The Grid.co.uk the national & club motor racing website - est1998
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World Series by Renault Walker on the moon James Walker (Fortec Motorsport) avoided the potential pitfalls of this second race to pocket his first win in World Series Formula Renault 3.5. Guillaume Moreau (KTR) secured his first podium finish after beating Marco Bonanomi (RC Motorsport) to second place. Both Parente and Hanley were out of the points today. Lined up on the outside of the front row, Mikhail Aleshin (Carlin Motorsport) surprised James Walker and approached the opening bend in first place. Davide Valsecchi was forced off by Miguel Molina just a few seconds in, but was able to get away again. The first lap was somewhat agitated, with Bertrand Baguette going into a spin right in the thick of the field. Aleshin wasted no time in extending his lead over Walker, who was being put under pressure by Marco Bonanomi and Guillaume Moreau. Alvaro Parente (Tech 1 Racing) ran off into the gravel and fell back to 11th place. A few lengths back from Moreau, Yelmer Buurman (Fortec Motorsport) had now opened up a substantial gap over Michael Ammermüller (Carlin Motorsport), Filipe Albuquerque (Epsilon Euskadi), Milos Pavlovic (Draco Racing) and Ben Hanley (Prema Powerteam). Parente soon joined this chasing pack.. Guillaume Moreau had to wait until lap 10 to get past Marco Bonanomi. The Frenchman then set out in pursuit of James Walker. Back in the main field, race 1 winner Alvaro Barba made an error that saw him crash into the tyre wall, bringing his race to a premature end. The battle for eighth spot between Pavlovic, Hanley, Parente and Duran was still raging. Another slip-up saw Parente drop out of the points. Meanwhile, Buurman, Ammermüller and Albuquerque were involved in an equally absorbing tussle for fifth place. Molina, who was lying in twelfth position, was handed a drive-through penalty for his manoeuvre at the start of the race. Hanley and Pavlovic then collided and were forced to retire. Pippa Mann, who had been driving a good race in the middle of the field, was run into by Clivio Piccione before spinning off with Charlie Kimball. When the young British driver stalled at the chicane, she had no choice but to call it a day, and out came the safety car. Obviously struggling to come to terms with a lively car, Alvaro Parente then span off. With 18 of the scheduled 31 laps completed, the race order was as follows: Aleshin, Walker, Moreau, Bonanomi, Buurman, Ammermüller, Albuquerque, Jousse, Duran and Baguette. The race resumed for a further ten laps. Surprised by his cold brakes and tyres, Mikhail Aleshin made a mistake. The Russian then erred for a second time, running into Bertrand Baguette just as the safety car was brought out again. When action resumed, James Walker was able to put some open track between himself and Guillaume Moreau. Striving to clock the fastest race lap, Alvaro Parente once again crashed off, and this time there was no coming back. At the end of their epic battle, Alejandro Nuñez (Red Devil Comtec) and Fairuz Fauzy (Cram Compétition) both made it into the points by finishing in the top ten. :James Walker "This is a dream come true! We've done a lot of work with the team since the start of the season. I was disappointed with my qualifying this weekend, but finishing tenth meant I could start from pole today. We're going to try to carry on improving until the end of the season." Guillaume Moreau: "I just missed out on a win at Budapest, I broke my finger at Spa… and here I am on the podium despite messing up my start! I hope my bad luck is behind me now and that I'll do better still at Magny-Cours." Marco Bonanomi: "I've made a lot of mistakes in the last few races and that's cost me a lot of points. I hope things carry on like this..." Jinxed trio taste success at last! So far this season, success had eluded Alvaro Barba (Draco Racing), Julien Jousse (Tech 1 Racing) and Bertrand Baguette (KTR), despite their enormous potential. But in the first race at Donington Park, the trio put their bad luck behind them, finishing first, second and third respectively and picking up their first podium finishes of the 2007 season! Alvaro Parente got off to a good start and held off Fairuz Fauzy on the brakes into the first corner. Everyone made it through the first bend without incident, but some fared less well at the second: Charlie Kimball, Clivio Piccione and Michael Herck collided and ended up in the gravel trap. The safety car was brought out at the end of the first lap. The chasing pack behind Parente comprised Fauzy Jousse, Barba, Baguette, Bonanomi, Ammermüller, Molina, Aleshin and Nuñez. Racing resumed at the end of lap 6. Parente managed to preserve his lead and even opened up something of a gap over Fauzy. Back in third place, Julien Jousse was immediately under pressure from Alvaro Barba. Filipe Albuquerque was the first of the favourites to make a pit