Photo: Fotospeedy

Noel Leon and Charlie Wurz were the winners of Euroformula’s first two races at Monza.

Race 1 took place on Saturday on a wet track, requiring everyone to use grooved tyre. The delayed start took place behind the safety car and with incredibly heavy rain in sector three racing did not start until lap four.

Poleman Noel Leon aquaplained through Parabolica just as he went to raise his speed for the restart, and almost had contact with Joshua Dufek into turn one while Charlie Wurz in third cut the wet first chicane.

The rain was worsening and the safety car appeared again on lap six, with red flags ending the race on lap 11. Results were taken from the end of lap eight, meaning full points were awarded and championship leader Leon won ahead of Dufek and Wurz.

Race two was on Sunday morning, and Cian Shields had reversed-grid pole. A late-braking move took Wurz from fourth to second at turn one, leading to Francesco Simonazzi cutting the chicane and dropping to the back before pitting.

Wurz went around the outside of Shields at turn one on lap two, and on lap four Shields reclaimed the lead at the della Roggia chicane. On lap five Wurz repeated his earlier move, but Shields responded by going on the inside of him at Curva Grande to get back ahead. Wurz simply made his turn one move again on lap six.

Shields went down the inside at Curva Grande again on lap eight and squeezed Wurz on the run to della Roggia, enablig Joshua Dufek to go past both.

Dufek had previously been fighting over third, with Bryce Aron passing him at Ascari on lap four for the position. Aron was down to fifth behind Noel Leon on lap six, and Leon took third at turn one on lap seven but Dufek reclaimed the place at della Roggia.

After taking the lead, Dufek made a small gap up front as Wurz and Shields battled. Wurz took second place exiting turn one on lap nine, and Shields nudged the rear of his car exiting turn two. That made Shields slow down and Leon drove into the rear of him, then Aron went into the back of Leon and sent him spinning.

Leon retired on the spot, while Aron had a smoking front-left tyre and hobbled to the pits. The safety car came out and racing resumed on lap 11 with four cars on the lead lap.

Wurz dived down the inside of Dufek at della Roggia on lap 12 to get the lead, but Dufek and Shields then passed him at Parabolica. Shields looked set to have the lead going into turn one but Dufek had a big lock-up to stay ahead. They went side-by-side through Curva Grande and della Roggia and there was still no lead change.

On lap 14, Shields took the outside of Curva Grande which became the inside for della Roggia and he moved ahead. The lap after Dufek went to the inside of Curva Grande then cut across at the chicane and ended up breaking his front wing on Shields’ car but passed him. Shields got a puncture from the move, and Wurz moved into the lead at Ascari.

Dufek came back at him at Parabolica, and going into the final lap it was three-wide down the pit straight. The lapped Simonazzi went past both on the outside but Dufek locked up and Wurz braked late to lap him again. Over the final lap Wurz was able to finally establish himself in the lead as Dufek’s damage held him back, while an unlapped Levente Revesz finished a distant third.

Results round-up
Race 1 (8 laps)
1 Noel Leon Motopark 24m55.894s
2 Joshua Dufek CryptoTower Racing Team +0.491s
3 Charlie Wurz CryptoTower Racing Team +1.788s
4 Francesco Simonazzi BVM Racing +2.282s
5 Levente Revesz Motopark +3.013s
6 Cian Shields Motopark +4.045s
7 Bryce Aron Motopark +4.523s
Pole: Leon, 1m44.082s
Fastest lap: Leon, 2m01.197s

Race 2 (16 laps)
1 Wurz 29m45.682s
2 Dufek +3.082s
3 Revesz +1m43.699s
4 Shield +2 laps
5 Simonazzi +2 laps
Ret Aron
Ret Leon
FL: Simonazzi, 1m43.787s

Championship standings
1 Leon 304   2 Shields 237   3 Simonazzi 221   4 Aron 214   5 Juju Noda 118   6 Jakob Bergmeister 116   7 Josh Mason 96   8 Wurz 79   9 Dufek 78   10 Tim Tramnitz 55

The post Noel Leon and Charlie Wurz win dramatic Euroformula races at Monza appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: TGR NZ

There will be two new additions to the Euroformula grid at the Red Bull Ring this weekend, as Joshua Dufek and Charlie Wurz make their series debuts.

