Interview: Why José Garfias left Eurocup-3 for Euroformula Open
Last weekend I attended the sixth round of the 2024 Euroformula Open Championship at the Red Bull Ring and had the chance to have an interview with current Motopark driver and Eurocup-3 podium scorer, Mexico's José Garfias.
In his debut round of Euroformula Open, Garfias took pole position for race one but was taken out in a first-lap accident, but capped off the weekend with a sixth and a fourth place finish in what was a cold and unpredictable weekend.
MA: You're making your debut here at the Red Bull Ring in the Euroformula Open Championship, how has it been so far?
JG: "So far, it's been hard because, well, race one was quite a disappointment for me as it ended very soon, just after turn one after doing pole position" he said.
"I think the potential to achieve a nice result in that race was very high but it was very unfortunate, then race two was a bit boring as not much happened, it was hard to overtake because of the spray on track but at the end, when I had clear air I was able to set the fastest lap of the race."
"The pace was still nice, it's just a shame we weren't able to get past the other cars earlier and we'll see what's gonna happen in race three. It should be dry and our pace was also really good in dry conditions so I'm looking forward to it."
Throughout 2024 Garfias drove for Saintéloc Racing in the Eurocup-3 Championship, a season that he won't complete as stated above, where he wasn't able to build on the form shown in the previous year, only sitting ninth in the standings with a few rounds left in the season.
MA: This year, your main program has been the Eurocup-3 Championship, where you're having your second year with Saintéloc Racing, how has your sophomore year been?
JG: "It has been very difficult." Garfias said. "I'm not doing the next two rounds, it's been a very difficult season, the results haven't been there, the pace hasn't been there."
"I think we had high expectations at the start of the year coming off a very good year with MP Motorsport, so we expected to be fighting for the championship but we're far from that."
"It was a very hard first part of the season but now I'm really happy that I'm driving with Motopark [in the Euroformula Open Championship] now, and I'm looking forward for the next couple of races, we'll see what I can do and see what we can fight for next year."
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Last year, the Mexican competed in the inaugural season of the Eurocup-3 series, a low-cost alternative to the Formula Regional European Championship, for MP Motorsport, where he took a string of podiums and finished no lower than sixth in every race he finished on his way to a top five points finish, narrowly beating current Porsche Carrera Cup Italy podium finisher, Francesco Braschi to fourth in the standings.
MA: You were just talking about your first year in Eurocup-3 with MP, which was very good, can you tell me more about it?
JG: "It was a really nice year, coming back from a year off racing in 2022, for the inaugural season of Eurocup-3 and the whole year with MP was really nice, got along with the team well and the relationship was nice" he explained.
"I think the whole way the team worked to develop us as drivers was really nice. The start of the season wasn't nice but the latter half was really strong as I felt more comfortable with the car, I started gathering experience, really getting to know the team, to know how they worked, we developed the car even further and the pace was there every single race."
"We were always fighting for pole positions and race wins but unfortunately we didn't win a race but the pace was really good at the end [of the season]."
Garfias finished 4th in the Eurocup-3 standings on his return to full-time racing | Credit: Dutch Photo Agency
MA: As you said, you had a gap year before coming back to single-seaters, how did you get back to racing?
JG: "It wasn't easy, because from the start of 2022 we knew it was going to be hard to find a race seat, then the year started and we didn't have the budget to compete" Garfias said.
"We were hoping to find the budget to compete in the second half of that year's FRECA season, which was pretty much the only thing we could've done but we weren't able to find the budget in time."
"The season finished in Europe but I was still back home in Mexico trying to find a way to come back and luckily we found a sponsor to do a couple of post-season tests, which went really well, so I had the confidence to achieve good things the year after and we then got a deal with MP and the rest went well."
Before making his debut in Europe, Garfias raced in Formula Mexico and in the NACAM Formula 4 Championship in his native Mexico, where he achieved a third place points finish in the former in 2019, while in the latter, Garfias finished fourth in the 2019-20 standings in a field that saw current FIA Formula 3 driver Noel León take the championship title.
JG: "It was really big, just after NACAM F4 I went to do GB3 in England and it was hard." Garfias explained.
"I was 15 years old, left home, went to live in England by myself in my own flat so, these things, as a kid, are not the easiest but, they make you grow and mature a lot, so even though it wasn't the best for me in terms of racing, I learned a lot and grew a lot, which helped me in the future for sure."
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