Cougnaud takes maiden win, Jones secures title

Photo: FOTOSPEEDY

18-year-old Ed Jones became the 2013 European F3 Open champion, following a tense final race of the championship at Catalunya.

Starting from pole position, Jones enjoyed a smooth getaway and set the pace for the race for the first couple of laps. Soon, however, the UAE driver’ started to slow down and shortly ended up allowing Alexandre Cougnaud to take the lead.

With what looked like mechanical issues, Jones then started to experience a dramatic drop in pace, which saw him lose position after position in the final laps. He eventually wound up fifth, which was just enough to secure the championship regardless of championship rival Sandy Stuvik’s result.

Cougnaud went on to finally take his maiden F3 Open victory, beating teammate Stuvik by three seconds. Santiago Urrutia completed the all-RP Motorsport podium, closely followed by Canadian Nelson Mason.

With Jones in fifth, Alex Toril and Tatiana Calderon finished right behind the newly-crowned champion. Mario Marasca, Vicky Piria and Hector Hurst completed the top ten.

Reigning Copa class champion Richard Gonda won the category with 14th overall, ahead front of Tommaso Menchini and Cameron Twynham.

Although Thai racer Stuvik collected more points than Jones throughout the season, he had to drop two worst scores, which amounted to 20 discarded points. Jones himself, having missed the entire first round due to a clash with the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, retained all of his.

Race results

Championship standings

Copa Class