Drivex and Richard Gonda didn't have an easy weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, antepenultimate meeting this season in the European F3 Open.
After a period of adaptation to understand how new Dunlop tires work, Gonda and his Drivex Dallara F308 proved to be quick on Friday in free practice where Gonda was second fastest, a good start for the weekend.
Saturday was looking promising as Gonda stormed to pole position for race one, 6th fastest overall on the grid and first in Copa, more than a second and half faster than his closest rival.
Unfortunately, a technical problem meant he had to start the race from the back. But it wouldn´t'be a problem, as Gonda passed his opponents with a steady pace.
After the halfway point the Drivex young ace was leading the Copa rankings and another win was quite close.
Unfortunately, with just another lap to go, an electrical problem forced him into retirement.
In second qualifying on Sunday, Gonda was 4th after a wet session but with 13 laps ahead to shine. On the first lap, Gonda avoided two important accidents and the race was red-flagged. At the restart Gonda was fighting for another podium, finally taking fourth place, enough to lead the series.
Richard Gonda: “A lot of bad luck this weekend, as in fact both races were quite difficult. I was leading on Saturday when I was forced to retire due to a minor electrical problem, and even when I started from the back of the field. And in race two I started on race used tires, and that was a disadvantage from other drivers around me. I tried to do my best, but it was not enough. I hope we spent all our bad luck this weekend and from now on I will be able to finish successfully all races. Now my main rival and I have the same points, and the championship starts again with two other meetings to race”.
Miguel Ángel de Castro: “Our weekend was not as we expected. Anyway we managed to keep leading the Copa classification. Drivex and Richard had to cope with difficult moments and finally we could overcome them and still lead among Dallara F308 cars. We need to do our best in the final two meetings at Monza and Montmelo
