James Egozi claimed his fifth victory of the 2026 Eurocup-3 season in Race 1 at Monza, fighting his way from seventh on the grid to lead a Palou Motorsport 1-2 ahead of teammate Rafaël Pérard.
Pérard had claimed his maiden Eurocup-3 pole position in Saturday morning’s Qualifying 1 session, beating Egozi by just 0.086s. However, the championship leader received a five-place grid penalty for impeding Keanu Al Azhari, dropping him from second to seventh. Alex Powell was therefore promoted to the front row alongside Pérard, with Gianmarco Pradel starting third.
Difficult starts for Powell and Pradel
As the lights went out at Monza, Pérard made a clean getaway to retain the lead. Behind him, both Powell and Pradel struggled to launch from their grid positions, immediately opening the door for the cars behind.
Egozi capitalised on the poor starts and climbed three positions before the opening corner, moving from seventh to fourth. At the end of the opening lap, Pérard had already built an advantage of around 1.1s over Patrick Heuzenroeder in second.
Al Azhari soon began applying pressure to Heuzenroeder, with the pair going wheel-to-wheel before the Hitech driver completed the move to take second.
Further behind, Egozi continued his recovery through the field as he closed onto the back of Heuzenroeder.
Egozi continues charge through the field
On Lap 5, Egozi made his move on Heuzenroeder to climb into third. The American also set what would remain the fastest lap of the race on the same tour, recording a 1:41.910.
René Lammers was also making progress for MP Motorsport, finding his way past Heuzenroeder as the Australian slipped further down the order.
Meanwhile, Kacper Sztuka headed into the pit lane with a problem on his Tecnicar by Amtog car. He would later be classified as a non-finisher after completing eight laps.
With Heuzenroeder behind him, Egozi turned his attention to Al Azhari. On Lap 7, the championship leader completed the pass and moved into second place, leaving only teammate Pérard ahead.
Lammers followed Egozi through the order and used push-to-pass to overtake Al Azhari, moving himself into podium contention.
Egozi takes the lead from Pérard
Pérard had controlled the opening stages of the race, but Egozi continued to close the gap to his Palou Motorsport teammate.
On Lap 10, Egozi made his move for the lead approaching Parabolica, completing his recovery from seventh on the grid and moving ahead of the polesitter.
However, the American was given little opportunity to establish an advantage.
Stefan Bostandjiev became stranded in the gravel at the first Lesmo, bringing out the yellow flags before the Safety Car was deployed. Bostandjiev’s race was over after 10 laps, while the neutralisation brought the field back together and erased Egozi’s advantage.
Safety Car sets up late battle for victory
Egozi controlled the restart and retained the lead ahead of Pérard, while the battle for the final podium position intensified behind the Palou Motorsport pair.
Christopher El Feghali went wheel-to-wheel with Lammers and managed to move ahead into third. However, the MP Motorsport driver remained within striking distance and continued fighting to reclaim the position.
At the front, Pérard remained close to Egozi and began putting his teammate under increasing pressure as the final laps approached.
Lammers eventually fought his way back ahead of El Feghali to reclaim third, leaving the Drivex driver just outside the podium positions.
The fight for victory also remained alive. On the penultimate lap, Egozi and Pérard arrived at the opening chicane together as Pérard attempted to regain the lead. Both drivers cut Turn 2 during the battle but avoided contact, allowing Egozi to remain ahead.
Egozi holds off Pérard to win at Monza
Pérard remained close on the final lap but was unable to find a way through, with Egozi crossing the line after 18 laps to claim another Eurocup-3 victory.
Just 0.556s separated the Palou Motorsport teammates at the chequered flag, with Pérard securing second and the rookie victory.
Lammers completed the podium 3.007s behind Egozi after his late battle with El Feghali, who finished only 0.768s behind the Dutchman in fourth.
Heuzenroeder finished fifth ahead of Al Azhari, while Thomas Strauven took seventh. Ean Eyckmans crossed the line eighth, with Bart Harrison and Powell completing the points-paying top 10.
Enzo Tarnvanichkul narrowly missed out on points in 11th, while Pradel recovered from his difficult start to finish 12th. Alceu Feldmann, Filippo Fiorentino, Nathan Tye and Santino Panetta followed.
Heitor Dall’Agnol finished 17th ahead of Stylianos Kolovos and Renzo Barbuy. Tommy Harfield completed the top 20.
Several post-race penalties also affected the lower half of the classification. Rayan Caretti, Bianca Bustamante, Lorenzo Campos, Andrej Petrovic and Genaro Trappa each received 10-second time penalties. Bustamante also received a 10-place grid drop for the next race she participates in after receiving her third reprimand.
2026 Eurocup-3: Monza: Race 1: Results: Final Classification
- #48 James Egozi – Palou Motorsport — 18 laps, 33:18.785
- #33 Rafaël Pérard (R) – Palou Motorsport — +0.556
- #99 René Lammers (R) – MP Motorsport — +3.007
- #7 Christopher El Feghali (R) – Drivex — +3.775
- #5 Patrick Heuzenroeder – Griffin Core by Campos — +4.828
- #14 Keanu Al Azhari – Hitech — +5.184
- #9 Thomas Strauven (R) – Griffin Core by Campos — +7.489
- #4 Ean Eyckmans (R) – MP Motorsport — +8.053
- #77 Bart Harrison (R) – Double R — +8.861
- #41 Alex Powell (R) – Griffin Core by Campos — +9.570
- #10 Enzo Tarnvanichkul – Griffin Core by Campos — +10.915
- #12 Gianmarco Pradel – MP Motorsport — +11.328
- #8 Alceu Feldmann – MP Motorsport — +11.898
- #37 Filippo Fiorentino (R) – Drivex — +12.317
- #3 Nathan Tye (R) – Drivex — +13.958
- #39 Santino Panetta (R) – Hitech — +14.020
- #27 Heitor Dall’Agnol (R) – Palou Motorsport — +14.939
- #6 Stylianos Kolovos (R) – Drivex — +15.409
- #31 Renzo Barbuy (R) – TC Racing — +18.067
- #26 Tommy Harfield (R) – Double R — +18.817
- #22 Andrej Petrovic (R) – Tecnicar by Amtog* — +19.168
- #70 Dani Maciá (R) – GRS — +20.170
- #20 Benjamin Beckley (R) – Tecnicar by Amtog — +22.630
- #91 Lorenzo Campos (R) – Double R* — +23.422
- #16 Bianca Bustamante – Palou Motorsport* — +24.397
- #44 Rayan Caretti (R) – GRS* — +26.023
- #84 Genaro Trappa (R) – Hitech* — +31.489
- NC – #23 Stefan Bostandjiev – Hitech — 10 laps
- NC – #2 Kacper Sztuka – Tecnicar by Amtog — 8 laps
- DNS – #11 Juan Cota (R) – TC Racing
Fastest lap: #48 James Egozi — 1:41.910, Lap 5.
Pole position: #33 Rafaël Pérard — 1:41.324.
* 10-second time penalty included in the final classification.
