A perfect summer day for Jakob Bergmeister (Motopark) at Paul Ricard

20.07.2024

Jakob Bergmeister (Motopark)  a very well-deserved first win in the Euroformula Open in Race 1 at the Circuit Paul Ricard. The young German, who was the winner of the Rookies’ Trophy last year, proved in recent events that he was ready for his maiden victory and today, in a torrid afternoon in Southern France, was the day.

Jakob was clearly elated after the race: “At last! It was a good race after narrowly missing the pole this morning. The start was ok and after a good fight with Simonazzi in the first two laps, I could keep the lead until the end. I thank Motopark, my sponsors, my family and everybody who supported me!”

Bergmeister did indeed miss the pole by very little in the morning, being beaten by Brad Benavides. The American though did not have a good launch of the race, remaining almost stalled, which allowed Bergmeister to take the lead ahead of Simonazzi, Révész and Barrichello.

Simonazzi and Bergmeister started to fight, with the Italian taking the lead before the end of lap one, but being passed again by Bergmeister and also Révész in lap 2. Later the Italian, whose tyres had suffered in the initial phases of the race, fought with Benavides, who had rejoined from the back, but in lap 7, he had to concede the position to the American and also to Barrichello.

In the lead, Bergmeister built a gap that varied between 1.5 and 2 seconds and was enough to grant him the win, ahead of Révész and Benavides, who took valuable points to strengthen his lead in the standings, with Barrichello and Simonazzi in fourth and fifth, ahead of the Gold Cup winner Paolo Brjanik.

In his debut in the EFO, Luxembourg’s Enzo Richer was forced to retire after five laps given technical issues.