS, BVM Racing, Dallara F312, Gap: 1:26.666

 

Not Classified

No. 24, Ameya Vaidyanathan, IND, Carlin Motorsport, Dallara F312, Lap 1

 

Fastest Lap

No. 16, Nikita Troitskiy*, RUS, Drivex School, Dallara F312, Lap 13, 1:38.651, 159.873 kph