Javier Sagrera is back in the championship lead after taking both wins in Eurocup-3’s Zandvoort round. In yet another twist to this year’s championship fight, the MP Motorsport driver won both races on his team’s home weekend, retaking the points lead from Campos Racing’s Christian Ho.

By Juan Arroyo

It was not the strongest weekend for Ho. After stepping onto the podium four times in the previous five races, he managed second and fifth-placed finishes at Zandvoort. His teammate Valentin Kluss made inroads in the top five, returning to the podium for the third time this season.

Zandvoort provided twists in the championship up and down the order, but by far the most notable occurrence of the weekend was Michael Shin and Alexander Abkhazava’s tangle at Turn 6. It resulted in the Korean driver barrel-rolling seven-and-a-half times after bouncing off of the left-side barrier, his car completely destroyed from the accident.

Yet, with a monocoque lent by Palou Motorsport, and after extensive medical checks, Shin was able to score points in race two on Sunday.

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

Michael Shin’s accident

Shin’s terrifying crash in Lap 2 of race one left his car upside down, his front-left wheel ripped off the suspension arm, the engine cover torn to pieces, the rear wing torn off and destroyed, and the parts of his Tatuus F3 T-318’s floor also damaged.

He was extricated from the car without injury, as was Alexander Abkhazava – who suffered a much lighter excursion into the gravel after the pair collided.

After the race, Shin confirmed that he was cleared to take part in race two through Eurocup-3’s social media, adding: “It was a big one, but the medical team did a great job of extracting me from the car and making sure that I’m all okay. The car has been badly damaged but hopefully we can get out for tomorrow.”

Palou Motorsport lent parts of a chassis that went unused over the weekend, which Campos used to assemble a Frankenstein-like car overnight for race two. Shin took a ninth-place finish in the modified car to bring him up to 39 points for the season.

Yevan David’s points on debut

Spanish F4 driver Yevan David made a strong first impression by scoring points in both of his debut Eurocup-3 races with Saintéloc.

The Sri Lankan driver, standing in for the injured Finley Green, did not set a single timed lap until the singular practice session on Friday. But despite his lack of experience with the car and the circuit, he qualified 12th in wet conditions for his debut race – 0.522s behind his best-placed teammate, Alexander Abkhazava – and took the chequered flag in 10th.

In race two, he made his way up to seventh from 13th on the grid, which put him as the highest-scoring Saintéloc driver of the weekend.

David’s Zandvoort outing was his first in Formula Regional machinery. He was available to replace Green as the round did not clash with Spanish F4, which Eurocup-3 shares much of its calendar with. In his main campaign, where he is also a rookie, David is 17th in the standings with a best finish of seventh in the opening round.

Finley Green is expected to return for the next round in Aragón pending medical checks.

Sagrera sweeps the weekend, MP strong as ever

Sagrera’s dominance this weekend came in great timing for Spain, the MP Motorsport driver taking two wins as his country’s national team beat England in the Euro 2024 final. And it came at a great time for his Dutch team, who were on home soil in Zandvoort and had much to celebrate by the end of the weekend.

Two pole positions and two victories put Sagrera at the top of the standings, 23 points ahead of one of his main title rivals, Christian Ho. It’s exactly the kind of performance the Spanish driver needed after going winless for seven races – his last before Zandvoort was in race one at Spa-Francorchamps.

Notwithstanding that streak, Sagrera has taken five podiums in the last five races, and is well-positioned to fight for the title as the series enters the final stretch of the calendar.

He holds a slightly healthier margin to third-placed Bruno del Pino, who is 27 points behind in the standings. Del Pino is also in solid form though, having taken third and second-placed finishes over the weekend.

The driver who has seemingly slid behind the top three, however, is MP’s own Owen Tangavelou. He has been remarkably consistent all year, never finishing a race below the top five, but he has not finished in the top three since race one at Portimão six races ago. 

Tangavelou continues to be part of the MP trio that has dominated Eurocup-3 this year, but his chances of a title will slip away soon without podiums at the rate of Sagrera and del Pino.

Can GRS catch Palou Motorsport in the standings before season’s end?

Resident Formula 3 driver Nikola Tsolov had his best weekend of the Eurocup-3 season in Zandvoort, and, along with Isaac Barashi, delivered GRS’ largest points haul of the year.

The Bulgarian driver scored sixth and eighth-placed finishes, while Barashi achieved a ninth-placed finish in race one. GRS are now up to 26 points, 19 points behind Palou Motorsport’s total of 45.

Theodor Jensen has largely carried Palou Motorsport’s scoring efforts since Kirill Smal left the team after the second round. In three races – due to the cancelled Spa race two being held until Portimão – Smal gave the team 27 points. Garrett Berry has scored points on one occasion this season, a ninth-placed finish at Portimão, but Luciano Morano is scoreless so far.

Jensen matched the team’s best finish since Smal left with seventh at Zandvoort, but with Nikola Tsolov taking part in the coming three rounds, and Isaac Barashi occasionally on points-scoring form, Palou Motorsport’s fourth place in the standings could be in jeopardy.

Tsolov was not originally scheduled to take part in the Aragón round later this month, but his suspension from Spa’s F3 round means GRS will have another opportunity to make up ground on their rivals.

Where is the next round?

MotorLand Aragón will host the sixth round of the championship on July 26–28.

Campos Racing’s Esteban Masson won both races in last year’s visit to Aragón, but MP Motorsport’s Valerio Rinicella – who is racing in FRECA this year – led the Dutch team in securing 1-2-3’s in both races of the winter round held there before pre-season testing.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency