Estoril EF Open: Vaidyanathan scores maiden podium in Race 1
Carlin’s Ameya Vaidyanathan kick started his sophomore Euroformula Open season with a podium finish in the first race at Estoril in Portugal.
Vaidyanathan was up to pace straight away this weekend, topping Friday practice with a time of 1m32.083s. While the Indian couldn’t keep the top spot in qualifying, he nevertheless set the third fastest time to book a spot on the second row of the grid.
Pole position went to RP Motorsport’s Harrison Scott, while Drivex’s Nikita Troitsky qualified in second position.
At the start of the race, Scott made a poor getaway, allowing Troitsky to take the lead down into turn 1.
Vaidyanathan also fancied his chances and ran side-by-side with Scott, but ultimately had to back off as he was on the outside line.
The race was soon neutralised after a number of collisions and stalled cars on the opening lap, allowing the field the bunch up again.
When the safety car headed into the pits, Troitsky was closely followed by Scott and Vaidyanathan.
A lap later, Scott passed Troitsky on the pit straight to retake the lead of the race, with Vaidyanathan also taking advantage of the situation to move up to second.
While the Russian dropped down the order and eventually retired from the race, the top two positions remained the same until the chequered flag was dropped.
Scott crossed the line 1.368s ahead of Vaidyanathan, who clinched his first series podium.
Behind, Campos Racing’s Matheus Matheus Iorio occupied the final spot on the rostrum, with Jannes Fittje and Eliseo Martinez Meroño completing the top five.
Troubled debut for Reddy
In stark contrast to Vaidyanathan, teammate and fellow countryman Tarun Reddy endured a difficult debut Euroformula race at Estoril.
Having done a stellar job to put his car in eighth position after just two days of running in the Dallara F312, Reddy dropped down the order after having to take avoiding action while battling with rivals.
His race came to a sour end when he got stuck in the gravel trap 12 laps into the race, leading to an unwanted retirement.
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