Victoria Blokhina continued her learning-oriented campaign in Eurocup-3 with two top-20 finishes at Circuit Paul Ricard, gaining positions in both races and collecting valuable experience in the fourth round of the series.
In her first season in Formula Regional machinery, Victoria Blokhina continued her learning-oriented campaign in Eurocup-3 championship with two more top-20 finishes at Circuit Paul Ricard, gaining positions in both races from her starting position and collecting vital experience in the fourth round of the series.
Blokhina, who contested two seasons in the highly competitive Italian F4 before she started testing the updated-version of the Tatuus T318 car used in the Eurocup-3 series, eventually signing a deal with Drivex team for her first year in Formula Regional competitions.
Her first race weekend was contested at Aragon, in a non-championship race as part of the Formula Winter Series package. She scored a P11 finish in race 2 as her personal best.
The points-paying season opener at Spa Francorchamps followed, and Blokhina impressed in ominous weather conditions in race 1: the only female driver on the grid starred in a stellar recovery drive in the opening laps under heavy rain, which saw the Drivex racer reaching the top ten from the back of the pack - just before the red flag was waved. The result rolled back to one lap earlier unfortunately meant that Blokhina was classified in P17, despite having clearly shown speed in the rain for points.
With the second race cancelled for the inclement weather, Victoria returned behind the wheel at the Red Bull Ring, where she scored two top-20s, matching again her personal best of P17.
The third round at Portimao featured three races, including the make-up round from the Belgian cancelled race. In Portugal, Blokhina made a good step forward and had great battles in the midfield, often closing in on the top-15 and with solid recovery drives: she would secure her new personal best with a P16 in race 1, but she was unluckily crashed out of the race by a competitor in the second race - which resulted in a DNS in race 3 due to the damages picked up in the previous race.
While her results - especially in qualifying - are still not what she's aiming for, her rookie campaign continued with more valuable experience at Paul Ricard, in the South of France, where Blokhina resumed her season amid wheel-to-wheel battles and solid pace in both races.
Just 1.4 seconds off in the first official practice session, Victoria improved significantly in FP2, clocking a 2:01.027 that put her 15th fastest, barely a second from the pace setter. In such a tight field, Blokhina proved she had the speed to run mid-pack in an ever-expanding field.
On Saturday morning, Victoria struggled a bit more on single-lap pace and secured P19 in Q1, which set the grid for Race 1. Christian Ho would start from pole, with Bruno del Pino, Javier Sagrera, and Owen Tangavelou sharing the second row.
At the start, del Pino and Sagrera both jumped ahead of Ho, while Blokhina managed to hold P19. She quickly passed Garrett Berry on the first lap, though the Palou Motorsport driver soon fought back. Blokhina then fell behind Barashi, Le Gallais, and Jensen, but moved back up to P20 on lap 2 when Noah Lisle dropped down the order.
In an intense battle with her Drivex teammate Nick Gilkes - a constant of the last few rounds - both drivers gained a position over Barashi, then continued to trade positions, each picking up a spot from Carrasquedo. Victoria then passed Diaz for P19 and moved up to P18 when Cabanelas pitted due to an issue.
Victoria maintained a steady pace, staying safely ahead of Diaz, although Gilkes managed to gain a couple of seconds on her. A battle behind between Barashi and Diaz allowed her to open a small buffer.
When Gilkes encountered trouble and stopped on track, Blokhina moved up to P17 on lap 12. The incident was cleared under local yellow, and the race continued with Blokhina now under pressure from the recovering Barashi. She held on comfortably and finished P17, though a 5-second penalty demoted her to P18, marking an overall solid first race of the weekend.
On Sunday morning, Blokhina qualified P22 for Q2, in what proved to be a super competitive field with much closer gaps throughout.
In Race 2, starting from the eleventh row of the grid, Blokhina battled with Joao Diaz at the start and had to take evasive action on the first lap when De La Torre spun just ahead of her, forcing the Drivex racer to go off track temporarily.
Despite this, Victoria made up a couple of positions and found herself in P20, trading positions with Le Gallais and Gilkes. She gained another spot when Cabanelas pitted with damage at the end of the first lap.
Although she fell behind a group of battling cars, Victoria remained close enough to fight back, overtaking Le Gallais on lap 5 to climb back into the top 20. In the second half of the race her pace was faster than the cars ahead, but she struggled to find clean air; in the final minutes, she gained a few tenths and managed to catch Barashi.
She then picked up two positions on Diaz and Jensen, crossing the finish line in P18. It was another solid finish to the race and a testament to her determination: she gained four positions from the start, keeping the upwards trend in the races so far.
Blokhina will now head straight to Zandvoort for the fifth round of the season, which is scheduled for 12-14 July at the tricky Dutch circuit.
Lots of love to Blokhina, Big fan from NYC, she knows her art very well.
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