Round 3 — Imola – July 3–5, 2026
Stage starts in
ROUND REPORT
“We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy race. We started from the middle of the pack, the launch wasn’t bad and we gained a few positions, but by lap three we lost everything back. Then we had a safety car and lost pace… overall, it was quite a difficult race.” — Luca Viișoreanu
The opening round of the 2026 Eurocup-3 main season at Circuit Paul Ricard ended with a mixed weekend: promising qualifying sessions that confirmed the potential, and difficult races that clearly showed the road to the front of the field will require intense work in the months ahead.
The first positive signal of the weekend came during the official collective test, where the car finished P18 with a lap time of 1:56.797 — 1.634 seconds off the fastest time. The progress continued through qualifying day:
- In Qualifying 1, Luca secured P19 with a 1:56.412 (+1.228 from pole)
- In Qualifying 2, he improved to P17 with a 1:56.093 (+1.191 from pole)
It was the best qualifying result of the weekend and reduced the gap to the leader to under 1.2 seconds, showing clear potential to get even closer.
Race 1 proved difficult. Luca finished P19. Race pace did not match the qualifying performance, and managing wheel-to-wheel situations required important adjustments.
Sprint Race
The Sprint Race brought another difficult scenario — a 10-second penalty resulted in a P25 finish. The weekend clearly highlighted that racecraft and on-track battle management are the main development areas for the upcoming period.
Race 2
Race 2, however, delivered the real positive signal of the weekend. Luca finished P15 — his best race result of the weekend — setting a personal fastest lap of 1:57.332 and showing that experience gained throughout the weekend, together with the lessons from team debriefings, were starting to translate into performance.
Final Results — Race 2
- Official Test: P18 — 1:56.797 (+1.634)
- Qualifying 1: P19 — 1:56.412 (+1.228)
- Qualifying 2: P17 — 1:56.093 (+1.191)
- Race 1: P19
- Sprint Race: P25
- Race 2: P15 — best result of the weekend
The first main championship weekend delivered exactly what it was supposed to deliver: a real benchmark against 30 world-class drivers. Qualifying showed that the speed is there. The races showed that converting this speed into consistent and clean results is the next mandatory step. The penalties collected over the weekend are real lessons from which both the team and driver will learn before Portimão.
Luca Viișoreanu remains the only Romanian driver competing in Eurocup-3 2026, continuing to represent Romania at the highest level of European junior single-seater racing.
“The last race wasn’t a bad one; it could have been better, but I think I gave everything I had on track. The start wasn’t ideal. I made a small mistake on the formation lap, but the race itself and the performance throughout the race were quite good.” — Luca Viișoreanu