Campos Racing’s Christian Ho and MP Motorsport’s Bruno del Pino won Eurocup-3’s two races at Jerez. This means that title battle will go to Barcelona with three drivers in contention and with leader Javier Sagrera (MP Motorsport) in a position to secure it in Race 1.
Ho was quickest in qualifying for the sixth time this year, setting a 1m37.667s to beat del Pino by 0.124s. Sagrera was a further 0.07s behind, and teammates Emmo Fittipaldi and Owen Tangavelou were fourth and fifth.
The pace advantage Ho had in Race 1 was overwhelming, as he won the 20-lap meeting by 9.37s over Sagrera and cut his championship lead to 14 points. Del Pino moved one metre before stalling at the start, and after dropping to 25th he recovered to 12th but not enough to score points.
On the other hand, Campos’s Michael Shin, from sixth on the grid, challenged Sagrera on the first lap but after that had to focus on Fittipaldi behind to secure his third podium (P3) in Eurocup-3.
Sunday morning was a redemption for Bruno del Pino, who topped Q2 session to take his first ever Pole in Eurocup-3, setting a best time of 1m37.076s ahead of Fittipaldi, Sagrera and Tangavelou. Shin and Ho were compounded to fifth and sixth.
Del Pino converted pole into victory with no opposition, leading home Sagrera who secured two important podium finishes in Jerez to consolidate his lead. Shin had to defend once or twice to keep Fittipaldi at bay in third, and Ho finished fifth after trading places with team-mate Jesse Carrasquedo Jr. in order to score as many points as possible in a difficult race for him.
Javier Sagrera will arrive to Season Finale in Barcelona next November 8-10 with 228 points and a 26-point lead over Christian Ho, who has secured Rookie title at Circuito de Jerez-Ángel Nieto. Bruno del Pino still in contention with 192 points while Owen Tangavelou is out of the battle with 150.
Jerez has also crowned MP Motorsport as 2024 Eurocup-3 Teams Champion with 490 points before heading to Barcelona and a 96-points lead over Campos Racing (394) with just 88 points up for grabs at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
