The first race eventually started on an almost dry Monza circuit and all the European Formula 3 cars were on slick tires. The Thai driver had a very good start and moved from 6th to 3rd after the first corner and on the following lap he moved up to 2nd position. He managed to catch up to the leader, Jones from the UAE, before his tires started fading and he would eventually be overtaken in the final stages of the race by two other cars, to end the race in 4th position. This meant that the Thai driver lost the championship lead to Ed Jones by 5 points, the first time this season that Stuvik has not lead the championship.
The Sunday morning qualifying was again on a dry track and it would only be by slip-streaming other cars around the 5.8 km long Monza circuit and the RP team drivers managed the technique to perfection as the locked out 1-2-3 places, with Stuvik in the end securing P3, behind Uruguay’s Urrutia in second and France’s Cougnaud taking his first pole position this season.
Rain fell again at lunch time on Sunday and a wet but drying track invited the Formula 3 grid for the second race, leaving everyone to gamble between wet or dry tires. Stuvik opted to start with slick tires although a light rain was falling, while his strongest rival Ed Jones opted for wet tires. As the red lights went out at Monza the Thai driver again had a characteristic fast start and managed to stay with his team mates safely through the first round, then the positions started changing lap by lap as the drivers took advantage of Monza long straights to pass one another. By lap 4 Stuvik was up into 2nd place and would swap positions virtually every lap until lap 9 when he went up into the lead. Four different drivers lead the race on one time or another, but on the final lap it was the Thai driver who intelligently planned his overtake and stormed up into the lead and built a gap around the sweeping Parabolica curve to take the checkered flag 1.2 second ahead of his French team mate Alexandre Caugnaud in second.
With the Monza victory Thailand’s Sandy Kraokaew Stuvik moves back into the lead of the championship with 239 points over Ed Jones’ 219 points, as the European Formula 3 Open grid moves on to Spain for the final showdown of the 2013 season in Barcelona during 8 to 10 November.
Sandy Kraokaew Stuvik races for the Royal Automobile Association of Thailand and is sponsored by The Pizza Company, Singha Corporation, Dacon Inspection Services and Sports Authority of Thailand. Please cheer Sandy from the live TV broadcast on the official website: www.live.f3open.net
Siraprapha Charoenwong, PR Officer
Tel +66 38 880788 Fax +66 38 880727
Mobile +66 86 4061766
Email : [email protected]
Website: www.sandystuvik.com