The Frenchman achieved two wins at Motorland Aragon and now sits second in the standings, behind series leader Braschi. Zanfari secures two strong results in Alcañiz. Inthraphuvasak saw his weekend dashed while leading on Saturday due to technical issues and couldn’t make the start on Sunday
Campos Racing continued being the dominant force during the second round of the 2023 Eurocup-3 season at Motorland Aragón and their drivers scored more wins and podiums. Esteban Masson claimed both wins in Alcañiz and strengthens his title bid. Italian Francesco Braschi brought second and third places home and leaves Motorland still on top of the standings. Morocco’s Suleiman Zanfari continued his excellent haul of points. Unfortunately, Thai driver Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak made a strong start to the weekend taking the pole position on Saturday but was forced to retire from the race while leading due to a technical issue.
Both Masson and Inthraphuvasak already took a dominant role on Saturday morning during both free practice sessions. France´s Masson posted the quickest lap time of 1m55.550s in FP1 beating Thai Inthraphuvasak by thousandths. In FP2, the Frenchman continued on top of the timesheets with a best lap time of 1m54.929s. Braschi set the third fastest lap time ahead of Inthraphuvasak. But Inthraphuvasak fought back later in qualifying and snatched the pole position with a lap time of 1m55.371s. Masson set to start alongside on front row with a lap time of 1m55.444s. Italian Braschi qualified in 8th place with a time of 1m56.109s and Zanfari clocked a lap time of 1m56.530s.
Race 1 saw Campos Racing leading the pack all the way. When the lights went out, Inthraphuvasak headed into T1 ahead of Masson. Behind, Braschi moved past Javier Sagrera and Bruno del Pino to take fourth place in lap 2. Up the front, Inthraphuvasak and Masson had pulled away. Despite the Thai driver built a gap of 2 seconds on Masson, the Frenchman set the fastest lap of the race to close in on the race leader. Unfortunately, Inthraphuvasak experienced technical issues in lap 6 and limped back to the pits to retire. Masson inherited the lead but all his lead disappeared when the safety car was deployed when a backmarker beached in the gravel. But Masson never his potential first win under threat. As soon as the safety car headed into the pit lane, the Frenchman pulled away once again. He took the checkered flag in first place after 16 laps. Braschi finished third and added another podium to his tally. Zanfari fought back and finally crossed the finish line in seventh place.
On Sunday, Masson stormed to pole position in Q2 with a lap time of 1m54.717s, which granted him the first place for the second race of Motorland. Braschi put himself in third place alongside Inthraphuvasak with lap times of 1m55.136s and 1m55.208s. But the Thai young driver couldn’t take part in the race later. Zanfari lined up ninth on the starting grid with a best lap time of 1m55.631s.
When the lights went out in race 2, Masson headed into T1 in first place ahead of Braschi. The Italian made a great start and moved up to second by overtaking Bruno del Pino. With Masson solidly in the lead, Braschi was successful defending the second place from his rivals leaving no room for passing him. Despite a safety car by the halfway point, Masson kept in control and crossed the finish line in first place. Braschi took the second step on the rostrum and Zanfari made it into the top-5 with a remarkable recovery drive.
After two rounds, Braschi is still leading the drivers’ standings on 77 points and Masson now sits second on 68 points. Zanfari is sixth on 31 points. Campos Racing is also leading the teams’ standings on 151 points.
The third event of the series is scheduled at Monza on 10-11 June.