stop, while Xavier Maasen was forced to retire after crashing off. Having started from 26th position, Ben Hanley opted to take his pit stop early, after 8 laps. Giedo van der Garde and Davide Valsecchi followed suit. Fauzy changed his tyres one lap later. The two Tech 1 Racing drivers then found themselves in the lead, with Parente 5.3 seconds ahead of Jousse, who was struggling to hold off Barba. Barba eventually moved into second when the Frenchman made his pit stop at the end of lap 10. Meanwhile, Parente pushed hard. He was the quickest of the Portuguese drivers. Baguette was next to go in for tyres. Parente came in on lap 12, and left the pits 6.2 seconds later, ahead of Jousse, Fauzy and Baguette. With no-one in front of him now, Alvaro Barba attacked and even managed to set a new lap record. The Spaniard was still only 20 seconds ahead of Parente, however - not enough to guarantee victory without taking a risk or two. He finally came into the pits after lap 15, between Parente and Jousse. For once, it was Barba who came out on top: Parente made a mistake that sent him into the gravel and allowed Barba, Jousse, Fauzy and Baguette to overtake him. So, with 14 laps to go, Barba led, 0.6 of a second ahead of Jousse. Some way further back, Fauzy was under pressure from Baguette and Parente. The Belgian did his best to get past, but his Malaysian rival managed to hold him off. Finally, though, Fauzy cracked and crashed off in the same place as Maasen. The safety car was brought out again at the end of lap 21. Once Fauzy and Maasen's cars had been cleared, the race got back underway, with just three laps remaining. Jousse kept up the pressure on Barba, but the Spaniard managed to hold him off till the finish! Behind Baguette and Parente, Buurman finished a creditable fifth, ahead of Ammermüller, Bonanomi, Moreau, Aleshin and Walker, who will start in pole tomorrow! Alvaro Barba: "The race was difficult after a poor start. The team made a fantastic job of the pit stop and I left the pits in second place. I would have been happy with that, but Alvaro Parente made a mistake. I had a lot of over-steer at the end." Julien Jousse: "I'd never driven at this track before this weekend, so it's fantastic to get my first podium finish here. The car was really fast but I just couldn't get past Alvaro. Thanks to all the team for this result.» Bertrand Baguette: "I really like this circuit and I think it is lucky for me. It's the third time this season I've started from fifth on the grid, but now I've finally managed to make it onto the podium! The start was hard work – I find it difficult to get my tyres warmed up." Reaults - Top 10
Pavlovic puts an end to the waiting! Milos Pavlovic (Draco Racing) has had to wait 43 races for his first ever victory in World Series Formula Renault 3.5! The Serbian driver held off Ben Hanley (Prema Powerteam), who is shaping up as Parente's new championship rival, right through to the closing bend. Salvador Duran (Interwetten.com) took the remaining place on the podium. After race one, Filipe Albuquerque picked up a 20-second penalty for having made his pit stop before lap five: the Epsilon Euskadi driver was duly relegated down into 12th position. The front row for race two consisted of Michael Ammermuller and Marco Bonanomi. But the German ran wide on the formation lap and was unable to make the start! This meant that Carlos Iaconelli, lined up alongside Milos Pavlovic on row two, had a clear run ahead of him. But Bonanomi and Iaconelli got in each other's way on the brakes into the opening bend and Pavlovic turned in first ahead of Iaconelli and Bonanomi. The Italian then made an attempt to pass the Brazilian, but he made an error at Combes. As a result, Giedo Vander Garde moved into third ahead of Ben Hanley, Salvador Duran, Alvaro Parente, Filipe Albuquerque, Alejandro Nuñez, Clivio Piccione and Alessandro Ciompi. Pavlovic was unable to pull away from Iaconelli, who was putting the Serb under pressure. At the same time, Hanley was trying to get the better of Van der Garde. Let down by a mechanical failure, Iaconelli was forced to come back into the pits leaving Pavlovic alone out front. Hanley then moved into second, 1''6 behind the leader. Seeing no end to his run of bad luck, Clivio Piccione was then forced into the pits after falling victim to a puncture. Fairuz Fauzy and James Walker then abandoned the race after a collision. With five laps gone, Van der Garde finally caved in under pressure from Duran on the brakes into Combes. One lap later, Alvaro Parente then took his opportunity to pass Van der Garde. But the Portuguese driver was unable to hold onto fourth for very long: as a result of brake problems, he was forced to let both Van der Garde and Albuquerque through. At the halfway stage, Pavlovic had a lead of only 5/10ths over Hanley. Duran was going it alone, with a big gap back to Van der Garde, Albuquerque, Parente, Nuñez, Aleshin, Sabatino and Valsecchi. Hanley