Session reports from day two of the second round of the 2020 VOARS season. Carlos Zapatero dominated yesterday but only starts from fifth today, while Chloe King will go from pole having fought from seventh to second yesterday, taking fastest lap on the way. Can the British rookie take her maiden win before the usual chaos of the reverse grid race three. Race TwoA sodden track greeted the drivers for their second race of the weekend, but after early fears the race would start behind the safety car, the weather eased and the race went from the grid as normal. King roared away from pole position leaving the field behind in her spray, but immediately it went wrong for Drayton at turn one as he tried to go up the inside of Shaw. The British driver clipped the Australian and sent him wide – and tumbling down the order – but put himself into a spin, where an unsighted Temüjin Baatar collected him, putting both out on the spot and bringing out the safety car. Meanwhile Sørensen and Knight carved through the drama, putting themselves third and fifth to sandwich Zapatero despite starting three and five places behind him respectively. The duo continued their charge one the race resumed; with Knight dive-bombing both Zapatero and then Sørensen on consecutive laps at the hairpin to move into third. Ratanarak meanwhile appeared to be struggling in second, and as King scorched into another lead with a series of fastest laps, the Thai driver fell into the clutches of Knight and Sørensen and was soon shuffled off the podium. Further back Jon Winfield retired in the pits complaining of clutch issues, while Rohan Navuluri collided with rival Bishop after an ill-judged move into the chicane while contesting fourteenth and was forced to retire, but amazingly Bishop continued with no damage. Rain started to fall again in the closing stages forming some rivers across the track; which caught out both Little and Yi who crashed at Degner 2 on the same lap – but miraculously missed each other. Another brief Safety Car period followed in which the rain ceased and the sun began to shine – but not on Sørensen. Having been running third; the Dane was forced to pit to retire again with a malfunctioning gearbox; the highs of Australia already seeming a long time ago. King held on in the final two racing laps to claim a maiden win ahead of Knight, with Ratanarak third for his first ever podium. Jansen finished fourth ahead of Lazarus, Kwabena Nyarko, Zapatero – who struggled in the wet conditions – Shaw, Westcott, Felix Vestergaard-Holm, Daniel Wei and Katsuki Bakugo. Race ThreeWith tenth in race two it was Vestergaard-Holm who took pole for the partially reverse grid race three, which saw the drivers take to a now largely dry track following a prolonged period of sunshine. The Norwegian bogged down at the start however – but fellow front row man Westcott barely did better – meaning Shaw rocketed from third into the lead. Westcott looked keen to follow his countryman, but misjudged a move around the outside of turn one and spun off the track, becoming beached in the gravel. Behind the leaders though; two drivers were flying. King scythed past car after car to move into fifth having started tenth, while Sørensen – looking to fight back after a double retirement – displace three rivals to move into eleventh, just one position outside the points. It quickly became evident Vestergaard-Holm didn’t have the pace to challenge Shaw, but the reason because obvious even quicker. The Norwegian had obviously been clipped by Westcott in the Australian’s failed move and his tyre exploded down the back straight heading to 130R. Impressively he kept the car in a straight line, but upon returning to the pits there was too much damage to continue. Up front meanwhile, Zapatero was now Shaw’s closest challenger, but made short work of the rookie with a decisive move into the hairpin to take the lead. Behind, King’s charge faltered as she struggled to make her way past third placed Nyarko, a fact which soon saw her under pressure from Knight and Sørensen, who had worked together to move up from tenth and eleventh respectively. As King locked up into the chicane Knight spied his chance, and nipped past his compatriot to move into fourth. This seemed to light a fire in King’s belly however, as the British driver stalked her rival over the following lap and forced him into the same error, taking back the position before setting after Nyarko. The Ghanaian driver meanwhile had caught Shaw, but was struggling to find a way past. King closed in on the pair as the chequered flag neared and Nyarko became desperate – making a lunge into the hairpin that worked, but put both drivers wide enough to allow a quick-thinking King to nip through into second behind Zapatero, who took his second win of the weekend. Knight’s mid-race charge meant his tyres were too worn to follow King and he settled for fifth, while Sørensen behind – suffering the same issues having earlier set the fastest lap – fell prey to Jansen. Behind the Dane; Lazarus, Ratanarak and Wei completed the points scorers. StandingsWith two seconds and a win – King now moves to the top of the Championship with a nine-point lead over Zapatero. Knight slips to third – four points behind the Spaniard – but a woeful weekend for Sørensen which sees him collect just five points means the Danish star falls to fourth. Drayton is hanging onto the coat tails of the top four despite three non-scores – twelve points behind Sørensen – but the remainder of the field are already falling behind.
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