Campos Racing’s Esteban Masson increased his Eurocup-3 points lead with two important wins at Zandvoort before summer break.
Saturday’s action began with two practice sessions led by MP Motorsport’s Jose Garfias and Esteban Masson respectively.
Qualifying for race one was a battle between MP’s Mari Boya and Masson, as they traded first place multiple times but Masson took his second Pole of the year while MP’s Bruno del Pino climbed into second place with his last lap, relegating Boya to P3.
Race one took place on a wet and windy Sunday morning, and began with three laps behind the Safety Car. When racing got underway on lap four, Masson and Boya were among the six drivers who slid off at turn one and the safety car was called out again as Campos’s Francesco Braschi got stuck in the gravel there.
Del Pino took the lead ahead of team-mates Sebastian Ogaard and Sebastian Gravlund as more rain fell. Racing resumed on lap seven and Ogaard passed del Pino for the lead before the safety car was summoned once more as Drivex School’s Nick Gilkes was spun into the gravel. Masson got back up to third, and Boya dropped to 14th after another mistake.
The next restart was on lap 10 and Masson went around the outside of del Pino at turn one for second place. The top two quickly pulled away, and Masson reclaimed the lead on lap 12. By the end of the 14-lap race he was 3.5s clear of Ogaard to finally control the race until the end to clinch his third win of the year with Sebastian Ogaard and Tasanapol Inthrapuvasak on the podium while title contender Boya just took 1 point in this race.
MASSON CONSOLIDATES CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD IN RACE 2
French driver Esteban Masson gave no choice in Race 2 at Zandvoort with a lights-to-flag win.
Q2 was another Boya-Mason battle, with Boya on top this time ahead of Masson and del Pino to secure his fourth of the season but the race began with a fast-starting Masson taking the lead in turn 1.
Then it was mostly calm with Boya and Masson trading fastest lap while the French driver increased the gap lap by lap. Masson won, ahead Boya with Ogaard as third in a race that was red-flagged as Jorge Campos crashed entering the final corner on lap 16.
Taking R1 & R2 results into account, Esteban Masson extends his leadership (151 points) with Mari Boya in P2 (116) and Ogaard climbing to P3 (107) after another difficult weekend for Braschi (89). Bruno del Pino is the new rookie leader while Campos Racing extend the lead in team standings with 274 points over 255 for MP Motorsport.
Next Eurocup-3 event will be held at Circuito de Jerez-Ángel Nieto (Spain) on September 22-24.
