In a rainy Monza, Sophia Floersch gained one position to finish 6th in the first race of the Formula 3 Regional season finale. Scolari was P12 after a challenging race visibility-wise.
The first race of the last 2019 Formula 3 Regional weekend started under the Safety Car due to heavy rain which had fallen during the hours prior to the scheduled start.
German lady Sophia Floersh took the start from sixth after yesterday's qualifying session, which she revealed was influenced by a throttle issue. At the green flag, Sophia had a great start and passed British Prema Powerteam driver Oliver Caldwell on the first lap for P6.
She then immediately chased down David Schumacher, overtaking the #27 US Racing car for P5 shortly after.
After being demoted to sixth, David Schumacher committed to a decisive fight with new KIC Motorsport driver Nico Kari, but both drivers made a mistake at the Ascari section and went deep.
Behind them, Enzo Fittipaldi, who had started from the last row due a mechanical failure during the first qualifying session on Friday, moved up to seventh in the first lap.
On the third lap Nico Kari and Oliver Caldwell renewed their battle, with also the addition of VAR driver Alexandre Bardinon, who has enjoyed a very positive weekend so far.
Enzo Fittipaldi made a small error and lost two positions at the benefit of Kari and Bardinon.
In the meantime, pole-sitter Igor Fraga increased his 3 seconds gap from the already-crowned 2019 Formula 3 Regional champion Frederik Vesti.
Sophia Floersch closed in and started to plan a move on her new Van Amersfoort teammate Andreas Estner: at the fifth lap at Ascari, the two highly-ranked teammates were closer than ever, but Floersch could not make a move stick at the first iconic Monza's sector, as the former FIA F3 driver deployed all his defensive driving skills.
On the following laps, the gap between the two Van Amersfoort Racing drivers remained within the one second, just as race leader Igor Fraga had a moment at the first corner. The Portuguese locked-up, without however losing his leadership .
David Schumacher and Oliver Caldwell fought hard for sixth place on lap 8, while the Brazilian Enzo Fittipaldi tried to take advantage from a possible mistake by the two drivers ahead.
On lap 9 , David Shumacher, Oliver Caldwell and Enzo Fittipaldi closed in on Sophia Floersch but the German girl initially defended well her fifth place, before having to surrender her position to Oliver Caldwell a few laps later.
With four minutes left on the clock, Frederik Vesti decreased the gap from leader Igor Fraga, while Andreas Estner tried to move up on the very competitive Raul Guzman for third, but the Mexican was able to maintain the last podium spot until the checkered flag.
Enzo Fittipaldi made his return to the pits with one minute to go, ending a difficult race 1 for the Prema driver.
Sophia Florsch finished sixth a good race pace-wise in the first half of the race, defending comfortably from the attacks of the fast David Schumacher in the final lap.
Brazilian DR Formula by RP Motorsport driver Igor Fraga won a dominant race and will start from pole again for tomorrow's second race.
Swiss Sharon Scolari completed the 13-laps race in P12 after a challenging race. Her weekend, after a tough start on Friday due to an off at Ascari in qualifying, was made even arduous due to the lack of visibility caused by the water spray at the back of the field. Nonetheless, she conducted a clean race and drove with precision in the very tricky track conditions throughout the session.
The inaugural season of the FIA Formula Regional European Championship will come to a close tomorrow, with the two final races scheduled for 09:25 and 15:30 CET.
Sophia Floersch currently sits 7th in the championship standings and will try to tackle Raul Guzman for sixth.
Ph credits: Racers-BehindTheHelmet.com
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