Both will be driving for German team Motopark’s Japanese offshoot CryptoTower Racing Team, and have already done some testing in the Formula 3-level Dallara 320 car.

Wurz [pictured above] will be stepping up from Formula Regional. The 17-year-old son of former Formula 1 driver Alex started 2023 by winning the FRegional Oceania title, and is currently 25th in the FRegional European Championship table.

Last year he won the Formula 4 United Arab Emirates title and was fourth in Italian F4 in what his first full year of car racing.

“I’m excited by this switch to Euroformula and a faster, lighter, more agile car,” said Wurz. “I can’t wait to get on track with CryptoTower and thank Timo [Rumpfkeil, Motopark team principal] for the opportunity.”

Dufek made his FIA F3 debut last weekend at Monza, but has primarily been competing in FRegional this year. He came sixth in the Middle East championship with two podiums, and is currently ninth in FREC although is not believed to be seeing out the campaign with the Van Amersfoort Racing team he has driven for so far. Last year he also came ninth in FREC.

“I’m extremely happy to be joining CryptoTower for the remaining rounds of Euroformula Open and am eager to be hitting the track in just a few days,” said Dufek. “The team has proven themselves to be constantly very competitive and it’ll be good to learn from them as well as show them what I can do and hopefully bring home some silverware in the process.”

Euroformula is expecting a grid of 10 cars this weekend, with six Motopark-run entries and four one-car efforts.

The post Charlie Wurz and Joshua Dufek to debut in Euroformula at Red Bull Ring appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Fotospeedy

Benjamin Berta and Josh Mason have been entered by Motopark as the two drivers for its Japanese offshoot CryptoTower Racing Team in this weekend’s Euroformula round at the Hungaroring.

Tim Tramnitz and Enzo Trulli drove the team’s two cars in round one at Algarve, claiming a win, four other podiums and pole position between them, then Mason was called in alongside Chinese Formula 4 champion Gerrard Xie for round two at Spa-Francorchamps.

Mason, 21, finished ninth in Euroformula two years ago with Double R Racing then switched to CryptoTower for 2022 and won three times en route to fifth in the standings. He started 2023 by racing in Formula Regional Oceania, where he came eighth in the points table with one win.

On his Euroformula return at Spa he qualified fourth then finished in the top five in all three races to currently sit eighth in the standings.

Berta also has series experience, having joined Drivex School for last year’s Hungaroring round and taking a best finish of sixth.

The 19-year-old Hungarian knows his home track well, and has extensive experience at the Formula 3 level that Euroformula sits at.

In 2020 he won both the Austrian Formula 4 Cup and FIA Central European Zone F4 titles, then in 2021 won the ESET Cup Formula title and was fourth in the Austrian F3 Cup standings with two wins.

Last year he was champion of the Austrian F3 Open and FIA CEZ F3, and second in the F2000 Italian Trophy in a Dallara F314, and he currently leads the 2023 CEZ F3 and Austrian F3 Cup standings as he has upgraded to an F316 then an F317.

Berta has won twice in seven F2000 Italian Trophy races, with his main rival being fellow Euroformula racer Juju Noda who now leads the standings. Earlier this year, Berta told Formula Scout his aim for 2024 was to join the Formula Regional European Championship.

BVM Racing’s Francesco Simonazzi has also come over from Euroformula in the series’ Dallara 320 car to get extra mileage in the Italian Trophy.

The post Berta and Mason to race for CryptoTower in Euroformula at Hungaroring appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Fotospeedy

Enzo Trulli won Euroformula’s 2023 season opener at Algarve, which only eight cars made the start of.

There were 10 cars entered for this weekend, but a gearbox problem prevented Effective Racing’s Vladimir Netusil from qualifying, and therefore racing, while Motopark’s single-seater rookie Jakob Bergmeister stopped on track during the formation lap and so also did not start the race.

That delayed the start, and meant Bergmeister’s seventh-placed grid slot was left vacant.

Trulli led away from pole, while his front row-starting team-mate Tim Tramnitz was passed by BVM Racing’s Francesco Simonazzi for second place into turn one and then by Motopark’s Noel Leon too.

Leon challenged Simonazzi through the lap, getting alongside at the turn five hairpin, the turn six left-hander and also turn seven. But Simonazzi managed to stay ahead and it then left Leon under attack from Tramnitz at the final corner.

