Tony Quinn Foundation Ambassador Zack Scoular has just wrapped up the final round of the 2025 Eurocup-3 season at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where the Kiwi showed flashes of real pace, though his year would end on a disappointing note when he suffered a suspension failure in the finale.
Scoular headed into the weekend hoping to finish his rookie campaign on a strong note in what has been the most character-building season of his young career.
His best result of the year remained the 15th place he scored in France, short of the heights he came to Europe aiming for. With previous testing mileage at Barcelona, there was optimism that familiarity might give him a small boost to close out the season.
He got straight into the rhythm on Friday with two productive Test sessions, logging 37 laps across the day.
A best time of 1:37.571 in the second session put him 1.2 seconds from the ultimate pace and reflected solid progress, slicing more than half a second from his opening run heading into Qualifying 1.
In the first Qualifying session on Saturday, Scoular found a small improvement of 0.004 seconds over his Test benchmark, clocking a 1:37.567. It placed him 23rd on the grid, just outside the Top 20, with the focus now shifting to making moves in the race.
Starting Race 1 from Row 12, the 17-year-old made a storming launch, gaining a spot off the line before being forced wide at Turn 1 to avoid chaos ahead. He rejoined cleanly and picked his way through the mess, emerging at the end of the opening sector in 17th.
An off for Ariel Elkin later in the lap promoted him further, and Scoular crossed the line to complete Lap 1 in a remarkable 16th.
The midfield battle quickly intensified. Garciarce and Campos both slipped by into Turn 5 on Lap 2, dropping Scoular to 18th and placing him under pressure from Ernesto Rivera.
The Mexican found a way through early on Lap 3, leaving Scoular to defend against Enzo Tarnvanichkul. After holding him off for several laps, Enzo eventually worked his way past, pushing Scoular to 20th, now running ahead of teammates Alceu Feldmann and Isaac Barashi.
Scoular stayed in 20th up to the halfway point, at which stage Alexander Abkhazava crashed coming onto the front straight, bringing out the Safety Car. The race restarted with four and a half minutes to go, and Scoular immediately jumped up to 16th as two cars ahead ran off at Turn 1.
Elkin, however, then closed in and retook the position, putting Scoular back under pressure from Feldmann. Feldmann made his way through in the middle sector, with Ried also joining the fight, though Scoular held him at bay and settled into 18th at the flag.
A five-second penalty for Elkin bumped Scoular to 17th provisionally, but a post-race penalty for his Turn 1 excursion saw him classified 22nd.
Sunday began with the final Qualifying session of the year, run in difficult wet conditions. Scoular aimed to break into the ultra-tight Top 20 but fell just two tenths short, setting a 1:51.966 to qualify 22nd after the session was briefly halted for a red flag caused by teammate Luciano Morano.
The season finale followed later that afternoon, with Scoular promoted to 21st on the grid after a penalty for Lorenzo Campos. With the track back to dry conditions, Scoular made another tidy getaway, moving past Popov through the first sector and tucking in behind Elkin as the early battling unfolded.
Positions shuffled constantly through the opening lap, and by the back straight, he was running 19th, right behind teammate Lenny Ried. A multi-car incident at Turn 2 brought out another early Safety Car, with two cars in the gravel and a third stranded further along the lap.
Racing resumed with 22 minutes remaining, and Scoular immediately applied pressure to Ried. Without a clean opening to make a move, he settled into formation, sandwiched between teammates with Barashi now right behind him.
Then, with just over ten minutes left, Scoular suffered a left-front suspension failure on the run into Turn 1. The failure pitched him into the gravel and brought his final race of the season to a premature and frustrating end.
Though the results may not fully tell the story, it has been a massive year for Scoular, taking on steep learnings, gaining vital experience on some of Europe’s toughest circuits and taking an important next step in his career.
It’s easy to forget he is only 17 years old and still very early in his racing journey. There is no doubt he’ll take the lessons from 2025 into the off-season and come back stronger next year.
Header Image: Supplied
