Francesco Simonazzi put on a brilliant showing as the only non-Motopark driver in Euroformula Open’s season opener as Brad Benavides and Lorenzo Fluxá took wins on Sunday. Feeder Series reviews the main talking points from round one at Portimão.

By Juan Arroyo

Simonazzi proved he had the speed to challenge Motopark, but it was former F2 driver Benavides who left Portugal leading the drivers’ standings.

Simonazzi, BVM Racing’s lone entry, stunned in qualifying by taking pole position by 0.472s on a drying track. He went on to win race one in commanding fashion, while Benavides and Lorenzo Fluxá won race two and race three respectively.

Euroformula Open standings after round 1

POSITION	DRIVER	POINTS
1	Brad Benavides	66
2	Lorenzo Fluxá	59
3	Francesco Simonazzi	58

Simonazzi’s strong opening

His pole position on Saturday was, admittedly, taken in changing conditions, but nothing could detract from Simonazzi’s dominant victory in race one later that day. By the chequered flag, he had built a three-second gap over Benavides.

“Putting wets at the very last moment despite the track drying in some parts was the right choice. It gave me tremendous grip, but those wet tyres in such conditions really had only one lap in them. In the race, I was able to keep a very good pace and a consistent advantage. I am really happy with my day,” Simonazzi said after the race.

These performances sent him to the back of the grid for both races on Sunday. Per series rules, the top six finishers of race one are reversed to set the order for race two, while the top six in qualifying are reversed to form the race three grid.

Simonazzi climbed up to third in both races. He left it late in race two, crossing the line 0.002s ahead of Levente Révész, who was then penalised after the race for exceeding track limits too many times. The Italian driver also earned the two bonus points for most positions gained in race three.

A win and two podiums is excellent form to start the season and just what Simonazzi needed to begin a potential title campaign. The third time just might be the charm for the driver with the most Euroformula Open experience in the field.

Benavides leads the standings

The 22-year-old American will no doubt remember the Portimão weekend fondly. In race two on Sunday, he took his first victory of his single-seater career, and he now leads the championship after race three.

“The grid may be small, but the fight was intense and I could focus on doing things well,” he said after the race.

Benavides started from the back row – fifth place – and passed Fluxá and Fernando Barrichello on the first lap. On lap four, he passed Jakob Bergmeister for second. Benavides maintained less than a second’s distance to Révész, the leader, until he passed him into Turn 1 with eight laps to go.

With five laps to go, Benavides received a three-second penalty for overtaking Bergmeister outside the track limits. That meant he had to push to keep Fluxá at bay, who was 1.8 seconds behind at this stage.

It seemed as though the Spanish driver was going to come out victorious until, with two laps to go, Fluxá received a three-second penalty of his own for exceeding track limits and gaining an advantage. That put them on a level playing field again, Benavides took the chequered flag 2.660 seconds ahead of the Spaniard.

Fluxá, who is only slated to participate in this round for now, got him back by winning the next race. But with a win and two second-place finishes, as well as his points for the most positions gained in race one and race two, Benavides has the lead in a single-seater championship for the first time.

Can he keep it? 

“Not a lot of people opted [to do] the whole season,” the American driver told Feeder Series. “It tends to get more drivers at sort of midseason, towards the end of the season, because F3, Eurocup-3 or Formula Regional drivers [are] looking into accompanying their season with something else to stay in the rhythm.”

“Especially this car is a very good car. It’s a racing driver’s car because of the combination of the high downforce, low weight. It’s a good car to maintain your form.”

Do we need the rookie trophy?

As is custom in many junior single-seater championships, there are separate standings for rookies in Euroformula Open. After each race, the top rookie is awarded a trophy on the podium in addition to those given to the top three finishers.

But should the trophy, literal or figurative,  be awarded when there is only one rookie in the entire field? Without any competition for the driver in question – in this case Fernando Barrichello, who’s in this situation through no fault of his own – it serves little purpose.

Euroformula Open’s rookie championship was last contested in the first half of 2023, when Jakob Bergmeister and Juju Noda frequently alternated as best rookie. Since Noda’s departure from the series, there has never been more than one rookie in the field at a time.

Right now, the only difference between the rookie trophy and a participation trophy is that a driver has to finish the race to earn the former. A rookie championship may be customary regardless of circumstances, but continuing to hold it while one driver gets to rack up all the points without competition could detract from an actual battle if another rookie joins later in the year. 

Instead of boosting a driver’s image, the trophy risks becoming a source of ridicule if the top rookie is not on par with the leaders, at least occasionally. The unavoidable spotlight places unnecessary pressure on whoever finds themselves in this position.

The organisers are in a tough spot. Evidently, having one rookie wasn’t their intention; in an ideal world, the championship would have many more drivers, including rookies. As Benavides suggests, a winning scenario for everyone – drivers, teams, and series – would be to have more entrants join during the year.

Even if just for one round, it would inject excitement and purpose into the rookie championship.

Additional reporting by Jim Kimberley

Header photo credit: Euroformula Open