MP Motorsport driver Javier Sagrera told Feeder Series what his mindset was during Eurocup-3’s season opener last weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, where he took victory in the sole race that was held.

By Juan Arroyo

The Spanish driver took the first victory of his single-seater career at Spa in the only race of last weekend’s rain-disrupted first round.

After practice and qualifying were cancelled because of adverse weather, Sagrera was due to start race one from second place as he had set the second-fastest time in collective testing. Instead, he was handed first place on the grid after a throttle sensor failure forced Owen Tangavelou, the original polesitter, to abandon the race before it started.

His win came under difficult weather, as heavy precipitation forced the field to start and remain behind the safety car until the rain abated 12 minutes in. The rain suddenly returned even heavier on the final lap of the race, during which several accidents took place – resulting in a red flag.

Sagrera led the race from lights to flag in these conditions having successfully managed two safety car restarts. He finished ahead of Saintéloc Racing’s Alexander Abkhazava and Palou Motorsport’s Kirill Smal.

“Having the temperature in the right window was quite tough,” Sagrera said about maintaining tyre temperature during the safety car periods. “It was so cold during the weekend that it was just really tough. Plus, there was so much rain and the safety car wasn’t going particularly quick.”

“I think a lot of weaving was done down the straights and also braking-wise to be able to keep our temperature. And it was also really important because there were so many safety car restarts that in order to have a good restart, you needed the temperature to be super high.”

The weekend marked Sagrera’s competitive debut with MP in Eurocup-3. The Spanish driver  contested six of eight Eurocup-3 rounds with Palou last year before appearing for MP in two rounds of the Formula Regional European Championship. 

He was the sole taker of Palou’s three podiums last year and the best driver in the final standings who was not part of Campos Racing or MP, which were separated by two points at the top of the teams’ standings.

Sagrera moved teams with the intention of becoming a frontrunner, but he admitted he was uncertain as to what the pecking order would be in Spa.

“Just last year was [Palou’s] first year, so you never know what anyone’s going to bring after their first year, if they have something new that they can do over winter. So I was quite open-minded coming into the season,” Sagrera told Feeder Series.

“MP is a team with so much experience and in so many categories that, especially finishing runner-up last year, I am especially in the right team. [But] you never know what’s going to happen. Even this weekend, there wasn’t much running, so you never know how it’s going to be for the rest of the season.”

“Even in some tracks, maybe some teams will be stronger than others. But I’ve definitely made the right move and I’m in the best team possible, so I think we’re going to be really strong.”

Sagrera and MP have appeared as strong candidates for the title since March’s non-championship round in Aragón. On that occasion, the 20-year-old took a second-place finish and was set for another in race two before mechanical issues ended his race prematurely.

Later that month at Spa, he was one of four drivers in the top five of every session of pre-season collective testing. Sagrera additionally topped the fourth and final session, which his manager Tom Claessen said added to his confidence heading into the weekend.

“[Winning] definitely was the expectation, I’m not going to lie,” Sagrera said. “I’ve worked so much for this over the winter and this month. There’s so much hard work being put in.”

“As a second-year driver in this championship and in a team like MP Motorsport, I think the odds are that you’re going to have a good year, so I definitely knew I had a chance of fighting for it.”

“Obviously, you never know in motorsport, you’re not alone. The car can stop and there are so many variables going on. But I definitely knew in my mind that if everything was aligned, I could be there to win.”

Sagrera was also due to start race two on Saturday morning from pole position by virtue of setting the fastest lap in race one, but extreme weather forced organisers to cancel the race. He holds an eight-point lead heading into round two at the Red Bull Ring next month.

Header photo credit: Niels Broekema / Dutch Photo Agency

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