Trulli led by 1.8 seconds at the end of lap one, and Leon finally passed Simonazzi at turn three on lap two after the latter locked up and went off. Tramnitz then pinched third exiting turn five by going around the outside.

The squabbling enabled Trulli to grow his lead to 2.228s, but then it started to come down by around a tenth of a second per lap. By the end of lap eight he was only 1.334s clear, with Tramnitz a further half-second behind in third.

Everyone but Trulli set a personal best laptime on the lap after, and the pace lowered further on lap 10. Tramnitz closed up to Leon in that time, and he overtook him into turn one on lap 11 then set about eating into Trulli’s lead even more.

In the next two laps he brought it down to 0.6s, before Trulli responded to the pace of his fellow CryptoTower Racing Team driver to maintain the gap for a few laps. Tramnitz was picking up track limits warnings too, but rather than back off he continued to push and on the last lap got within 0.369s of Trulli.

Leon finished 3.781s back in third, and could be the effective championship leader given neither Trulli or Tramnitz are set to race again in Euoformula after this weekend.

Imonazzi finished fourth, and Motopark pair Bryce Aron and Cian Shields were fifth and sixth on their debuts.

NV Racing’s Paolo Brajnik initially ran in seventh place before being passed by Noda on lap four. He then slowed dramatically and headed to the pits at the end of the lap to retire.

Race result (17 laps)

The post CryptoTower’s Trulli and Tramnitz finish 1-2 in Euroformula opener appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Fotospeedy

Enzo Trulli claimed the first pole position of the Euroformula season at Algarve ahead of fellow cameoing driver Tim Tramnitz.

The pair are driving for Motopark’s Japanese offshoot CryptoTower Racing Team this weekend, with their primary racing programmes being in other series.

BVM Racing’s Francesco Simonazzi was fastest at first, then Trulli went to the top by over a second as the second flying laps were set.

He improved again on his next effort, going 0.433 seconds clear of Motopark’s Cian Shields, while Simonazzi in third was the only other driver in a second of the pace.

Going into the final third of the session there was a change at the top as Tramnitz and Noel Leon bettered Trulli, who was yet to improve, and Bryce Aron slotted into fourth.

Leon then went fastest for Motopark, setting a 1m37.760s, and improvements from Tramnitz, Simonazzi and Aron put them in second, third and fourth while Trulli was demoted to fifth. However he was finally improving his pace again, and with five minutes remaining crossed the line in 1m37.689s to claim back provisional pole.

Tramnitz dropped to fourth, sandwiched between the improving Simonazzi and Aron.

Trulli and Simonazzi found even more pace, with Trulli setting a 1m37.454s to lead his fellow Italian by 0.256s. Tramnitz improved too, but was still in fourth place with two minutes left of qualifying.

A minute later he was back into second though, getting within 0.018s of Trulli’s benchmark laptime. Trulli responded on his last lap before the chequered flag by going even faster, and took pole by 0.278s.

Simonazzi and Leon qualified third and fourth, split by 0.050s, and Aron was only 0.005s further behind with a late improvement in fifth place.

Paolo Brajnik was 2.841s off the pace in ninth place as the last of the qualifiers, while his Gold Cup rival Vladimir Netusil failed to set a laptime and will require permission to race.

Qualifying results

The post CryptoTower’s Trulli and Tramnitz top Euroformula qualifying at Algarve appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: Fotospeedy

Had Euroformula attracted a full grid for 2023, then there would have been 15 superlicence points on offer for the champion. Instead there’s only 10 cars, but with an intruiging array of drivers

After inheriting teams from the defunct FIA European Formula 3 championship in 2019, then introducing a popular new Dallara 320 in 2020 as well as bringing back the Mediterranean Grand Prix, things were looking on the up for Euroformula.

But then the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, the Mediterranean GP didn’t happen and the next three seasons were dominated by a single team. There have been three graduates to Super Formula and one to Formula 1 in that time, but grid quality has been inconsistent.

At present there are only nine drivers signed up for this weekend’s Algarve season opener, with two of those signed up only for that round and not a full campaign, and the sale of Dallara 320s by big single-seater teams means it’s unlikely there will be many young drivers bolstering the field later in the year. In fact, the grid is more likely to attract wealthy middle-aged club racers. But, as long as they are quick, it could still lead to some exciting race action.

