Race reports from the opening round of the 2020 VERS season, here from the legendary Pau Street Circuit in France. With the top three in last year’s championship all moving up in the FV ladder, could this be Zeferino Cardoso’s year? The man from Portugal placed fourth in 2019 and looks a good bet for the crown, but will surely face stiff competition from Ott Eskola, Spencer James and Heikki Veskila, with the trio having all moved across from other tier three series'. QualifyingAs the cars took to the street of Pau for the first time in qualifying, it was none other than Spencer James who stole the headlines, the Jamaican star taking pole for both races. Returning driver Alexandre François joins him on the front row in both; while third will see a pair of rookies - Magnus Axelsson in race one, and Johannes Holst in race two. James' fellow potential title rivals weren't far behind; in race one Eskola lines up fourth with Veskila sixth and Cardoso seventh, while in race two the Portuguese driver is fourth ahead of Eskola, but Veskila struggled down in seventeenth. Race OneFor some, the race was over before it even started, as Soleil Souza had to pull over and retire his Jiminez Motorsport car with hydraulic issues on the formation lap.
The lights went out and François got off to a flying start, overtaking James with ease into turn 1 to take the lead of the race! Behind them, however, chaos ensued as the fast-starting Cardoso got tangled up with the slow-starting Daniels! The pair touched into the first turn, sending them both off into the barriers with damage. The biggest movers were Kozlowski and Brandt, both avoiding the incidents and managing to move up some positions. Axelsson was still the highest-placed rookie, and it would stay like that until the end of the race. After the chaotic start, the race seemed to calm down a bit as François looked to build a gap over rival James. Axelsson and Eskola battled it out for the final podium spot while Kozlowski and Veskila looked to be safe in their 5th and 6th positions, respectively. The biggest battle of the race was the battle for 7th, however, as Seppanen, Holst, Ziegler and Brandt had some great on-track battles that entertained the spectators. In the end however, it was François who ran away with the race and picked up his first win in VERS, followed by a disappointed James and a delighted Axelsson, who picked up a podium on his debut race. Following them were Eskola, Kozlowski (who picked up the fastest lap), Veskila, Ziegler who managed to claim 7th spot after a hard fought battle at the end of the race with fellow rookie Holst, Seppanen, Bateson, Jordan and McCarthy rounding off the top twelve. Brandt was disappointed to miss out on a points-paying position after dropping back in the final stint.
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