Edward Pearson enjoyed a successful start to his time in the Euroformula Open Championship with a podium finish on his series debut at the Red Bull Ring.
The British teenager headed for the Austrian circuit to join forces with leading European outfit Motopark having elected to bring an end to his time in the GB3 Championship, with his focus firmly on preparing for the next stage of his racing career.
Despite the fact he had never previously visited the circuit, Edward showed strong pace from the moment he hit the track at the wheel of his Dallara F320 - going second quickest in a wet opening practice session of the weekend.
Edward would then finish third quickest in the second session in the dry, setting a best time just three-tenths of a second off the pace set by championship leader Brad Benavides.
A repeat performance in qualifying saw Edward qualify on the second row of the grid for the opening race of the weekend but a poor start on a wet track saw him drop down to sixth place as the field headed into turn one for the first time.
Overhauling Fernando Barrichello before the end of the lap allowed Edward to move up into fifth spot and he then heaped pressure on Levente Révész before diving through at the first turn at the start of lap six.
That put Edward onto the tail of former British F4 team-mate Michael Shin, with a fine move going into turn three moving him into the podium positions, with a series of quick laps allowing to draw up to second placed Francesco Simonazzi.
A similar move to the one that had seen Edward overtake Shin saw him move ahead of the Italian into second spot, which is where he would remain until the race drew to a close.
Race two kicked off behind the safety car due to continued poor weather, with Edward overhauled by race one winner Benavides shortly after the action got underway.
He would retain the place until the closing laps when José Garfias managed to nip ahead at turn four to leave Edward with a seventh place finish.
The final race finally provided some dry running and Edward would run in fifth place throughout to cap a solid debut meeting in the series, with his next outing coming in Barcelona at the end of the month.
“Getting my head around the aero balance on the car was the biggest challenge across the weekend, and it wasn’t made any easier by the changeable conditions across the weekend,” he said.
“With that in mind, I’m pleased with how my Euroformula Open career kicked off and the podium finish in race one was a great way to start. There were more solid points in races two and a three and I’ve been able to learn a huge amount that I know will help me going forwards.”
“There is still a lot more to learn, but this weekend has been a good platform to now try and build on when we get to Barcelona.”
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