Harrison Scott started the 2017 EuroFormula Open season in the best possible manner as he secured the opening two race victories at the Circuito do Estoril last weekend.
The British racer, driving this season for RP Motorsport, dominated qualifying on Saturday, taking pole position by more than seven-tenths of a second, and although he lost the lead at the start quickly found a way passed Nikita Troitskiy and was untroubled thereon until the chequered flag.
“We were confident with our pace going in to Saturday – our strategy for first qualifying was to go for two new tyre runs,” said Scott. “My first outing was really good and just shy of second place, then on the second set of new tyres I put in one of my best laps in a while; it was precise, with no mistakes and close to the limit.
“I was over seven and a half tenths clear of second and set a new lap record, so I was very happy with that. Going in to the race unfortunately I didn’t get the best start, but I knew I had the pace so kept my head and put the leader under pressure. I was ecstatic to achieve the race one win and pole position – it was a great start to the weekend for the whole team.”
Although Troitskiy beat him to pole position for Sunday’s second race, he was in the lead heading into the first turn, and dominated thereafter to win by more than ten seconds.
“We were confident of producing another strong performance going in to Sunday, but faced wet conditions for the first time during the weekend,” revealed Scott. “Straight out of the box in qualifying we were on the pace and sitting comfortably in P1, but were pipped to pole at the very end of the session.
“Our focus for the last race was to get off the starting line well, which we did and I managed to get in to the lead in to turn one. From there we controlled the race – the car was handling well and I managed to stretch out over a ten-second lead by the chequered flag.”
Scott was delighted with the way his season has begun in Portugal, and he hopes that the form he showed and the results that came with it continue into the next round at Spa-Francorchamps at the end of May.
“I am extremely happy to start the year with two out of two wins and a record-breaking pole position,” admitted Scott. “I cannot thank everyone at RP Motorsport enough for what we achieved together over the weekend, let’s hope that it continues.”