Motopark

The German team dominated Euroformula when it turned up in 2019, and from the year after had to split its six-car line-up into two seperate points-scoring entities. Three cars would represent Motopark, while the other three would be entered under the moniker of its Japanese offshoot CryptoTower Racing Team.

This year it appears to have four cars entered under its own name, with two – both one-off entries – driving for CryptoTower. Either way, Motopark is running over half of the series’ full-time drivers and is guaranteed to win the teams’ title.

19. Noel Leon Mexico, 18
2022: 23rd in FRegional Europe   2021: US F4 champion (2 wins, 3 poles, 10 podiums)

After winning the United States Formula 4 title in 2021, Leon [pictured above] was inducted into the Red Bull Junior team last year and joined Arden in a Formula Regional European Championship seat. That proved to be a bad move, as he only scored at one of the 10 rounds, his average finishing position was below 18th and he lost his Red Bull backing at the end of the year.

However it was Leon’s first experience of European circuits, and FREC is a series where rookies rarely take to the front straight away. The Mexican is also a versatile talent, having proven his ability in stock car racing in his home country, so the adaptability may take time but shouldn’t rule him out of having a strong 2023 season with Euroformula’s top team.

He also beat two highly rated Canadian talents to become NACAM F4 champion in 2020 and then US F4 champion in ’21, so it’s not like Leon hasn’t proven himself yet in single-seaters either.

23. Bryce Aron USA, 19
2022: 12th in GB3 (1 win, 3 podiums)   2021: 12th in GB3   2020: 5th in BRSCC National FF1600 (1 pole)

Aron has spent the last three years racing in the United Kingdom, with two seasons of slicks-and-wings experience.

He started off in the entry-level Formula Ford 1600 category (or F1600 as it is known in the USA with Honda engines), coming third in his home country’s national championship in 2019 and then fifth in Britain’s the year after. That helped him get selected for the long-running Team USA Scholarship, who he represented in FF1600’s end-of-year classics.

In the FFord Festival at Brands Hatch he finished fifth, then a few weeks later at Silverstone came third in the Walter Hayes Trophy. Following that he progressed to GB3, where he scored more points in a podium-free rookie campaign with Carlin than he did last year with Hitech GP as he claimed a reversed-grid win at Donington Park and two other podiums.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

26. Jakob Bergmeister Germany, 17
2023: 40th in F4 UAE   2022 (karting): 14th in WSK Champions Cup – KZ2, 15th in WSK Open Cup – KZ2

Bergmeister is from a family with strong racing pedigree, as he has 1978 European Touring Car Championship runner-up Willi as a grandfather, two-time Le Mans 24 Hours class winner and multiple-time GT2/GTE endurance racing champion Jorg as an uncle and 2008 ADAC GT Masters champion Tim is his father.

The third-generartion Bergmeister has only recently switched to cars from shifter karting, where he won the German Cup in 2021 and then competed across Europe last year. He made his single-seater debut in F4 United Arab Emirates at the start of 2023, with a best finish of 20th from nine starts, so the F3-level Euroformula is a big jump up the ladder.

73. Cian Shields Scotland/Ireland, 18
2022: 13th in GB3 (1 win, 3 podiums)   2021 (karting): 10th in IAME Winter Cup – X30 Snr, 13th in IAME Euro Series – X30 Snr

Shields and Aron may have a head start in having been GB3 team-mates last year, so their ability to share feedback should help their other team-mates in Euroformula. It also makes it hard to tell which of the four will come out on top.

A reversed-grid win and two other podiums were the highlights for Shields in his rookie car racing campaign in 2022, having graduated from an impressive karting career in which he was Benelux champion in X30 Junior karts in 2019 before moving up to the Senior level in 2020 and coming third in the IAME Euro Series that year.

CryptoTower Racing Team

15. Enzo Trulli Italy, 18
2022: 34th in FIA F3   2021: 7th in Euroformula (4 podiums), F4 UAE champion (4 wins, 13 podiums)

Trulli during his 2021 Euroformula campaign

Trulli, the son of 2004 Monaco Grand Prix winner Jarno, is actually set to spend this year racing in Super Formula Lights, which also uses the Dallara 320, but after driving in Euroformula’s pre-season Barcelona test for Motopark has got a call-up to contest the season opener too. He was announced on Wednesday, just 24 hours before the pre-event test day, and told Formula Scout afterwards that “I still don’t know” whether he will appear in Euroformula again in 2023.

