Round 3 of the Champions of the Future Academy Program International Series wrapped up with a statement Sunday at Viterbo, Italy, and it belonged to Niccolò Perico.
After sharing Saturday's spoils with Jagrat Detroja and Mayson Hibbert, Sunday reshuffled the picture across all three categories. Michal Zajac and Chester Forkes both turned Saturday near-misses into Sunday wins, while Perico completed a perfect weekend that carried him into the history books.
Perico completes a perfect weekend and becomes the winningest driver in International Series history
Niccolò Perico controlled OK-N Junior from start to finish on Sunday. He topped Time Qualifying ahead of Axel Nocom and Benjamin Poulsen, won Qualifying Heat 1 from Nocom and Mitansh Jain, then took Qualifying Heat 2 ahead of Julia Angelard and Nocom. In the Final he led every lap to beat Nocom by 1.753 seconds, with Zoltan Coigny completing the podium.
It was Perico's second win of the weekend and his 10th in the International Series overall — the most of any driver in the series' history, moving him one clear of Markas Silkunas at the top of the all-time list.
Forkes turns a tough qualifying into a Mini 60 win as Makolm leads a U10 sweep
Filippos Troulis was quickest in Time Qualifying ahead of Mattia Pellin and Maxim Madzharov, but Chester Forkes hit the front in both Qualifying Heats, beating Troulis and Madzharov in the first, then Troulis and Pellin in the second, and made it count in the Final, holding off Pellin and Troulis for the win.
Mayson Hibbert, Saturday's race winner, climbed from P19 on the grid to finish fourth. The Under-10 podium went to Anna Makolm, Samar Chopra and César Barradas, with Makolm also part of this year's F1 Academy Discover Your Drive intake. Barradas produced the single biggest climb of the entire weekend, rising from P36 in Time Qualifying to finish P12 outright.
Zajac sweeps every session as Blanco follows up his recovery drive with a podium
Michal Zajac was untouchable all day, topping Time Qualifying ahead of Bruno Blanco and Kacper Rajpold, then winning both Qualifying Heats, the first from Veer Chopra and Blanco, the second from Chopra and Rajpold, before converting pole into a lights-to-flag Final win ahead of Chopra, with Blanco completing the podium.
Blanco's result was a fitting follow-up to Saturday, when he produced the biggest recovery drive of the weekend in this category, climbing from P23 on the grid to finish P4, and on Sunday he qualified inside the top three and converted it into an outright podium finish.
Round 3 wraps in style, wild card entries for Round 4 open soon
What a way to close out Round 3. A new all-time wins record, a clean sweep, and some of the best recovery drives the International Series has produced all year, Viterbo delivered on every level.
Missed any of the action? Full replays of Saturday and Sunday, including every Final, are live now on the YouTube channel, so go relive it.
And the story doesn't stop here. Wild card registrations for Round 4 will be open on the website shortly, so keep an eye out if you want to join the grid for the next event. Thanks to everyone who followed along all weekend, see you next time.