Thai racing star Sandy Stuvik once again demonstrated his burgeoning talent by dominating both wet and dry conditions at the season opening EuroFormula Open at the Nurbürgring in Germany last weekend. The 19 year old constantly stayed amongst the fastest drivers during Friday test sessions in wet and foggy conditions, showing his determination to be a force to be reckoned with for the 2014 season.
During qualifying for Saturday’s first race, Stuvik continually caught the cars ahead of him during his fast laps and needed to find a clear lap without overtaking in order to set the fastest time. In the end he had to settle for P2, with only one good clear lap to set a representative time.
Sandy Stuvik (center) stands on the podium as the Thai national anthem is played at the end of race 2 of the opening weekend of the EuroFormula Open at the Nurbürgring in Germany, Sunday, May 4.
In the season opening race on Saturday, the Thai driver had to fend of several challengers in the first few corners, leaving the pole sitter an opportunity to open a lead on the first lap. Stuvik then gave chase through the race and in the end took the checkered flag only 2.9 seconds behind the Spanish race winner Alex Palou.
For the Sunday qualifying, run at a sunny but cold Nurbürgring, Stuvik was unbeatable and set his fastest time in the middle of the session and again repeated the same fastest time at the end of a hard fought qualifying period. The Thai driver took pole position with a time of 1:51:923, almost 4 tenths faster than the second placed driver.
The 21 Formula 3 cars saw the red lights go out for the second race at noon and a jump-starting car immediately shot up past Stuvik to take the lead, however in the second chicane on the first lap Stuvik overtook to regain the lead and started immediately to pull away from the other cars.
Saturday’s winner Palou managed to move from 6th to 2nd at the start and gave the Thai driver a chase, but a mid race mistake from the Spaniard saw Stuvik pulling away with a huge lead. By the checkered flag Sandy Stuvik had built a lead gap of 10.6 seconds for a dominant victory at the German circuit.
After the race Stuvik commented: “For Sunday’s qualifying session I was determined to push to the maximum for a pole position and I felt all the hard training paid off when I got back up to the front again. In the race I felt I had a good start and was surprised to see Igor Urien flying past me into the first corner, however in the second chicane I saw an opportunity to pass him around the outside and after that I felt I could control the race pace. It was a fantastic feeling to be back on top of the podium again and hear the Thai national anthem played in Germany.”
With a 2nd and a 1st place from the two season opening races, Stuvik takes a commanding lead in the championship with 44 points, with his team mate, Polish driver Arthur Janosz in second with 30 points and Alex Palou from Spain in 3rd with 27 points. The next round of the EuroFormula open Championship will run in Algarve’s Portimao Circuit on the 7-8 June, 2014.
Sandy Stuvik celebrates on his car after winning the second race of the season opening round of the EuroFormula Open at the Nurbürgring in Germany, Sunday, May 4.