He is familiar with the series, having raced in it as a single-seater rookie in 2021. In that campaign he made the podium four times, impressive considering his inexperience and that he was driving for Drivex School and then Carlin rather than the dominant Motopark. Last year he struggled in FIA F3, so impressing in Algarve – even if it doesn’t lead to further outings – will be a good confidence boost.

28. Tim Tramnitz Germany, 18
2023: Currently 10th in FREC (1 pole), 20th in FRegional Middle East   2022: 15th in FREC

An even later signing than Trulli is Tramnitz, who was announced for Algarve on Wednesday evening. He came second in the ADAC and Italian F4 championships in 2021, then raced in FREC last year and so knows most of Euroformula’s tracks. His main 2023 programme is FREC, so his Euroformula debut this weekend is his only appearance in the series that’s set in stone.

BVM Racing

The Italian team’s plan is to run two cars, but has one driver signed at the time of writing. BVM has raced with a single car for its current driver Francesco Simonazzi since rejoining Euroformula in the penultimate round of the 2021 season, and claimed a win and three other podiums in 2022. Simonazzi delivered the team its first win in its 97th race in the series.

84. Francesco Simonazzi Italy, 19
2023: Currently NC in Italian F2000 Trophy (2 wins, 1 pole, 2 podiums)   2022: 6th in Euroformula (1 win, 4 podiums)

Simonazzi was best of the rest behind the Motopark/CryptoTower fleet last year, with his season highlight being victory at the Red Bull Ring. He also made the podium at the Hungaroring and Barcelona, and only had two finishes outside of the top 10.

He and the team need to make some improvements to take on the might of Motopark more often, and he has had an encouraging start to 2023 by taking his Dallara 320 to pole and victory in both races of the F2000 Italian Trophy season opener at Mugello.

However he was competing there as a guest driver, so scored no points, and the level of the opposition was lower than what he will be up against this weekend in Portugal. Prior to stepping up to Euroformula, Simonazzi came 14th in Italian F4 two years ago, with a best finish of fourth, and made the podium in a Spanish F4 cameo in 2020.

Effective Racing

The Czech team raced in six of the nine rounds last year, ‘stepping up’ from the Austrian F3 Cup, F2000 Italian Trophy and ESET Cup. All three race across Europe and utilise the Dallara 320 and previous-generation F3 cars, but are aimed at club racers rather than future F1 stars. Netusil, at his age, is probably not a future F1 star.

7. Vladimir Netusil Czech Republic, 41
2022: 11th in Euroformula   2021: Austrian F3 Open champion (6 wins, 9 podiums), 2nd in 2021 ESET Cup (2 wins, 6 podiums)

With an impressive CV in all of the series listed above, it made sense last year for Netusil [pictured top and above] to finally tackle the most competitive of Europe’s series that runs to F3-level machinery. He claimed a best finish of sixth on three occasions through the year, but opted to withdraw from racing on certain weekends so his progress was stunted. While it may be unlikely to see him on the overall podium this year, it’s the kind of result that might go down in junior single-seater folklore.

NV Racing

Another team-and-driver combination coming from further east in Europe after lots of success against other club racers to take on the professional teams in Euroformula. But they’re only down for Algarve at the moment, and will commit to further rounds it they feel competitive this weekend.

212. Paolo Brajnik Serbia
2022: F2000 Italian Trophy champion (5 wins, 3 poles, 6 podiums), 2nd in Austrian F3 Open (6 wins, 3 poles, 9 podiums), NC in ESET V4 Cup (1 win, 1 pole, 3 podiums)

Brajnik knows the majority of circuits on the calendar, and has won at a few of them already. The Serbian-licensed Italian has had an incredibly varied motorsport career that goes back to the 2000s and has included titles in superbikes, FIA Central European Zone F3 and the F2000 Italian Trophy, which he won last year in his Dallara 320.

He also campaigned that car in the Austrian F3 Cup, and contested practice for Euroformula’s Imola round last year before withdrawing from the races. His main rival will probably be Netusil, and they now have a ‘Gold Cup’ to contest between them as Euroformula has created a trophy-giving classification for drivers aged 35 and over.

