Rayan Caretti’s eighth-place finish in the Sprint Race earned GRS its first points of the 2026 season despite a challenging weekend.
The third round of the 2026 EuroCup-3 season took place from July 3–5 at the legendary Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola. The historic Italian circuit hosted EuroCup-3 for the very first time, while it also marked GRS Team’s debut race weekend at the iconic venue.
Yani Stevenheydens returned to EuroCup-3 to partner Rayan Caretti for the event. Thursday and Friday morning were dedicated to testing, providing the team with valuable preparation time. However, it proved to be a difficult build-up, as the team struggled to find the optimal set-up for the demanding Imola circuit, with the overall pace falling short of expectations.
Those struggles carried over into Friday afternoon’s qualifying sessions. In the first session, which set the grids for Race 1 and the Sprint Race, Caretti qualified P26, with Stevenheydens just behind in P27. The second qualifying session, held immediately afterwards, saw the Belgian improve to P23, while the Frenchman secured P25.
The outlook was far from encouraging, and Saturday morning’s Race 1 only added to the team’s frustration, as both cars were forced to retire with gearbox issues. The Sprint Race, however, completely changed the story and finally brought some good fortune to GRS. It was an incredibly chaotic race, featuring several incidents from which, fortunately, all drivers emerged unharmed. Caretti made an excellent start, capitalised on the mistakes of others and produced several outstanding overtaking moves to cross the finish line in 10th place. Following post-race penalties for other competitors, he was promoted to P8 after starting from 26th on the grid, earning three championship points. These were not only Caretti’s first EuroCup-3 points, but also GRS Team’s first points of the 2026 EuroCup-3 season (excluding the Spanish Winter Championship). Stevenheydens also enjoyed a strong recovery drive, finishing 16th on the road before a penalty dropped him to P20.
Sunday’s Race 2 was once again affected by misfortune. Stevenheydens retired with another technical issue, while Caretti ran off the track as he battled through the midfield. The incident cost him valuable pace, and he eventually finished in 20th position.
The weekend therefore came to a close on a positive note despite its many challenges. Faced with an extremely demanding event, GRS managed to seize its opportunity when it mattered most, securing its best result of the season. The focus now shifts to continuing the hard work needed to improve overall pace and regularly challenge for points in the remaining rounds.
EuroCup-3 will return on July 31–August 2. The championship remains in Italy for the next event, which will take place at the legendary Temple of Speed, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
