A year ago today, Tymek Kucharczyk won the Euroformula Open Championship at Monza following an absolutely breathtaking duel with rival and current F3 driver Yevan David.
Heading into the race, the Pole needed to win to seal the crown. Due to the monstrous power of the slipstream at the legendary Italian venue, there was no chance to pull away. What transpired was a remarkable battle between Kucharczyk, David, Everett Stack, José Garfias and Michael Shin for the win.
There was passing and repassing all the way through. If one driver took the lead into the first chicane, the other would generally return serve into the second one.
A collison between the Mexican and Korean took them out of contention, leaving it down to the Pole, Sri Lankan and American.
On the final lap, David took the lead into the second chicane. Out of Ascari, Kucharczyk got into the slipstream and attacked; he went bold and brave on the brakes on the outside, taking the lead.
However, the Team Motopark driver had defended the inside on entry, giving him the shorter line on the run out of Parabolica. It looked David was going to be victorious. Amazingly, though, as they shifted up to sixth gear, the driver 3rd in the 2026 Indy NXT standings got back fully alongside and ahead by 0.001s at the line. Stack was 3rd, 0.070s away from pipping both at the line.
Kucharczyk relives his 2025 Euroformula Open glory by beating David in the race and championship
Speaking to Pit Debrief in an exclusive interview about it, the 20-year-old said he felt in a good space heading into one of the biggest races of his life. It meant he could drive naturally in his BVM Racing machine without thinking about the extra pressure of winning the title.
“That race was kind of insane to be fair. One of my best races in my career.
“It was actually quite funny because a lot of people could think, as it was a championship race, that there’ll be a lot of pressure, a lot of emotions and stuff. But from what I can remember, it was just such a calm race for me. I knew exactly what to do. I knew exactly that whatever I would do would be good.
“And it was just like, you know, the execution of the race was pretty, pretty amazing from my side. I felt like I didn’t put one foot wrong during that race.
“And it was a constant battle as well. It was not like only the last lap. For half an hour straight, we were just racing, like properly racing, fighting for win. Every straight, basically, every chicane, there was a lead change. It was pretty intense.”
Beating David in a drag race to the line
On the final lap heading into Parabolica, it was try around the outside or accept 2nd place. As he had shown throughout the race, the Polish star was mega on the brakes versus his rivals and displayed it again.
Kucharczyk then explained the critical reason he won the race and the 2025 Euroformula Open Championship: the gear ratios. Once the Sri Lankan driver selected sixth gear, his forward momentum was slowed a bit.
When a driver uses a shorter gear ratio, it means they accelerate off the Monza chicanes and corners quicker but exposes them as the top speed builds.
“And then the last lap, I don’t know, I was close. I knew I had to send it. I knew that I don’t have anything to lose at that moment. So I just went for it.
“Yeah, I maximised the Ascari to get the best run possible to Parabolica. I was close enough to actually try to send it around the outside. And yeah, it was pretty straightforward. I just kind of closed my eyes and prayed that it would be all good.
“And then I made a mistake [by going a bit deep]. But then at the exit, it was, again, quite narrow. Yevan and I just gave enough [room] and respect to stay away from any form of contact or dragging each other to the wall or the grass. So that was pretty cool.”
Gear ratios
“And I think the key point, actually, that meant that I won the race was that we had different gear ratios. So Yevan was actually quite [a bit] ahead and I put sixth gear before him. So I was a bit further back and I thought, ‘oh, my God, I think I’m going to lose this race.’
“But then, like, I don’t know, 50 metres before the line, he put sixth gear and it kind of slowed him down. So then I was able to catch up.”
Kucharczyk on winning the 2025 Euroformula Open Championship by the smallest of margins from David
“And in the perfect moment, we crossed the line. So I got to win the championship by one thousandth of a second, which is crazy. I think to win a race by one thousandth of a second is quite insane in itself, not to mention winning a championship by one thousandth of a second.
“But yeah, just a lot of emotions. Went all the way down to the first chicane, the radio was silent. So I didn’t actually know if I won or not. And then when I finally heard my engineers screaming over the radio, that was pretty, pretty cool.”
