Session reports from day two of the third round of the 2020 VWRS season. Maximillian Thunstrom managed his tyres perfectly to grab a late win in race 1 and starts on pole for race 2. Ethan Matthews and Danilo Forini start 2nd and 3rd, both looking to take some good results while Max Meyer and Matteo Zetticci will want to make amends for yesterday from 4th and 5th, as championship leader Jules Barclay only starts 14th. Race TwoAt the start Thunstrom attempted to replicate Sharma and tried to cut off Matthews, but the Briton had a great start and he nudged through into the lead. Thunstrom was left to fend off a feisty Forini, as the top three pulled away from the pack early on. Meyer and Zetticci held station, but behind Thomas Falzon, who started a stunning 8th, ran wide, and had a spectacular 360-degree spin and continued, but well down the order. Sebastien Vocquelin was another who struggled, dropping 3 places in the opening laps. This all played into the hands of Barclay, who scythed past the midfield up to 9th. The only retirement was Raj Sharma, who after his super race yesterday, lost drive while running a dismal 19th and stopped the car. Finding himself in the lead in front of his home crowd, Matthews was under pressure, but he kept Thunstrom and Forini at bay. With the top 3 all in close company, it looked like there would be a great fight for the lead, but there was a loud bang when they came onto the Cooper straight and Matthews slowed – an engine failure cruelly denying him a chance of a home win. This promoted Thunstrom into the lead while Meyer moved into third, but Zetticci had a suspension failure at Hawthorn's and just about kept the car out of the wall, though any chance of closing the gap to Barclay was gone. However, Barclay himself spun out at Paddock Hill bend and beached his car, while Michael Kennedy pitted with a suspected gearbox problem from 20th, turning this into a race of attrition. In amongst all this, Urmo Kruuda, having started 15th, had begun to fight his way through the pack, as he passed no less than 4 cars to improve to 7th. Forini continued to keep Thunstrom company but it looked all but certain that Thunstrom would make it two wins in a row – but with just 3 laps left he had a spectacular tyre blowout into Pilgrim's Drop, robbing him of any chance of that. Forini now led and he crossed the line with no issues, taking his first win of the season ahead of Meyer. Moe Zeya looked set for 3rd, but Erik Oliversson attempted to pass him on the outside of Surtees on the penultimate lap. Zeya locked up and hit the Swede, sending Oliversson into a spin and allowing Hector Draper to steal 3rd. Kruuda breezed past Daniel Zientek and took advantage of the incident to take a shock 4th, with a fastest lap point to boot. Zeya was embarrassed in 5th while Zientek’s quiet race ended in 6th, ahead of Rafael Palou who started 12th but took advantage of all the retirements to take 7th. Oliversson was furious in 8th, all the retirements allowed Vocquelin to recover to 9th and Scott Jackson impressed with a mature drive in 10th, albeit aided by retirements, after starting 13th. Nicolas Steffensen and Alexandru Nicolae rounded out the points – the latter picking up his first points of the season – while another 15th place means Luca Romero will start race 3 from pole. Race ThreeThe top three on the grid consisted solely of rookies, with Romero ahead of Mickey Tyler and Falzon who was looking to make amends for yesterday. Romero kept his cool at the start like he did in France to keep the lead. Tyler and Falzon weren’t as smooth getting of the line, both getting wheelspin, allowing Nicolae to sweep into 2nd and Steffensen into 4th. Once again there were retirements galore right from the start – Draper had an oil leak having started in 13th, which put him out almost immediately. He still left some fluid on the track before pulling off, and Cosmo Roberts spun on it, putting him out of the race. And if his weekend had not already gone horribly wrong, things got worse for Barclay – he thumped a kerb early on and ruined the floor of the car, with the team calling him in to retire. To make matters worse for the Canadian, Zetticci was immediately on a charge, with 4 overtakes in addition to the retirements to move from 27th to 21st. Like France, it was clear that the rookies were struggling in comparison to the experienced drivers. Nicolae wasted little time passing Romero for the lead, while Tyler and Falzon were beginning to drop like rocks. In their places, Vocquelin had stepped up to the task of chasing Nicolae as he fought his way into 2nd, while Steffensen held 4th behind Romero and ahead of Zeintek, who had found great pace and pulled off a couple of neat overtakes to take 5th. Zetticci continued to push hard and was now in sight of points, in 14th, with Thunstrom now also closing in on potential points. Surprisingly, there were no retirements for a good portion mid race, though Alex Didlock had a spin and went from 16th to 21st. With only a few laps to go, Vocquelin made a lung up the inside of Nicolae. His rival turned in and the inevitable happened – he hit the Frenchman, who was spun around and stalled the engine. This left Romero in second with Steffensen and Zientek just behind. Then, with 4 laps to go, Zeintek pulled off an unbelievable series of moves. He powered his way around the outside of Steffensen at Clark Curve, before then diving up the inside of Romero at Druids and then picked up a massive slipstream on Nicolae to take the lead into Surtees – passing three cars in less than a lap. A bit further back Falzon hit Tyler, putting the latter out of the race, Jackson and Oliversson both had mechanical issues which side-lined them and Pablo del Fuego and Zhivko Dimitrov both collided at turn 1 – this was yet another race of attrition. Up front however, Zientek took a fabulous win, ahead of Nicolae, Romero and Steffensen. Falzon still took 5th ahead of Forini, Meyer and Rafael Palou, all three moving up the order at the end after the retirements. Kruuda went back to have a quiet race in which he finished 9th, while Zetticci recovered with a fabulous 10th from 27th, along with the fastest lap. StandingsA pretty dismal weekend for Barclay and Zetticci means the Canadian still leads the standings, now by 8 points. Thunstrom’s tyre blowout in race 2 cost him the chance to take the championship lead but he still has closed in on the top two, just 6.5 points off Zetticci. Meyer and Forini are just outside a win’s worth of points from Barclay.
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