Photo: Drexler Formula Cup

Noda Racing

This Japanese team is led by Hideki Noda, who raced in F1, IndyCar and SF during his career in the cockpit, and has run his daughter Juju through much of her single-seater career. She started racing F3 cars in her home country aged 13 in a competition called Formula U17, but age restrictions meant she had to step down to F4 when she started racing abroad.

The team followed her move to Europe, running her in Danish F4 and then relocating to Italy to compete in the Austrian F3 Cup. Last year that was in a FRegional car, and this year has prepared for Euroformula by competing there in a Dallara 320.

10. Juju Noda Japan, 17
2023: currently 2nd in F2000 Italian Trophy (2 podiums)   2022: 8th in Austrian F3 Open, 14th in W Series   2021: 7th in Danish F4 (5 podiums)   2020: 6th in Danish F4 (1 win, 3 poles, 3 podiums)

Noda had already made headlines at home with her single-seater exploits at a very young age, then when she came to race in Danish F4 during the pandemic she attracted international attention again by claiming pole, victory and fastest lap on her debut. But her wheel-to-wheel skills were not quite up to scratch, she got disqualified from her second race for using unregistered tyres, and despite taking pole in both of the remaining rounds she could only finish sixth in the standings.

In her second season there was even more scrutiny on Noda’s racing ability, and she got disqualified from her sole win of the year due to crashing into rival Emmo Fittipaldi. The pace was evident once again though, with front row starts and podiums, but an end position of seventh in the standings.

Noda was chosen to race in the FRegional-spec W Series in 2022, and scored once. Her Austrian F3 campaign in a FRegional car was not particularly strong, but after two rounds of this season – contested in a Dallara 320 – she has two podiums. Like Simonazzi, it will be difficult to threaten Motopark while driving for a one-car team. Both drivers are the underdogs for 2023.

2023 Euroformula calendar

1 Algarve, Portugal: April 28-30
2 Pau, France: May 12-14 [two-race round, Pau Grand Prix awarded in race two]
3 Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium: May 26-28
4 Hungaroring, Hungary: June 16-18
5 Paul Ricard, France: July 21-23
6 Red Bull Ring, Austria: September 8-10
7 Monza, Italy: September 22-24
8 Barcelona, Spain: October 20-22

The post 2023 Euroformula driver-by-driver season preview appeared first on Formula Scout.

The signing of Trulli brings this weekend’s round one grid up to nine cars, with only seven full-time entries. There are now five Motopark-run drivers in total, with all but Trulli provisionally being entered under the German team’s own name.

Trulli is in his third year of junior single-seaters, having begun his car racing career in the Formula 4 United Arab Emirates series at the start of 2021 and becoming champion with four wins. He then stepped up to Euroformula with Drivex School, claiming one podium in the first three rounds of the season before switching to Rodin Carlin for the final four.

He ended the campaign with three podiums in the last four races, lifting him to seventh in the standings, and for 2022 he remained with Carlin for a move across to FIA Formula 3. That proved far tougher, with two 17th places being his best results.

The 18-year-old has already committed to racing this year for the TOM’S team in Japan’s Super Formula Lights series, which uses the same F3-level Dallara 320 car as Euroformula, and two of the six rounds are on clashing dates with its European counterpart.

“I’ll join CryptoTower by Motopark in Euroformula for the first round in Portimao this weekend,” confirmed Trulli. “Thank you Timo [Rumpfkeil, team principal] and sponsors for the trust.”

Motopark has one more car it is yet to fill for the Euroformula opener, with F4 racer Vladislav Ryabov driving the sixth car in official pre-season testing.

The post Enzo Trulli to make Euroformula return in Algarve cameo appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Fotospeedy

Christian Mansell took a maiden Euroformula Open victory after dominating the opening race of the season at Estoril ahead of CrytoTower team-mate Vladislav Lomko.

Australian Mansell made a great start to snatch the lead immediately, and controlled the remainder of the 21-lap encounter after an early safety car period to win by 3.279 seconds.

Poleman Oliver Goethe made a poor getaway and dropped to seventh while fellow front-row starter Josh Mason stalled before eventually getting going at the back of the field.

Sebastian Ogaard came out on top in a three-wide battle with Van Amersfoort Racing team-mates Nicola Marinangeli and Filip Ugran through the opening couple of corners, but contact resulted in the latter spinning out of the race at turn three.

