Rayong based driver Sandy Stuvik looked set to dominate yet another weekend of Euroformula Open racing during Round 4 of the championship, held July 5-6 at the Hungaroring Circuit outside Budapest in Hungary.
Stuvik would prove to be the fastest driver on both the Thursday and Friday testing ahead of the race weekend, however during qualifying for Saturday’s first race the Thai driver had his car set up too rigidly in the rear and could only manage a P3 starting position. Teammate Artur Janosz secured the pole position, while Spain’s Alex Paulo was P2.
Thailand’s Sandy Stuvik (front left) challenges for the lead at the start of Race 2 during the Euroformula Open championship Round 4 at the Hungaroring Circuit in Hungary, Sunday, July 6.
Stuvik made a very good start off the grid and went for an aggressive overtake into the first turn, but he overshot onto the runoff area and rejoined the race in 9th position. He started fighting through the field and saw several cars crashing out or getting penalized ahead of him. In the end he finished the race in 4th position.
The young Thai looked to be back on the pace for Sunday morning’s qualification for the second race, but agian it was Artur Janosz who would claim pole position, one tenth of a second in front.
The second race start was again good for Stuvik, but he soon started struggling and ran wide off the track in what would soon be revealed to be a front suspension failure. Midway through the race he had to retire and the race was eventually won by Spain’s Alex Palou, with Poland’s Artur Janosz in second.
The weekend’s results mean that Janosz once again takes over the championship lead with 140 points, with Stuvik sitting second on 135. The next race will be at the British Silverstone Circuit on July 19-20 and promises to be another exciting battle between the title contenders.
