Photo: FOTOSPEEDY
Thai racer Sandy Stuvik successfully converted pole position into victory in the first race of the Euroformula Open Winter Series at Paul Ricard.
Stuvik, who also recorded the best lap, didn’t have the best start to the race as he allowed both Kevin Giovesi and Yu Kanamaru through on lap one. The F3 Open then overtook the Japanese driver right away before settling in behind Giovesi. The duo battled it out for the lead with Stuvik taking over at the front on lap nine and holding on until the checkered flag.
Kanamaru finished third as the best rookie of the race after a close battle with his teammate Tatiana Calderon, who had to settle with fourth, finishing just two tenths behind the Japanese Eurocup Formula Renault graduate.
Fifth place also wound up being hotly-contested between Team West-Tec’s Cameron Twynham and 16-year-old karting graduate Alex Palou. The Brit managed to emerge ahead, while Palou notched a sixth-place finish in his debut race in cars after a slow getaway from the front row.
Austrian Christopher Hoher took seventh, closely followed by his teammate Yarin Stern. South Korean driver Che One Lim and Nicolas Pohler completed the top ten.
Wei Fung Thong confidently took the Copa victory with 14th places overall, while Costantino Peroni and Chang Wing Chung completed the class podium.
Race results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Class | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Sandy Stuvik | RP Motorsport | A | 28:44.949 |
| 2 | Kevin Giovesi | DAV Racing | A | +1.790 |
| 3 | Yu Kanamaru | EmiliodeVillota Motorsport | A | +13.322 |
| 4 | Tatiana Calderon | EmiliodeVillota Motorsport | A | +13.477 |
| 5 | Cameron Twynham | Team West-Tec | A | +18.260 |
| 6 | Alex Palou | Campos Racing | A | +18.608 |
| 7 | Christopher Hoher | Team West-Tec | A | +20.544 |
| 8 | Yarin Stern | Team West-Tec | A | +21.013 |
| 9 | Che One Lim | EmiliodeVillota Motorsport | A | +21.987 |
| 10 | Nicolas Pohler | Team West-Tec | A | +24.594 |
| 11 | Sean Walkinshaw | Campos Racing | A | +26.282 |
| 12 | Dzhon Simonyan | RP Motorsport | A | +31.172 |
| 13 | Henrique Baptista | DAV Racing | A | +35.740 |
| 14 | Wei Fung Thong | Team West-Tec | C | +1:01.252 |
| 15 | Hector Hurst | DAV Racing | A | +1:01.686 |
| 16 | Constantino Peroni | RP Motorsport | C | +1:15.384 |
| 17 | Chang Wing Chung | Team West-Tec | C | +1:21.766 |
| 18 | Saud Al Faisal | RP Motorsport | C | +1:23.082 |
| 19 | Artur Janosz | RP Motorsport | A | +2 laps |