Rounds 15&16 - Catalunya

Callum Macleod and Team West-Tec become Copa Champions at Barcelona!

The European F3 Open Championships finished the season at Barcelona, the home of the Spanish Grand Prix, on the 1st November and Callum Macleod was crowned an emphatic Copa Class Champion for Team West-Tec in 2009.

Ending the free practice sessions as the quickest Copa driver, Callum then qualified on the class pole in an excellent eighth place overall, a whole second faster than his nearest rival. Needing only points finishes to guarantee the title, Callum drove sensibly and maturely in both races to take two second place finishes, without undue risk, to secure the Championship ? and win the Copa by an eventually emphatic 30 points.

In the team?s Dallara F308, Thor-Christian Ebbesvik had made a great start to the weekend, being quickest in the initial free practice sessions, although a troubled qualifying left him a lowly tenth on the grid, after both of his best laps were spoiled by first a yellow, and then a red, flag.

After a great start in race one, TCE was unlucky to be unwittingly pushed wide in turn one and dropped back, before coming through the field to finish in tenth, back where he started with laps fast enough to justify a podium finish. For race two, another good start saw Christian make up ground as he improved to seventh position although he couldn?t gain further, being unable to pass Adrian Campos, and so he finished in that position to lock in a solid fifth place finish in the overall Championship.

Iceland?s Kristjan Einar returned to driving duty, having recovered from the strained back that meant he missed the previous rounds at Jerez. Despite never having seen the Barcelona track before, Kristjan did well in free practice before qualifying eighth in class. However, after a class seventh in race one, Kristjan got into the groove in race two and finished fifth in Copa to add to his points tally for the year, in a good 14th place overall.

Callum Macleod: I am really delighted to become the Copa Champion this year. We had good pace and could have challenged higher overall but the Copa was the target and, like this weekend, I had to drive with that in mind. Seven wins and 12 podiums shows we were both consistent and fast so it was a great year!

Thor-Christian Ebbesvik: We looked really good in free practice and it was a nasty shock to qualify down in tenth. Being squeezed off the circuit in the first race was certainly no help and racing back to tenth and then seventh was as high as we could realistically get.

Kristjan Einar: I was pleased to be back behind the wheel of my car this weekend, particularly as had such great support from all of our sponsors. I could have qualified higher, but I was involved in great scraps in both races and was pleased to be able to get home for more points in the final race of the year.

John Miller, Team Co-Principal: Callum has been an absolute class act this year and everyone in the team is delighted with his success ? and we look forward to seeing his career progress.

Christian?s Barcelona weekend mirrored, in many ways, his season with glimpses of stunning pace intermingled with some disappointment in what has been a very competitive field of drivers. He deserved better than fifth in the overall placings, although I am sure his experiences will stand him in good stead as his career looks likely to develop in a different direction next year. Never giving less than his all, he can be stunningly quick in all conditions and we wish him well in his future endeavours.

We were pleased Kristjan was able to get back in the car and it was some reward for all of his hard work to get into the points again ?
for the fifth time in ten races.

We are now working on our 2010 campaign, when the European Open F3 looks set to grow further with a stunning calendar of 18 races across six countries and with a tremendous prize incentive for the drivers included as well ? watch this space!