León and Aron retake their title battle at the Red Bull Ring

04.09.2023

With the end of the summer break, the Euroformula Open is back to action, in one of the most beautiful tracks of Europe. Round 5 is scheduled in the Red Bull Ring, the history-rich track in the green scenery of the Styrian Alps. 

The Austrian track may have changed its name from Österreichring to Red Bull Ring and ‘shrunk’ to the current 4.326 km layout, it has not lost its essence as a hilly natural circuit and today benefits from the most modern and advanced facilities.

The round opens the final stretch of the season, which is looking as promising as ever. Nothing is done in the battle for the title, which has gotten closer in the last round held at the Circuit Paul Ricard. Thanks to a faultless start of the season, Noel León is still leading the standings, but now only 17 ahead of his teammate at Motopark, Bryce Aron, who has reduced by 30 points his gap in the last round and now is on an equal number of three race wins.  

Both the Mexican and the American have used the break to go back home, spend time with their families and friends, and are back to Europe with recharged batteries and ready to continue their fight.

In third position, their teammate Cian Shields seems to have also found great momentum and being 36 points away from the top, cannot be ruled out to join the battle. The Scot has won two races and is on a constant progress path.  

Francesco Simonazzi is a close fourth and always to be considered among the potential race winners, although he hasn’t climbed to the highest step of the podium since Portimão. The flamboyant Italian of BVM Racing has kept busy during the break, using the opportunity to debut in the FIA F3 and finishing one spot from the points in last Sunday’s race in Monza.

Juju Noda wrote history at Circuit Paul Ricard last July, becoming the first female driver to win a Euroformula race and one of the very few to have done so in an international single-seater formula. She has also enjoyed some free time at home in Japan, where she has been invited to numerous TV and media events, as her popularity is growing exponentially among  Japanese fans.

Juju is leading the standings of the Rookies’ Trophy, twenty points and two wins (7 to 5) ahead of Jakob Bergmeister (Motopark). The youngest representative of the well-known German racing dynasty hasn’t said his last word, as his constant progress has brought him to his first two overall podium finishes in the last two rounds.

The Gold Cup boys are back to action in Austria, where they both will be racing very close to home. No doubt that this will add some spice to the great duel that Czechia’s Vladimir Netusil (Effective Racing) and Serbia’s Paolo Brajnik (NV Racing) have had throughout the season.

Last but not least, CryptoTower Racing Team will announce tomorrow its line-up for the forthcoming rounds and it is already known that it will be two heavy names!