Splendid Spa weekend for David
Sri Lankan ace fights back in Francorchamps
17-year-old Sri Lankan racing driver Yevan David took his third race win of the year and his first pole position as well as displaying determination and poise to leave an exciting second race weekend of the Euroformula Open season with an extended lead in the title fight.
David departed the spectacular undulating Spa Francorchamps with 122 points to his nearest rival’s 102 after taking his first-ever Euroformula Open pole position - by almost half a second - then going on to win Saturday’s first race of the three-race weekend at the iconic venue of the Belgian Grand Prix.
Saturday’s race saw David start from P1 but lose the lead a number of times with an eventful slipstream battle interrupted twice by safety cars. Starting the final lap in the lead, David was overtaken early in the lap but fought back to retake the position with an amazing move around the outside of the final corner to take the chequered flag by just 0.070secs to secure his third win in a row.
“It was a very good first race of the weekend in Spa! I won from pole position, but it definitely wasn’t easy as I didn’t lead for a lot of the race as it was very chaotic! Fortunately, I was able to make a last corner overtake to take the chequered flag.”
Sunday’s two races required David to dig deep. With a reverse grid in race two, David started from sixth on the grid but vaulted into third by the first corner and then into the lead on the next lap. Yevan stretched his lead to 2.5seconds, but a safety car period bunched the field, and on the restart saw David speared into a spin by a team-mate and back down to sixth.
Undeterred, David fought his way back to fight for a remarkable podium finish, just falling short in his mission by just over a tenth of a second at the chequered flag.
"We had a really good start, got into the lead and I was pulling away. Unfortunately a safety car came out, but I still held the lead into turn one at the restart but unfortunately I was taken out by my team-mate. It's racing, it happens. I recovered to fourth at the end of the race, with great pace."
The third and final race of the weekend saw David start from sixth on the grid once more, however he wasn’t able to emulate his morning stellar getaway, instead having to fight his way up the order more incrementally. By the third lap he was in P3 but the lead two cars had managed to extend quite a gap already. With determination, David kept chipping away at the deficit, setting fastest laps en route to home in on P2.
Second place was David’s with five laps to go, but the race lead was over three seconds away. David was able to decimate the gap to under a second to secure his fifth podium of the season with P2 come the chequered flag.
“It was a very good race three to end the weekend especially as we had a lot of pace. Unfortunately, the gap was a bit too big to take the win after I got into P2, but we still caught up and with one or two laps we could have got the win. Overall it was a solid weekend with pole, a win, a strong fourth and the second place. We secured good points from the weekend and I’m very much excited for Hockenheim.”
As well as the lead in the Drivers’ Championship, David also has a perfect score in the Rookie standings
Yevan David is supported in his 2025 Euroformula Open campaign by Merc Stop, Alcom, Dayholi and the Ceylon Motor Sports Club (CMSC). He is contesting his first full season in the ultra-competitive single-seater championship, where all drivers dice in identical Dallara 324 chassis powered by TOM’S engines.
David’s campaign continues at Germany’s Hockenheim circuit on June 7-8.