made his first attempt to get past Pavlovic on lap 12, but the Serb was able to hold off the young British driver, allowing Duran to close back up to the two leaders! Further back, Mikhail Aleshin put on a show by snatching seventh away from Alejandro Nuñez on the brakes. On the final lap, Hanley made yet another attempt to take the lead at the Bus Stop chicane. But Pavlovic was too strong for him and held onto his lead right to the chequered flag! Milos Pavlovic: "The weekend got off to a bad start for us, as we were having lots of problems with the car and I did not do well in qualifying. But everything turned out fine in the end! I had a nice battle out there with Ben. Luckily I had enough 'push-to-pass' left in reserve to hold onto my lead." Ben Hanley: "I think someone came into contact with the rear of my car from the start, but that did not affect the performance of the car, which continued to handle very well. I made it back up to Milos and tried to get past him on several occasions, but he was able to hold his own without making any mistakes!" Salvador Duran: "I think this podium finish is the best result I could have hoped for today. Our setup was right, but my tyres were very badly worn and I was encountering a lot of vibration, which made the car difficult to drive." Good result for Parente By taking a superb victory here at Spa-Francorchamps, Alvaro Parente (Tech 1 Racing) has moved closer to the top of the Championship standings, still led by Sebastian Vettel. After Clivio Piccione (RC Motorsport) was forced to abandon in the closing stages, the remaining podium places went to Fairuz Fauzy (Cram Competition), who started from pole, and Ben Hanley (Cram Competition). Fairuz Fauzy got off to a perfect start and Alvaro Barba (Draco Racing) slipped comfortably into his slipstream. But on the brakes into the Source hairpin, Miguel Molina (Pons Racing) flipped up and over his countryman ending up in the run-off area! Bertrand Baguette (KTR), who'd also made an excellent start from the third row, moved into second ahead of Alvaro Parente, Clivio Piccione and Alvaro Barba, who was holding back the field after losing his rear wing. This ended up causing a collision which put Mikhail Aleshin (Carlin Motorsport) and Davide Valsecchi (Epsilon Euskadi) out of the race. With two laps gone, Fauzy had opened up a small gap of two seconds over Baguette and Parente. Piccione was still holding onto third ahead of Ben Hanley, Salvador Duran (Interwetten.com), Giedo Van der Garde (Victory Engineering), Filipe Albuquerque (Epsilon Euskadi), Milos Pavlovic (Draco Racing) and Marco Bonanomi (RC Motorsport). Parente's constant efforts to pass Baguette finally bore fruit: the Portuguese driver finally got the upper hand at the end of lap three. In the main field, there was a collision between Guillaume Moreau and James Walker, while Michael Herck was forced to abandon after running wide. Clearly determined to go for the victory, Alvaro Parente was closing the gap up to Fairuz Fauzy. After five laps, the Portuguese driver was within 9/10ths of a second of his Malaysian rival. A few lengths back, Clivio Piccione had snatched third from Bertrand Baguette. Having clearly mastered the braking into the new chicane better than anyone else, Parente got the better of Fauzy at the start of lap seven. In a battle with Pavlovic and Iaconelli for ninth, Bonanomi decided it would be a good moment to come into the pits, as did Albuquerque. Fauzy, Hanley and Iaconelli made their stops one lap later. Parente and Piccione came in at the end of lap eight. Baguette took over at the front of the race for one lap only, before taking his turn to come into the pits. Duran reached the midpoint in the race in the lead, but virtual lead belonged to Parente. The Portuguese regained the lead with twelve laps gone. Piccione had taken the tyre changes as an opportunity to get past Fauzy. Baguette was the one to lose the most ground as a result of the pit stops, ending up in sixth behind Hanley and Duran. The top ten was completed by Van der Garde, Albuquerque, Pavlovic and Bonanomi. At the end of the race, Carlos Iaconelli (Pons Racing) managed to get the better of Bonanomi. On the final lap, Clivio Piccione's car let him down and he was forced to abandon, handing second place to Fairuz Fauzy! Alvaro Parente: "The start wasn't brilliant. The car in front of me stalled, then I tried to avoid Molina. From then on in, the car was perfect and I went right on the attack. I should also thank the team who did an excellent pit-stop." Fairuz Fauzy: "I started the race well, but was unable to hold Alvaro back. The team put in a good pit-stop and I'm happy to take another second place." Ben Hanley: "I really wasn't hoping to finish on the podium after starting from row six, but it suddenly came good when Clivio abandoned in the closing stages. It's a good result towards the Championship standings."
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