One final last dance in Barcelona

The final round of the season was held in Barcelona, and it was once again an eventful one. Noah had a very successful weekend with three podiums in three races. Dilano won his 10th race of the season, coming from P6, and Rik Koen was also back on the podium! The first qualifying session was stopped earlier than expected, due to a red flag that canceled all final fastest laps. This meant it was Suleiman’s best qualifying result of the season, as he started from the front row.

Qualifying 1

P2 Suleiman Zanfari
P4 Rik Koen
P5 Noah Degnbol
P6 Dilano van ‘t Hoff
P8 Miron Pingasov
P16 Georg Kelstrup
P18 Manuel Espirito Santo
P19 Gil Molina
P22 Emely de Heus

Qualifying 2

P3 Noah Degnbol
P4 Manuel Espirito Santo
P6 Suleiman Zanfari
P8 Dilano van ‘t Hoff
P9 Rik Koen
P15 Gil Molina
P17 Georg Kelstrup
P18 Miron Pingasov
P25 Emely de Heus

Race 1

Dilano had a mega start, coming from the 6th position and immediately driving on the second position. Noah and Rik stayed close to him on P3 and P4, with Suleiman on P5. After the first round, the safety car had to come out for a driver stuck in the gravel. During the restart of the race, Suleiman took over Rik’s place. But Suleiman went wide, and lost a few positions in the move, getting Rik back on P4. Miron was now driving behind Suleiman.

Georg had made up 4 places, driving on P12. With 8 minutes left, Dilano took the lead of the race. Noah was defending his third position, with Koen and Miron attacking him to get a podium. Marti tried to get the lead of the race back, but couldn’t make a move on Dilano. Within a few minutes, Dilano was able to create a gap between him and Marti. The fight for P3 stayed the same as on the track, with Noah taking place on the podium. Rik and Miron delivered a good fight and scored good points, with Miron’s best finish of the season.

Race 1 classification:

P1 Dilano van ‘t Hoff
P3 Noah Degnbol
P4 Rik Koen
P5 Miron Pingasov
P11 Georg Kelstrup
P14 Manuel Espirito Santo
P18 Gil Molina
P20 Emely de Heus
P21 Suleiman Zanfari

Race 2

Rik started on pole, during the first race of Sunday. Rik had a good start, but Janic, who started from P3, had a slightly better start and took the lead in the first corner. Noah started in the 6th position but jumped to third place after the start. Dilano started on P21 and was quickly found on P15. Manuel was spun around by Garcia and got stuck, finishing his race very early. This brought out the safety car.

With only six minutes left, the race restarted as the safety car went back in. Noah overtook Rik for P2. Miron was driving on P5 but lost a few positions during the restart of the race, and found himself on P10. Rik lost another position on the main straight and was now driving on P4, with 3 more minutes left on the clock. But, Rik did not give up and kept very close to Abramczyck on P3. In the final minutes, Rik overtook Abramczyck to get back on the podium. He even got very close to Noah and put pressure on him. Noah went a bit wide, and this was Rik’s opportunity to get P2.

Race 2 classification:

P2 Rik Koen
P3 Noah Degnbol
P8 Suleiman Zanfari
P11 Miron Pingasov
P13 Georg Kelstrup
P14 Dilano van ‘t Hoff
P18 Emely de Heus
P25 Gil Molina
DNF Manuel Espirito Santo

Race 3

Manuel had his best qualifying result for Race 3 and started from P4. Noah also had his best qualifying result and started right in front of Manuel on P3. Noah had a good start, but Manuel stalled and could only start when everyone was already far gone on the track. Suleiman had a nice start as well, where Dilano lost a position and was driving on P9. Suleiman had a lot of defending to do while trying to attack Arkhangelskii for P4. When the clock hit 20 minutes, the safety car came out when a driver got stuck in the gravel.

After a little less than 10 minutes, the safety car went back in. Marti, leading the race, went very wide during the restart and dropped down to P7, with Noah driving on the second position. Georg started on P17, but after the restart, he was already driving on P9, making up 7 places! With 6 minutes left, Dilano had to take his first and last retirement of the season. That was definitely not how he wanted to have his last race. Noah had to keep off Arkhangelskii in the final moments of the race but held on to P2, it was his 5th podium of the season and his third podium of the weekend!

Race 3 classification:

P2 Noah Degnbol
P6 Suleiman Zanfari
P9 Georg Kelstrup
P17 Gil Molina
P18 Rik Koen
P19 Manuel Espirito Santo
P22 Emely de Heus
P23 Miron Pingasov
DNF Dilano van ’t Hoff

Final driver standings:

P1 Dilano van ‘t Hoff – 361 points
P6 Rik Koen – 121 points
P7 Noah Degnbol – 107 points
P10 Georg Kelstrup – 65 points
P11 Suleiman Zanfari – 51 points
P15 Manuel Espirito Santo – 35 points
P18 Gil Molina – 19 points
P20 Miron Pingasov – 6 points
P29 Emely de Heus – 0 points

Team standings:

P1 – 581 points