2026 | Eurocup-3 | Jerez | Race 1 | Egozi converts pole into eighth victory of season

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James Egozi converted pole position into his eighth victory of the 2026 Eurocup-3 season during a heavily interrupted opening race at the Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto.

The Palou Motorsport driver resisted Thomas Strauven at the start and remained in control through three Safety Car periods, each of which erased the advantage he had created during the green-flag running. The final neutralisation continued to the chequered flag, leaving Egozi 0.330s ahead of Strauven and 0.694s clear of Enzo Tarnvanichkul.

Egozi entered Jerez with a 107-point championship advantage after extending his lead during Round 5 at Silverstone, and his victory moved him another significant step towards securing the championship. Strauven celebrated his maiden Eurocup-3 podium, while Tarnvanichkul returned to the top three for the first time since the Paul Ricard season opener.

Egozi holds off Strauven at the start

Egozi lined up from pole following his 1:33.773 in Qualifying 1, with Strauven alongside him on the front row. Tarnvanichkul and Gianmarco Pradel occupied row two, while Alex Powell and René Lammers started fifth and sixth respectively.

Lammers had set much of the pace during Eurocup-3’s two days of Collective Testing at Jerez, but Egozi moved ahead when the competitive portion of the weekend began. His pole placed him in the ideal position to continue strengthening a championship lead that already stood at more than 100 points.

Strauven immediately challenged when the lights went out, but Egozi defended his advantage into the opening sequence and completed the first lap ahead. The Belgian remained close behind, while Tarnvanichkul held third to keep two Griffin Core by Campos cars directly behind the championship leader.

Once the field settled, Egozi began to increase his advantage over Strauven. However, the opening phase also brought immediate trouble further down the order as Genaro Trappa suffered a right-rear puncture at the exit of Turn 6 and retired before completing a lap.

Barbuy crash triggers first Safety Car

Despite Trappa’s retirement, the race initially continued under green conditions and gave Egozi an opportunity to establish a gap at the front. That changed on lap four when Renzo Barbuy crashed at the exit of Turn 10.

The TC Racing rookie could not continue, and Race Control deployed the Safety Car for the first time. The intervention eliminated Egozi’s early advantage and reunited Strauven and Tarnvanichkul with the race leader.

Egozi handled the restart cleanly and once again remained ahead of Strauven. Tarnvanichkul continued in third, while the battle behind the leading trio began to reshape the rest of the top five.

Powell eventually moved into fourth and Lammers followed in fifth, leaving Pradel behind both drivers after starting from fourth. Heitor Dall’Agnol and Rafaël Pérard also remained inside the leading group for Palou Motorsport as the race approached its halfway point.

Bustamante incident brings field together again

Egozi once again began building an advantage after the first restart, but a second interruption prevented him from escaping from Strauven for long.

Bianca Bustamante’s race ended after ten completed laps, with the Palou Motorsport driver’s incident prompting another Safety Car. The intervention once again brought the field together and gave Strauven another opportunity to attack the championship leader.

Egozi remained composed when racing resumed and retained first position. Strauven stayed within range but could not create a passing opportunity, while Tarnvanichkul continued to complete a Griffin Core by Campos two-three behind the leader.

Powell held fourth ahead of Lammers, while Dall’Agnol and Pérard remained sixth and seventh. Pradel ran eighth, followed by Chistopher El Feghali and Keanu Al Azhari in the final two points-paying positions.

Al Azhari’s progress into 10th carried particular importance in the battle behind Egozi. The Hitech driver had climbed to third in the championship after his strong Silverstone weekend left only nine points covering second through fourth, meaning every point remained valuable as he fought Ean Eyckmans and Lammers.

Panetta incident prevents final restart

The field received another opportunity for green-flag racing after the second Safety Car, but the final portion of the contest did not remain uninterrupted for long.

