The 2023 Euroformula Open Championship was a multi-event motor racing championship for single-seater open wheel formula racing cars held across Europe. The championship featured drivers competing in Euroformula Open Championship specification Dallara 320 chassis cars. It was the tenth Euroformula Open Championship season.
The season consisted of seven race weekends, started in late April and will span until October.
Team Motopark won the Teams' Championship with six races to spare. Their driver Noel León won the Drivers' Championship with three races to spare. Jakob Bergmeister, also driving for the same team (and its offshoot in the final round), won the Rookies' Championship.
Teams and drivers All teams utilized the Dallara 320 chassis. The 2023 season was scheduled to see a body kit upgrade for the chassis as well as the introduction of larger 17-inch tyres, but these plans were later scrapped. The tyre supplier was originally changed from Michelin to Hankook, before being changed again to Pirelli ahead of the second round of the season. A Gold Cup was introduced for drivers aged 35 and above. A trophy at every race was awarded for the winning driver in the category, but no classification or points system was introduced. TeamEngineNo.DriverStatusRounds CryptoTower Racing Team Volkswagen 5 Charlie Wurz 5–8 6 Vladislav Ryabov 4 15 Enzo Trulli 1, 8 20 Benjámin Berta 3 21 Josh Mason 2–326 Jakob Bergmeister 8 39 Gerrard Xie 2 69 Joshua Dufek 5–7 77 Tim Tramnitz 1 99 Attila Pénzes 4 Effective Racing Mercedes-Benz 7 Vladimír Netušil G 1–3, 5–6, 8 Noda Racing Volkswagen 10 Juju Noda 1–5 Team MotoparkVolkswagen11 Levente Révész6–8 19 Noel León All 23 Bryce Aron All 26 Jakob Bergmeister 1–5 73 Cian Shields All BVM Racing Volkswagen 84 Francesco Simonazzi All NV Racing Volkswagen 212 Paolo Brajnik G 1–3, 5, 7IconStatus Rookie GGold Cup
Race calendar A provisional eight-round calendar was announced at the penultimate round of the 2022 championship, on 22 September 2022. This planned schedule saw the rounds at Imola, Estoril and the Pau Grand Prix leaving the calendar, with rounds at Algarve and Mugello added instead. The calendar was updated on 24 January 2023, with a race in Pau reintroduced to the schedule. The Pau race was to replace the round at Mugello. However, on 5 May 2023, the series announced the cancellation of its races across the Pau Grand Prix weekend because of their refusal to be in Pau as support race, and not as Pau Grand Prix title race (due to local sponsorship reasons, the main races were supposed to take place with environmental friendly-fuel). On 17 May 2023, the Mugello round was reinstated into the calendar as a replacement for the Pau Grand Prix.
Round Circuit Date SupportingMap of circuit locations 1 R1 Algarve International Circuit, Portimão 29 April International GT OpenTCR Europe Touring Car SeriesTCR World TourCampeonato de Portugal de Velocidade R230 April R3 2 R1 Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot 27 May International GT OpenGT Cup Open EuropeTCR Europe Touring Car SeriesTCR World Tour R228 May R3 3 R1 Hungaroring, Mogyoród 17 June R218 June R3 4 R1 Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet 22 JulyInternational GT OpenGT Cup Open EuropeTCR Europe Touring Car SeriesFormula Regional European Championship R223 July R3 5 R1 Red Bull Ring, Spielberg 9 September International GT OpenPorsche Carrera Cup FranceRenault Clio Cup R210 September R3 6 R1 Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza 23 September International GT OpenGT Cup Open EuropeTCR Europe Touring Car Series R224 September R37 R1 Mugello Circuit, Scarperia e San Piero 30 SeptemberItalian GT ChampionshipItalian F4 Championship R2 1 October 8 R1 Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montmeló 21 OctoberInternational GT OpenGT Cup Open EuropeTCR Europe Touring Car SeriesEuro 4 Championship R222 October R3
Race results Round Circuit Pole position Fastest lapMost positions gainedWinning driverWinning teamRookie winnerGold Cup winner 1 R1 Algarve International Circuit Enzo Trulli Tim Tramnitz Noel León Enzo Trulli CryptoTower Racing Team Juju NodaNo classified finishers R2 Noel León Enzo Trulli Francesco Simonazzi BVM Racing Jakob Bergmeister Vladimír Netušil R3 Tim Tramnitz Tim Tramnitz Noel León Team Motopark Jakob Bergmeister Paolo Brajnik 2 R1 Spa-Francorchamps Noel León Noel León Bryce Aron Noel León Team Motopark Juju Noda Paolo Brajnik R2 Noel León Noel León Bryce Aron Team Motopark Jakob Bergmeister Paolo Brajnik R3 Noel León Cian Shields Cian Shields Team Motopark Juju Noda Vladimír Netušil 3 R1 Hungaroring Noel León Noel León Josh Mason Noel León Team Motopark Juju Noda Vladimír Netušil R2 Bryce Aron Josh Mason Bryce Aron Team Motopark Juju Noda Vladimír Netušil R3 Noel León Noel León Josh Mason CryptoTower Racing Team Jakob Bergmeister Vladimír Netušil 4 R1 Circuit Paul Ricard Noel León Juju Noda Jakob Bergmeister Juju Noda Noda Racing Juju NodaNo entries R2 Cian Shields Francesco Simonazzi Bryce Aron Team Motopark Juju Noda R3 Cian Shields Noel León Cian Shields Team Motopark Juju Noda 5 R1 Red Bull Ring Noel León Noel León Francesco Simonazzi Noel León Team Motopark Jakob Bergmeister Paolo Brajnik R2 Noel León Noel León Noel León Team Motopark Jakob Bergmeister Vladimír Netušil R3 Noel León Noel León Cian Shields Team Motopark Jakob Bergmeister Paolo Brajnik 6 R1 Autodromo Nazionale di Monza Noel León Noel León Francesco Simonazzi Noel León Team MotoparkNo entriesNo entries R2 Francesco Simonazzi Charlie Wurz Charlie Wurz CryptoTower Racing Team R3 Francesco Simonazzi Joshua Dufek Joshua Dufek CryptoTower Racing Team7R1 Mugello Circuit Charlie Wurz Noel León Noel León Noel León Team Motopark Paolo BrajnikR2 Cian Shields Noel León Cian Shields Team Motopark Paolo Brajnik 8 R1 Barcelona-Catalunya Enzo Trulli Charlie Wurz Levente Révész Enzo Trulli CryptoTower Racing Team Jakob BergmeisterNo classified finishers R2 Charlie Wurz Charlie Wurz Levente Révész Team Motopark Jakob Bergmeister R3 Charlie Wurz Enzo Trulli Francesco Simonazzi BVM Racing Jakob Bergmeister
