Everything went down in Eurocup-3’s Aragón round – teammate clashes, track limits penalties, new winners. Javier Sagrera emerged from the chaos with a 28-point lead in the drivers’ standings as the championship goes into its final stretch of the calendar.

By Juan Arroyo

Javier Sagrera has an unexpectedly healthy championship lead coming out of Aragón. The MP driver’s race one lasted a single corner thanks to a tangle with teammate Owen Tangavelou; Christian Ho took advantage and got within three points of Sagrera in the standings with a second-place finish on Saturday.

However, a post-race 10-second penalty for Ho on Sunday left the Singaporean in ninth, while Sagrera took home a comfortable victory and a 28-point championship lead. The results leave Sagrera on 192 points, and Ho and Bruno del Pino – who missed the podium for the first time since Spa this weekend – equal on 164 points.

Ho and nine other drivers received penalties after race two for varying violations, including overtaking outside track limits, not respecting yellow flags on the final lap, and causing collisions on the formation lap.

If the chaos from race two lasted from start to finish, it was given new life once the official classification was published. Most notably, it promoted Emerson Fittipaldi Jr from fourth to second, and Nikola Tsolov from sixth to third. Tsolov’s performance gave GRS its first podium since the Barcelona finale last season.

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

Why were so many penalties handed out after race two?

Georgy Zhuravskiy struggled to get his car going as the field began the formation lap. Three rows behind, Pierre-Louis Chovet pulled into the middle of the grid to pass but slowed suddenly. With nowhere to go, Douwe Dedecker collided into the back of Chovet’s car. Dedecker’s front-right suspension was broken immediately upon impact, while Chovet suffered a puncture and retired shortly after Turn 6.

The French driver was deemed to have not respected the yellow flags produced by Zhuravskiy’s slow getaway and was given a five-place grid drop for the next race he participates in.

Hadrien David was deemed at fault for incidents with two different drivers in the early stages of the race – Jesse Carrasquedo and Victoria Blokhina. Each incident resulted in a 10-second penalty for David, adding to the 30 seconds of penalties he had already amassed for exceeding track limits 17 times over the race distance. He was classified a lap down on eventual winner Sagrera.

Third-placed finisher Christian Ho was handed a 10-second penalty after the stewards decided he overtook Owen Tangavelou outside the track on Lap 1. Tangavelou, who also had a day to forget, was handed a five-second penalty for an unsafe rejoin – which stewards’ documents do not specify on which lap took place.

His teammate Bruno del Pino was deemed to have forced Sagrera off the track during their battle in the opening stages of the race. The penalty demoted del Pino to fourth.

José Garfias was deemed at fault for the collision that resulted in Dario Cabanelas’ retirement from the race. He was handed a five-second penalty, demoting him to 13th.

Luciano Morano attempted a late move into Turn 16 on Isaac Barashi on the final lap of the race, resulting in both drivers’ retirements. The incident brought out yellow flags, which Theodor Jensen and Nick Gilkes were deemed to have not respected. They were each given drive-through penalties, converted into 25 seconds added to their race time. Jensen lost an eighth-place finish as a result.

Campos’ first 1-2-3, and another decent showing from Carrasquedo

Campos took its first ever 1-2-3 in Eurocup-3 in race one, and although it came in part thanks to Sagrera and Tangavelou’s clash into Turn 1, it is a significant achievement after a difficult start to the season, and a signal that things have been turned around.

Valentin Kluss, the team’s only other rookie, has appeared sporadically on the podium and finished in the points in all but one race since Austria. Michael Shin also picked up his second podium of the season this weekend. Despite their form, however, no one at Campos except Ho had been on the top step of the podium – until this weekend, that is.

Carrasquedo took pole for race one by the slimmest of margins to Sagrera – just 0.010 seconds separated the two in qualifying – and followed it up with a victory. Ho and Shin followed the Mexican onto the podium for Campos’ historic feat.

Race two turned out slightly greyer for Carrasquedo as he spun into Turn 16 on the opening lap and had to make a recovery drive from 21st to 10th. Still, it was another strong showing for the Mexican who has come in similar to a wildcard in the way he has shaken the front of the field.

Where is the next round?

The Circuito de Jerez will host the seventh and penultimate round of the season on 4–6 October.

In 2023, the circuit served as a prime hunting ground for GRS’ Nikola Tsolov, who claimed both pole positions and came second in both races of the weekend. Francesco Braschi of Campos and Sebastian Øgaard of MP took victory in race one and race two respectively. 

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency