First Spanish Formula 3 Victory for Javier Villa!

Racing Engineering’s Javier Villa celebrated his first victory in the Spanish Formula 3 championship at the
Valencia circuit this weekend. After already finishing the first race in second position, and also recording the
fastest lap time in the second race, Javier scored important points for the championship.

Race 1:
Javier Villa started the race from pole position, but lost it at the start to Alvaro Barba. However, the Racing Engineering driver kept on pushing throughout the 16 lap race and crossed the finish line only 0.746 of a second behind the winner.
Ricardo Risatti started the race in 8th position and overtook his teammate Albuquerque at the start. During the rest of the race Ricardo stayed in 7th position, although he once again found himself with brake problems.
Filipe Albuquerque, who suffered the entire weekend from fuel pressure problems on his car, started the race in 7th position. After yesterday’s qualifying session, the Racing Engineering crew changed the injection system on Filipe’s car, but again the problem appeared and the Portuguese’ car stopped during the last lap. Filipe, at that time running in 8th position, was
classified 17th




Marcos Martinez Ucha, racing in the B category, had an amazing start overtaking everyone for the lead in his category.
But Marcos’ options for a top position were demolished by an overeager Marco Barba, who crashed into the rear of Marcos’
car in lap 1. The Racing Engineering driver had to enter the pits to pick up a new rear wing assembly and lost a lot of time
due to this unnecessary incident. Marcos rejoined the race but couldn’t race the required amount of laps to be classified.

Race 2:
Javier Villa, now starting from in 2nd position on the grid, had a good start, allowing him to stay in that position. Quickly it
became apparent that Javier was faster than Alvaro Barba, who was in front of him. In lap 8 Javier made a brave
overtaking maneuver and took over the lead of the race.
Increasing the gap with Barba to 4 seconds in only 3 laps, the Racing Engineering driver reduced his speed and celebrated
his first victory in the Spanish Formula 3 Championship.

Ricardo Risatti started in 7th position and made up one position at the start and two more during the first lap. Ricardo
was 5th until lap 11 when Soucek had to abandon the race due to a fire. Ricardo finished the race in 4th position.
Filipe Albuquerque had to start the race from the pit lane and moved up the classification in a tremendous way. Joining the
race in 21st position, the Portuguese was already in 11th position by the 8th lap. During the remaining 7 laps Filipe
made up another 3 positions and finished the race 8th.
However, after the race, Filipe received a 25 second penalization. When overtaking Soto, a Spaniard racing his first
race in single seaters, Filipe touched his opponent’s car, who as a result spun off the track. Filipe therefore is classified as
13th.
Marcos Martinez Ucha, starting from the 3rd position in his category, could keep this position at the start and fought
throughout the entire race to improve. Marcos effort was rewarded with the second position in race two.

After Sunday’s races Javier Villa declared, “I am really happy. I had a bad start in race one from pole position, but even with
an oversteering car I could keep up with the winner. The second race went really well. I was faster than Barba and
overtook him in lap 8. When I saw that within three laps I could increase the distance to almost 4 seconds, I was driving
quite relaxed for the rest of the race. I would like to thank my engineer and team for the car they prepared for me. They
have given me the opportunity to win my first race in the Spanish Formula 3 championship!”

Marcos Martinez, who finished on the podium in race two, remarked, “I had a very good start in the first race and was
running 1st when all of the sudden Marco Barba crashed into my car from behind. I lost time in the pits and all chances to
get a podium. In the second race I had another good start and then tried to keep my position throughout the race. It was a
tough race and I was fighting permanently. I am happy to get this second position”.

Alfonso de Orleans-Borbon said, “I am happy for Javier. He is a very good driver and with what I have seen today I am
convinced one with a great future. On the other hand Ricardo as well as Filipe had to fight against technical problems during
this weekend. On Filipe’s car we changed the gasoline pump various times during the weekend and the problem still
occurred, which is not normal. We have a lot of work to do during the next weeks to overcome these problems. Marcos
has worked hard during this weekend and this was rewarded in the second race. It’s a pity what happened to him during the
first race. This accidents cost him a possible win”.