Monza welcomes the Dallara 320 for the first time with three races

23.09.2020

The Euroformula season reaches its halfway point this weekend with the series’ first ever triple-header event at Monza, the Temple of Speed, a legendary circuit it has always visited since the launch of European 3 Open in 2009. The long straights and fast corners of the track near Milan have always granted superb racing and close fights and this year it will be even more so thanks to the new Dallara 320. 

It I going to be a very special edition of the Monza round also because, for the first time, the event will include three races. The addition of a third race, as known, is to compensate the loss of one round in the reshuffled calendar due to effects of the pandemic.

Three qualifying sessions will take place to reflect the increased number of races, with the first of those occurring on the Friday evening and setting the grid for race one on Saturday. Q2 will be on Saturday morning and set the starting positions for Race 2 on Sunday, with the third qualifying session taking the spot Q2 would usually hold on Sunday morning. The additional race will end the weekend’s action and take place at 16:40 local time.

Lukas Dunner, the only driver other than Yifei Ye to win a race this year, will be back on track to take on his CryptoTower Racing Team team-mate and try to move up from his current seventh place in the standings after missing two races. The Chinese driver, thanks to his impressive string of five wins, is a solid leader in the standings but will face increased competition in the second part of the season. Rui Andrade is in the third CryptoTower car as usual, and is revisiting the site of his best finish from his rookie season in 2019.

The closest rival to Ye in the points is Van Amersfoort Racing’s Andreas Estner, who is joined by his brother Sebastian and Alexandre Bardinon at the Dutch team which could overtake CryptoTower at the top of the teams points at Monza.

Motopark won both races at the Italian circuit last year, and its 2020 line-up is on an upward trajectory after both of its drivers made the podium last time out at the Red Bull Ring. Manuel Maldonado has risen up to third in the points as a result of his two second places in Austria, which came as a great boodt for the Venezuelan: “The team was happy to see the jump of improvement we have made together from Hungaroring up to now, there is still more to come obviously we want to be able to give the fight to Yifei Ye and that’s what we keep working for.”

Niklas Krütten, the other Motopark driver, can count on circuit experience at a Formula 3 level for the first time this season as he scored points here in Euroformula last year. The German leads the standings of the Rookies Trophy, tied up on 44 points with his country-fellow Sebastian Estner, from VAR.

American Cameron Das rejoins Motopark’s line-up too, and he will be looking to replicate the podium he earned at the circuit in Euroformula in 2018.

After a tough weekend in Austria, Carlin is hoping to rebound with its hungry duo of Ido Cohen and Zane Maloney and be back scoring podiums with the Dallara 320 as it was at the Hungaroring and Paul Ricard at the start of the season.

Drivex School has two cars entered for Monza, with consistent points scorer and rookie Glenn van Berlo leading its line-up. Omani team-mate Shihab Al Habsi is absent due to travel complications and a yet-to-be-named driver could take his place in the #34 car.

Double R Racing also has two cars in the paddock, but regular driver Ayrton Simmons will not be racing in Italy and Matthias Lüthen will only be driving in the pre-event test on Thursday. However both of the chassis could be filled by two other exciting talents for the qualifying and race sessions.