Alessandro Famularo (BVM Racing) took his maiden Euroformula Open this morning in Race 2 at the Autódromo do Algarve. The Venezuelan driver benefitted of the misfortune of his teammate Divy Nandan, who surprisingly led the race up to two laps from the end before making a slight mistake at the braking of Turn 2 and going wide.
Still, Famularo made a perfect race behind the Indian and found himself in the right place and the right moment. The success repays him of the many setbacks endured in his career, explaining his emotion at the end of the race: “One year ago, I was basically a retired driver, and after so many ups and downs, so many career breaks, to be here on the top step of a EFO podium leaves me speechless. This one is for the team, for my family, for my sponsors, for all who continued to believe in me, and for my beloved Venezuela!”
Nandan and Famularo, the two BVM Racing drivers, were in first row in the reversed grid. The Indian, almost unknown in Europe, took a perfect start and masterfully controlled events throughout the race, building a gap that almost reached ten seconds. Behind him, Famularo firmly kept second ahead of De la Torre and Yeh, while Carrasquedo climbed up to fifth after a poor start, with Stack as his main rival.
In lap 16, though, Nandan missed the breaking point in Turn 2, running wide and rejoining fourth before dropping further down to a final ninth position. Physically exhausted, the India nearly missed what would have been a sensational success, but proved his speed. Jesse Carrasquedo also dropped down in the closing laps, leaving fourth to Stack and fifth (and Rookies’ success) to Dobrzanski.
