Yevan David (Motopark) was the man of the day in Race 1 at Spa-Francorchamps. The Sri Lankan started the day signing his first pole position in Euroformula and emerged as victor at the end of a thrilling race marked by two safety cars. There was intense fighting throughout, in the initial laps with Motopark’s Joss Garfias and Michael Shin and in the final laps with BVM’s Tymek Kucharczyk, who lost the race in the last gasp, finishing an excellent second after a difficult start of the weekend. Mexico’s Diego de la Torre (Motopark) finished third, taking his maiden podium finish in the series.
“It was one of nicest races and wins of my career” admitted David after a race that consolidated him in the lead of the points standings, with three wins under his belt, and 91 points against 63 for Shin, 55 for Pearson and 51 for Kucharczyk.
THE RACE - At the start, poleman David keeps the advantage but he is seriously challenged by Garfias and Shin at Kemmel and passed before Les Combes but the fight between the Mexican and the Korean allows the Sri Lankan to retake the advantage. He will be passed by Garfias for the lead at Les Combes in lap 2 while Shin goes straight damaging a front flap and being forced to pit.
Garfias leads ahead of David, Kucharczyk, de la Torre, Stack and Pearson, who is charging from the back, but in lap 3, Barrichello loses his car and hits the barriers at Campus, prompting the safety car out. At the restart, Garfias keeps the advantage but suffers a puncture in Kemmel, while shortly after Kucharczyk, steals the lead from David, only to concede it again at Les Combes one lap later. De la Torre is third ahead of Stack, Pearson, Green, Shin, Rashid and Brajnik. Ryabov spins in lap 8 and remains stuck in the sand, with the safety car coming out again.
At the restart, with two laps left, the fight is fierce between David and Kucharczyk, who pass each other twice. Right when the Pole seemed flying to his first win, David puts down a last successful attack at the Bus stop taking the win by a mere 0s070, with de la Torre completing the podium.
The fight is intense also for fourth, with Nielsen’s Pearson beating Stack and Shin. Complete the top ten and take the lasts points the Nielsen Racing cars of Finn Green and Shawn Rashid, and Gold Cup winner Paolo Brajnik.