Season report
First half The Algarve International Circuit played host for the season opener, where ten cars were present. Series returnee Enzo Trulli claimed pole position for CryptoTower Racing, and held the lead at the start of race one, while his teammate Tim Tramnitz dropped to fourth. He spent the race getting back into second, leaving Motopark's Noel León to complete the podium. His teammate Cian Shields was to start race two from pole position, but was unable to take the start, allowing BVM Racing's Francesco Simonazzi to rocket into the lead. Trulli also had a good start and ended up second. He and Tramnitz closed up to Simonazzi and had a three-way battle for the lead, where Simonazzi prevailed to win. The third race saw a brilliant win by León, who dropped to eighth at the start, but kept his determination and slowly climbed back up the order. Tramnitz finished second to make it three out of three podiums and take the championship lead, two points ahead of León. Simonazzi came third in race three and was one point further back.
Next, the championship headed to Spa, and León took pole position ahead of Shields. Both had a poor getaway in race one, allowing Simonazzi into the lead battle. Shields and Simonazzi spent a few laps battling for the lead, before León eventually got past both of them and Simonazzi started dropping back, relinquishing the final podium position to Motopark's Bryce Aron. Simonazzi once again claimed the lead with a great start in the second race, but again could not hold on to it. He got passed by Aron, who ended up winning, and León, who had climbed up the order. León attacked Aron for the lead on the final lap, but could not get past. The third race was stopped after a startline crash when CryptoTower's Gerrard Xie stalled. Shields battled his way to the lead after the restart, ahead of Simonazzi and León, before the Italian crashed out. This resulted in a race-ending red flag that allowed Simonazzi to keep his second place. In the absence of Tramnitz, León claimed the championship lead by 22 points over Simonazzi.
León continued his qualifying form to take another pole position at the Hungaroring. He cruised to the win in the first race, more than five seconds ahead of Shields and largely unchallenged. CryptoTower's Josh Mason came third after passing Simonazzi on lap one. Aron had reverse grid pole position for the second race, and benefitted from Noda's poor start in second to hold on to the lead. Mason started fourth and got by Simonazzi and Noda into second. From there on, Aron built a lead of over eight seconds, while the other podium positions remained static, allowing Noda to take her maiden podium. She then had another bad start in race three, allowing Mason by into second, before he eventually took the lead past Motopark's Jakob Bergmeister. Noda battled up the order, but collided with Mason when she attempted to pass him. She sustained damage and finished ninth, allowing Bergmeister and León to take the podium spots. Aron's win helped him overtake Simonazzi in the standings, now 42 points behind León.
The first half of the season ended at Paul Ricard with a third consecutive pole position for León. The first race began with a battle for the lead between him and Simonazzi, before the pair collided. In the ensuing chaos, Noda moved into the lead before a caution was called. Noda held on to the lead for the rest of the race and claimed her maiden win ahead of Bergmeister and Aron. Multiple drivers had poor starts in race two, so Aron was able to claim the lead. Behind him, CryptoTower's debutant Vladislav Ryabov fought with multiple drivers, but eventually had to give up the podium in favour of Shields and Simonazzi. Shields started race three at the front and kept the lead despite a bad getaway. Simonazzi climbed up to third behind Noda in second, but León had another race where he climbed up the order past both of them to end up second. His first weekend without a win and retirement in the first race meant the championship closed back up, with Leóns lead over Aron now only 18 points.
Second half A seven-week break did not change León's one-lap pace as he took another pole position at the Red Bull Ring. Four drivers stalled at the start of race one, allowing Shields into second place and NV Racing's Gold Cup driver Vladimír Netušil into third, but the latter soon dropped back down again. CryptoTower's debutant Joshua Dufek claimed third place and held on to it until the end. Aron was on reverse grid pole position for race two, while León started sixth. The latter got stuck behind Dufek in fourth, but eventually got by. Simonazzi then attacked Aron and spun him around, before León got past both CryptoTower's Charlie Wurz and the Italian into the lead to take the win. Shields took the lead of race three after poor getaways for both front-row starters as León started another climb up the order. This time, he only got into second, leaving Shields with the win and second place in the standings, albeit now 60 points behind the Mexican. Dufek took another podium in third.