Santino Panetta encountered trouble after completing 13 laps, forcing Race Control to deploy the Safety Car for a third time. With insufficient time remaining to recover the Hitech entry and restart the contest, the race remained neutralised through to the chequered flag.

That denied Strauven any final opportunity to challenge Egozi. The compressed field also produced unusually small gaps in the final classification, with less than two seconds covering the entire top five after 17 laps.

Egozi crossed the line in 33:13.442 to claim victory by 0.330s. Strauven secured second, with Tarnvanichkul only 0.364s further behind as Griffin Core by Campos completed a double podium.

Strauven secures maiden Eurocup-3 podium

Strauven’s runner-up finish represented a breakthrough in his rookie Eurocup-3 campaign. The Belgian had shown significantly stronger pace throughout the Jerez test sessions and converted that progress into a front-row start before remaining Egozi’s closest challenger throughout Race 1.

Although the Safety Car periods repeatedly brought him back within striking distance, he could not find a way past the Palou Motorsport driver. Nevertheless, second place delivered his first championship podium after a season in which his outright pace had not always translated into results.

Tarnvanichkul also achieved an important result in third. The Thai driver had not visited the podium since the opening round at Paul Ricard, but a clean Race 1 returned him to the top three and completed an excellent result for Griffin Core by Campos.

Powell strengthened the team’s performance further by finishing fourth. His result left three Griffin Core by Campos cars inside the first four positions, with only Egozi preventing the team from controlling the podium completely.

Lammers leads MP Motorsport as Eyckmans struggles

Lammers finished fifth and emerged as the leading MP Motorsport driver after spending much of the build-up to the weekend at the top of the timesheets.

The Dutch rookie could not reproduce the outright pace that had allowed him to dominate much of Jerez Testing, but fifth still provided useful championship points. Dall’Agnol followed in sixth for Palou Motorsport ahead of teammate Pérard, while Pradel finished eighth.

El Feghali took ninth for Drivex, with Al Azhari completing the top 10. Kacper Sztuka narrowly missed the points in 11th, while Maksimilian Popov finished 12th.

Eyckmans endured the most difficult race among Egozi’s closest championship rivals. The MP Motorsport rookie started 10th but slipped to 13th, leaving him without points as Egozi collected another victory.

That result increased the pressure on Eyckmans in the fight for second. He had entered Jerez seven points ahead of Al Azhari and nine clear of Lammers, but his failure to score allowed both drivers to reduce that advantage.

Egozi completes pole, victory and fastest lap

Egozi’s performance delivered more than his eighth victory of the year. The American also set the fastest lap with a 1:35.803 on lap 14, adding another element to a weekend that had already begun with pole position.

His victory also matched the season record for Eurocup-3 wins and continued a campaign defined by his ability to score heavily across very different circuits and conditions. After seven victories through the opening five rounds, Jerez provided another opportunity to increase an already commanding points advantage.

Race 1 alone did not mathematically secure the championship, but it moved Egozi substantially closer to doing so. With Eyckmans outside the points and both Al Azhari and Lammers finishing behind him, the Palou Motorsport driver entered the remainder of the weekend with an even larger cushion.

Post-race penalties alter lower classification

Officials confirmed the leading positions without changes, meaning Egozi retained victory ahead of Strauven, Tarnvanichkul, Powell and Lammers.

Further down the field, James Hedley, Lorenzo Campos, Stylianos Kolovos and Benjamin Beckley each received 10-second penalties. Those sanctions reshaped the lower portion of the final classification but had no effect on the points-paying top 10.

Stefan Bostandjiev and Trappa also received five-place grid penalties for the following race. Beckley had initially received the same sanction, but officials subsequently amended that decision to a 10-second Race 1 time penalty.

Juan Cota consequently finished 18th ahead of Alceu Feldmann and Sam Urus. Campos dropped to 21st, followed by Kolovos and Hedley, while Beckley completed the classified runners on the lead lap in 24th.