Christian Ho sits at the top of the championship after winning a race and taking a second-place finish in Eurocup-3’s visit to Circuit Paul Ricard.

By Juan Arroyo

Christian Ho is into the championship lead, and on an impressive hot streak.

The Singaporean took both pole positions and a race victory, but a slow start in race one was enough for him to lose places to Bruno del Pino – the eventual winner – and Javier Sagrera, who he later re-passed for second place.

The three drivers ran away with most of the weekend, as MP’s Owen Tangavelou lacked the pace of the frontrunners and extended his podium-less streak to four races. Meanwhile, Campos’ new driver Jesse Carrasquedo made a favourable first impression with a third-placed finish in race two.

Feeder Series breaks down these talking points and more from the weekend.

A single mistake costs Christian Ho the sweep

Ho’s weekend ticked all the boxes but one for a complete sweep. He walked away with two pole positions, two fastest laps, a victory, and… one second-place. It was by all means an incredible performance – the best by any driver this year after his own showing at Portimão. Yet he will know that this could have been a clean sweep as he leaves France.

Del Pino overtook the Singaporean driver into Turn 2, followed by Javier Sagrera into Turn 3. Ho did not reclaim that position from Sagrera until Lap 13, and his words after the race summed up his feelings distinctly well.

“I just screwed up myself, I had mega pace today,” he said. Posed the point of his recovery of second place and the attached points, Ho added: “To be honest, I don’t really care.”

He took a comfortable win in race two, by the final lap of which he had built a gap as large as 4.8 seconds to Sagrera in second. It was his third of the season, as well as his third in the last five races. He has taken absolute control of the championship in the last two rounds, finally matching the form levels of his sophomore Spanish F4 campaign.

With these results, Ho jumped from fourth to first in the championship standings, with there now a three-point gap between him and Sagrera.

More car issues thrown Del Pino’s way

Bruno del Pino was Ho’s strongest rival over the weekend before a mechanical issue prevented him from starting race two on the grid. It took away from what could’ve been his best round overall since Spielberg, where he claimed a second place and a victory in May.

Del Pino started race one on the front row beside Ho and took complete control from the opening lap, then taking a comfortable second win of the season.

However, prior to the formation lap in race two, Del Pino had to be pushed into the pit lane due to a mechanical issue, and started from the pit exit as a result. His strong pace, evidenced by his two top-three qualifying finishes this weekend, was enough for him to make his way up to 10th by the chequered flag. It will feel like a missed opportunity for the Spanish driver, who has now lost the lead of the championship to eventual race winner Ho.

The victory in race one nonetheless gave Del Pino redemption for race three at Portimão, in which he had his push-to-pass system fail on the final lap while he led the field on a safety car restart.

A new wildcard at the front

Jesse Carrasquedo’s first outing back at his “second home” of Campos Racing gave the Mexican his first podium in Europe – and signalled why some Formula Regional Europe drivers have switched to the series this year.

The Mexican was immediately quick in practice, topping the first session by 0.024s to Alexander Abkhazava and going second-fastest in the second session. He was not able to convert that pace into qualifying, however, as he went eighth and fifth fastest in each session.

Carrasquedo retired from the first race of the weekend on lap nine from 21st, but finished third in the second race having made up two places at the start.

The Mexican, now set to finish the season with Campos as Suleiman Zanfari’s replacement, has jumped up to 11th in the standings after one weekend.

He had claimed a best result of 19th in FRECA with G4 Racing, whom he competed with for four rounds this season before leaving for the Spanish outfit.

Owen Tangavelou and Emerson Fittipaldi Jr are among those who have switched to Eurocup-3 from FRECA, and both are enjoying far better results for similar or smaller budgets. Notably, a number of other drivers on the grid also competed in Regional-level series before joining Eurocup-3.

Where is the next race?

Circuit Zandvoort will host Eurocup-3 for the fifth round of the championship on July 12–14. 

Campos Racing’s Esteban Masson won both races in 2023 – one from pole and another from second after passing polesitter Mari Boya.

Yevan David will make his Eurocup-3 debut replacing the injured Finley Green at Saintéloc.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency