Ferdinand Habsburg led from start to finish at Paul Ricard to convert his maiden EuroFormula Open pole position into his maiden series victory despite near-race long pressure from behind.
Habsburg was first forced to defend from Damiano Fioravanti for the lead, but once the Italian had spun out of race winning contention, slightly brushing the rear of Habsburg’s car as he attempted a pass on lap six, the pressure then came from championship leader Leonardo Pulcini.
Despite the pressure, Habsburg held on to take the victory for his Drivex School team, winning ultimately by just 0.226 seconds at the end of the fifteen-lap race from Campos Racing’s Pulcini.
Completing the podium once Fioravanti spun was the second Campos Racing entry of Diego Menchaca, who denied Antoni Ptak his maiden podium finish, the Polish driver being forced to settle for fourth for RP Motorsport.
Igor Walilko made a contentious move early in the race on Colton Herta, spinning the American off the circuit, but the Fortec Motorsports kept going himself to claim fifth, while the recovering Fioravanti claimed sixth, leading home a quartet of RP Motorsport drivers.
Fioravanti’s team-mates Enaad Ahmed, Tanart Sathienthirakul and Kusiri Kantadhee placed seventh, eighth and ninth respectively, while the top ten points scorers was completed by BVM Racing’s Daniel Pronenko.
Other on track action included Julio Moreno making a dreadful start in his Campos Racing to drop to the back of the field before then clashing with Teo Martin Motorsport’s Jose Manuel Vilalta later on the opening lap, which spun Vilalta round but forced Moreno to the pits to retire.
At the end of the second lap Carlin’s Keyvan Andres and Teo Martin Motorsports’ debutant Vladimir Atoev tangled at the final corner, with the former able to recover to finish fourteenth but the latter was eliminated on the spot with damage.
Leonardo Pulcini – Credit: FOTOSPEEDY
Paul Ricard Race 1 Result
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