Session reports from day two of the second round of the 2020 VWRS season from the Pau Street Circuit in France. Home hero Sebastien Vocquelin romped away yesterday to a brilliant win in race 1 but starts well down the pack today, while pole-sitter for race 2 Max Meyer will want to make amends for yesterday after he lost out on a podium late on. Many rookies will also be looking to make it into the top 15 in hope of a good starting position for race 3. Race TwoWith the race taking part under heavy cloud cover, the sombre weather conditions were reflected in the Kowhai Racing garage where Meyer’s car wouldn’t start up, and ultimately the South African was unable to start the race. This handed pole position effectively to Matteo Zetticci, who coverted that into a lead into turn 1. However, the Italian seemed uncharacteristically ragged and Jules Barclay began to hound him for the lead. The Canadian spotted an opportunity into turn 3 and took it, taking the lead. Raj Sharma, who started a brilliant 4th (3rd after Meyer’s DNS) took the chance to also get past Zetticci, and to make matters worse for him, Hector Draper also overtook him for the final podium position. Behind them Maximillian Thunstrom made up ground from his poor grid slot, reaching 5th by 1/3 distance, while Rafael Palou was one of the biggest gainers, moving from 22nd to 18th. Set in second, Sharma continued to post consistent lap times and suddenly the rookie looked to have a chance of winning as he caught up to Barclay. The experience of Barclay was clearly shown though, as he calmly defended his lead without stressing his tyres, while the rookie pushed too hard and overheated his. The Indian dropped back dramatically and slipped to 5th - it would have been 6th, but Zhivko Dimitrov had an engine failure and pulled to the side of the track, only after he spewed oil across the first sector. Declan Byrne had a spin over the oil and lost 3 places while both Moe Zeya and John Shevchenko got caught out and slipped into the barriers. All this was of benefit to Palou, who with some clever moves was now into the points. With Sharma out of the picture and Zetticci bottled behind Draper, Barclay was able to cruise ahead to a comfortable win and take the joint lead of the championship. Zetticci eventually got past the New Zealander and took 2nd, while Draper was delighted with 3rd after holding off Thunstrom at the end. Sharma managed to limp home with his degraded tyres but not until he was passed by Danilo Forini for 5th after another great drive from the Swiss driver. Another quiet race for Urmo Kruuda yielded 7th, with Ethan Matthews picking up more points in 8th, as did Erik Oliversson in 9th. Vocquelin recovered to 10th while star of the race Palou took 11th along with the fastest lap. Scott Jackson got his first points of the season in 12th, and further back Luca Romero took his best finish of the season in 15th, which means he will start on pole for race 3. Race ThreeAfter the VERS race, the clouds eventually gave way and rain hit the track. With two rookies on the front row, the odds were on 3rd placed started Daniel Zeintek to win, but at the start Romero had a good getaway and led the pack into turn 1. The best starter was Sebastien Vocquelin, who went from 6th up to 3rd before dispatching Cosmo Roberts for 2nd on lap 3. Palou also made up a place, while slightly behind Thunstrom, Zetticci and Barclay made up early ground. The rain also claimed a few victims – Forini’s 5 race points scoring streak came to an end with a crash at turn 5 and Pablo de Fuego’s miserable weekend came to an end when he aquaplaned on the straight. The rain began to get harder and chaos ensued – Roberts and Palou had synchronised spins into turn 2 which put them out from 3rd and 4th, before Oliversson crashed into Zeintek, spinning the Polish driver around and putting the Swede out of the race. In amongst all this, Thunstrom – a driver who thrives in these conditions – kept his nose clean and eased past all the drama, before gaining on the leading pair. Romero was defending madly from Vocquelin in a dramatic battle and Thunstrom took the chance to dance around the pair of them through turns 5 and 6 to steal the lead. Barclay also made a critical pass on Zetticci as the two made their way into 4th and 5th. With the laps counting down, Romero was still defending from Vocquelin and both Barclay and Zetticci made short work of the Frenchman. They then managed to slipstream past the rookie to take their places on the podium, with Romero left to hang on to 4th. Up front however, Thunstrom crossed the line to take one of his finest ever victories, ahead of Barclay who took the fastest lap and Zetticci. Romero took his first points of the season in 4th with Vocquelin 5th. Zeintek somehow managed to finish the race in a respectable 6th while Matthews took 7th after a poor start and Kruuda took 8th. Jackson never really recovered from a poor start and was disappointed in 9th while Nicolas Steffensen took 10th after passing Byrne on the last lap StandingsBarclay’s three podiums catapults him into the lead of the standings, just ahead of Zetticci. Thunstrom and Meyer’s inconsistent form means they lag behind but aren’t out of the title battle just yet, while Forini’s impressive start sees him in a surprising 5th. The next round will take place in Britain where home hero Matthews will be hoping to do well.
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