The race resumed on lap three after Ugran’s car had been recovered, with Mansell maintaining the lead. Lomko snatched second from Ogaard at turn one, with Motorpark’s Frederick Lubin also following through into third.

Goethe briefly dropped to eighth behind Drivex School’s Nico Pino after the restart, but the Motopark driver soon started to recover back up the order.

Having retaken Pino, Goethe dived up the inside of Marinangeli for fifth at turn six, and repeated the same move one lap later on Pino’s team-mate Alex Peroni.

By half-distance he had caught the squabbling duo of Lubin and Ogaard. The latter took third into turn six with 10 laps to go, with Ogaard repeating the same move on Lubin next time by to move up to fourth.

After a great scrap, Goethe eventually took the final podium position away from Ogaard with little more than three laps to go, moving around the outside through turn six, before completing the move into the next corner.

Lubin came home fifth, 1.2s clear of Peroni, with Mason close behind in seventh. Marinangeli was a further 10s back in eighth, with BVM Racing’s Francesco Simonazzi in ninth. Pino finished in a distance tenth after a spin.

Race result (21 laps)

The post Mansell leads CrypoTower 1-2 in Euroformula opener at Estoril appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Miguel Reis Photography

CryptoTower Racing Team has made its second signing for the 2022 Euroformula season, adding Formula 4 race-winner Vlad Lomko to its line-up.

After the 2019 seaon was dominated by Motopark’s quintet of cars, Euroformula introduced a three-car limit which meant Motopark had to allocate any additional drivers it attracted to its Japanese offshoot CryptoTower.

Lomko joins the team after a winter testing programme in the south of Europe in the series’ Dallara 320 car.

“I am very happy to announce my new team CryptoTower for the 2022 season in European Formula 3-level racing for the Euroformula championship,” said Lomko.

“I would like to thank the team again for their confidence in me. I have prepared myself to win as many races as possible and to win this championship. The date is set on April 28 to May 1 in Estoril for my first race. Let’s go.”

The 17-year-old has been racing in F4 since 2019, when he made two guest appearances in the French championship and took home a best finish of seventh.

He then joined US Racing in the ADAC and Italian championships, coming eighth with two wins in the Germany-based ADAC series and 34th overall in Italy after only starting four races.

The Russian’s second year with the team resulted in an improved sixth in the ADAC standings, with one win at the poorly contested Sachsenring round, and the points earned from three appearaces in Italian F4 put him 11th in the championship. He started 2021 with a F4 United Arab Emirates cameo that resulted in a pole and two wins with Mucke Motorsport.

“We are delighted to welcome Vlad for the season 2022,” said Motopark’s team principal Timo Rumpfkeil.

“He really stood out in the winter tests of 2021. Vlad adapted very quickly to the Dallara 320 car and showed great pace and consistency. He integrated seamless into the team during these tests and he shares the mentality of the team to work very hard, structured and focused. I am confident that Vlad will be a strong contender for the 2022 championship.”

The post CryptoTower adds to its Euroformula line-up with Vlad Lomko appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Fotospeedy

Christian Mansell has become the first confirmed driver for the Euroformula season, signing with CryptoTower Racing Team.

The Australian started his single-seater career with two years in Formula 4, the first consisting of three events in his home country and the second being a British F4 campaign with Carlin that featured a win at Brands Hatch.

He stayed with Carlin to move up to GB3 in 2021, and was third in the championship with two wins. The second win was at Spa-Francorchamps, where he made his Euroformula debut with Carlin before joining Motopark for the final two rounds.

“I’m excited to join such an experienced team,” said Mansell, who is shuffling across to Motopark’s Japanese offshoot CryptoTower.

“Their results speak for themselves. For me winter testing was very strong, I can’t wait for the season to start. Looking forward for the lights to go out for round one.”

The best result from the 16-year-old’s nine races in Euroformula last year was a second place in race one at Monza, and he qualified fifth in his first two series appearances. His haul of 79 points also placed him 11th in the standings.

“We are really excited to have Christian joining the team for the 2022 season of Euroformula Open,” Motopark’s team principal Timo Rumpfkeil said.

“He is a great talent and we already had some strong races in 2021 as he joined us for the Monza and Barcelona rounds. We have done a good winter test programme and I think Christian is well prepared for the season. I expect him to be a strong contender for the 2022 title.”

The post Christian Mansell first driver to sign up for Euroformula 2022 appeared first on Formula Scout.