Thailand’s 19 year old racing ace showed again why he is one of the hottest young formula racing prospects on the European scene for the 6th round of the EuroFormula Open championship at Spa Francorchamps. Stuvik secured a dominant pole position for the first race at with a time of 2:15:001 which would be 0.749 faster that second placed driver Palou from Spain and over a second faster than Stern from Israel. Stuvik’s lap time was the fastest ever recorded at the Spa circuit with a EuroFormula Open specification Formula 3 car.
Although the Phuket born Sandy Kraokaew Stuvik felt confident before the race, the weather was unstable and a slight rain began falling just as the race started. Having had a poor start, Stuvik found himself chasing Palou up the famous Eau Rouge corner and retaking the lead along the long uphill Raidillon stretch. The two drivers would go on to create a thriller for a race, with numerous excellent and clean overtaking maneuvers, as they fought for the lead. Midway through the race the rain got heavier in the back part of the circuit and Stuvik managed to pull away from the chasing driver. In the end the Thai driver took the checkered flag with a lead of 12.6 seconds to extend his championship lead considerably. Spain’s Palou finished second and Russia’s John Simonyan third.
Phuket born Sandy Kraokaew Stuvik earns double Formula 3 victories in Belgium.
For Sunday morning’s qualification it was again Stuvik who would claim Pole position, this time in front of his teammate, Guatemalan Andres Saravia in second and Russia’s Konstantin Tereschenko in third. Stuvik’s pole position lap time was 2:15:032, almost as fast as his best time from the first qualification.
The race, which was broadcast live on TV in Europe and web streamed around the world, started at noon and although Stuvik’s car again bogged down on the start, he recaptured the lead by slipstreaming early leader Saravia up the Raidillon straight and streaked away from the pursuing Formula 3 cars. Such was the Thai driver’s pace, that by the checkered flag he had built up a 13.2 second lead to second placed teammate Arthur Janosz from Poland. Japan’s Yu Kanamaru would claim the third step on the Spa podium.
Stuvik now carries a commanding 241 points, towards Palou’s 196 and Janosz’ 179 points, as the championship moves to Italy and the Monza circuit for the penultimate round of the 2014 championship on 26-28 September.
