- No luck for reigning British F3 champ as Euroformula Open season resumes
- Barcelona to mark fresh opportunity in two weeks’ time
Linus Lundqvist endured a challenging weekend as the Euroformula Open season resumed at Silverstone following an eight-week break, struggling to match the series’ multi-car teams at the British Grand Prix track.
On a weekend when Lundqvist’s Double R Racing team fielded just a single car, going up against the five- and three-car Motopark and Carlin operations proved a tough task on this occasion.
Lundqvist, who sealed the British Formula 3 title at Silverstone one year ago, was restricted to seventh and tenth place respectively in the meeting’s two races, although he could take some consolation from leading the HWA-engined contingent of cars in the majority of the weekend’s sessions – including both qualifying showdowns.
Lundqvist was also running sixth in Sunday’s Race 2 when he was tagged into a spin by Carlin’s Christian Hahn at the Brooklands corner on lap one, dropping to 11th. The Swede recovered to finish tenth after passing Manuel Maldonado – cousin of ex-F1 racer Pastor – but was left largely disappointed with the outcome of the event.
“It was a fairly poor effort from us this weekend, not what we expected or hoped for,” says Linus Lundqvist. “Especially after such a long break, we would have wanted to return to action with a stronger performance, but it was simply not possible. Our rivals had an advantage here. It was great being back on track with the team, but we want to fight for podiums and wins; and we were never really there this weekend.”
Lundqvist now bids to swiftly move on from the disappointment of Silverstone, already looking ahead to the penultimate round of the season in Barcelona in two weeks’ time.
“I can’t wait for Barcelona,” Lundqvist concludes. “I really want to do better than we did here, and we should. Barcelona is a different type of track, with fewer straights and a different layout, so that’s sort of a restart. We will focus on getting the car set-up right for that and hopefully we can come back in Barcelona strong enough to fight for the podium again. That’s where we want to be.”
The Barcelona round takes place on September 20-22.
Linus Lundqvist sits in fifth place overall in the Euroformula Open standings, with Japan’s Marino Sato in the lead. Another Japanese, Toshiki Oyu, won both of the weekend’s races at Silverstone.
RESULTS (top five)
Euroformula Open
Round 7/9 | Silverstone (GBR)
RACE 1
1: Toshiki Oyu (JPN), Motopark, 15 laps
2: Enaam Ahmed (GBR), Motopark, +4.585s
3: Nicolai Kjaergaard (DEN), Carlin, +6.124s
4: Billy Monger (GBR), Carlin, +12.499s
5: Cameron Das (USA), Motopark, +14.138s
—
7: Linus Lundqvist (SWE), Double R, +19.049s
RACE 2
1: Toshiki Oyu (JPN), Motopark, 15 laps
2: Enaam Ahmed (GBR), Motopark, +6.017s
3: Nicolai Kjaergaard (DEN), Carlin, +6.850s
4: Billy Monger (GBR), Carlin, +7.377s
5: Dennis Hauger (NOR), Motopark, +8.163s
—
10: Linus Lundqvist (SWE), Double R, +21.072s
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (top five)
Euroformula Open
After 14/18 races
1: Marino Sato (JPN), 262 p.
2: Lukas Dunner (AUT), 156 p.
3: Liam Lawson (NZL), 120 p.
4: Yuki Tsunoda (JPN), 110 p.
5: Linus Lundqvist (SWE), 103 p.