Young Thai racer Sandy Stuvik showed dominant form throughout the 2 days of testing prior to last weekend’s 5th Round of the European Formula 3 Open Championship held at Silverstone racetrack in England. In the Saturday morning qualification Stuvik took his first pole position of the year with a time of 1:56:604, ahead of Canadian driver Mason and UAE’s Jones.
As the race started, Sandy’s Formula 3 car bogged down and Mason managed to squeeze past into turn one, with Sandy close behind. During the next 5 laps, the Thai driver was clearly faster, but struggled to get past the Canadian. With the 2 leaders battling for position, Jones managed to catch up and as Stuvik tried to overtake Mason around the outside, Jones managed to get past on his inside. Stuvik answered by making a clean pass of Jones down the Hangar straight, only to find himself rammed off track going into Stowe corner.
Runner-up Sandy Stuvik (2nd left) of Thailand poses on the podium with winner Santiago Urrutia (2nd right) and third placed Ed Jones (right) at the Silverstone racetrack in England, Sunday, July 14.
The second race of the Silverstone event started with a Sunday morning thrilling qualifying session, where the two RP Motorsport racers Santiago Urrutia and Sandy Stuvik consistently stayed fastest and the Uruguayan Santiago eventually took P1 in front of the Thai racer by a mere 0.08 second lead.
Stuvik takes a corner at Silverstone during Sunday’s race.
The race got off to a good start for Stuvik, and a controlled team tactic allowed the two RP motorsport cars to streak away from the rest of the field. Towards the end of the race, the gap from the first two drivers down to 3rd placed British driver Jones had been built to a dominating 9 seconds and Stuvik started to push Urrutia for the lead, with the two of them swapping fastest laps of the race. In the end the race finished with Urrutia first, Thailand’s Stuvik in second and Jones in third.
Sandy Stuvik still leads the driver’s championship as the teams head to Spa Francorchamps in Belgium for the sixth round of the season on 7th – 8th September.
Sandy Kraokaew Stuvik races for Thailand and is sponsored by The Pizza Company, Singha Corporation, Dacon Inspection Services, the Royal Automobile Association of Thailand and Sports Authority of Thailand.
