It was a clear, beautiful morning that greeted drivers for the inaugural round of the FV2 Series from Paul Ricard, France. Nobody could’ve expected the rain was going to thrash the circuit just after the conclusion of the race. The rush to the flag before the heavens would open led to a cracking race. The grid for the opening race of the season:
he race was started with Hunter Ryan starting from Pole. All was clean until Viktor Östberg and Alexander McLaughlin came together in a racing incident. The latter retired on the spot with terminal damage to his suspension, whilst Viktor continued with noticeable damage to his car. He looks okay at the moment, but he may have issues later on. Further behind, Sergio Alvarez made the best start of all, starting from 16th he flew straight up to 12th by Turn 1. The Argentina looks to get past Otso Toivonen around the outside of Turn 2, but had to bail due to the yellow flags from Östberg and McLaughlin. As the field began to settle down it became evident that the highest qualifying series rookie, James Thompson was starting to develop a lengthy train behind him. Thompson ran in 6th position and the train traveled all the way down to Lucio Valente down in 20th place. The slipstream effect didn’t appear as powerful as it did in previous years, but it was certainly keeping the bunch of the midfield together. Below are the standings at a quarter's race distance:
The train began to shrink very quickly however as Elnur Aliyew collided with his brother Ikram and retired from the race. On the next lap Toivonen pulled a cracking move in the Virage du Pont on Luuk van der Straten, the man who was first in line behind Thompson. The move allowed Zander Brynildsen to get alongside and just ahead as they began braking for the Signes corner, the fastest corner on the track. It was at this moment van der Stratten had a tiny kick of oversteer, enough to send him straight into the side of Brynildsen who looked to have sold him for chips around the outside of the corner, however the accident threw both drivers out of the running. Thankfully despite the high-speed crash both drivers got out of their cars seemingly at ease and uninjured, although they were both taken to the medical centre for checkups. Further ahead, Viktor Östberg began slowing down as the Lap 1 collision with McLaughlin began to take its toll. His team began clearing space for the Swede in the garage and he retired from the race just short of halfway. The field as it was at half distance:
The Morley car of Hunter Ryan and Kannan's Felix Perez in the meantime had cruised well clear of the field, and Perez was slowly catching the Australian. He managed to slipstream past on the first half of the Mistral Straight, but Hunter Ryan fought back and gave him a taste of his own medicine after a terrific exit from the Virage du Tour! Great racing from the leaders! As the clouds began to roll in from the Mediterranean Sea, the day turned dark for both Mike Fredrickson Jr. and Zhivko Dimitrov, who both looked to suffer similar issues with their gearboxes as the race came towards the final 5 laps. Lucio Valente who started 25th for this race pulled an overtake on Niklaus Holzberg, which put him into P13 and into the position for reverse pole in Sunday's sprint race. The Portuguese driver was clean from the get go and was beginning to reap the rewards. The pecking order at three quarter distance:
All of this occurred and James Thompson was still clinging onto 6th place, but Sergio Alvarez wasn’t finished overtaking for the day just yet. After a poor exit from L’Ecole, Alvarez was able to easily swoop on Thompson, along with Toivonen, who had just been overtaken by the Argentine at Turn 1. Speaking of Turn 1, Felix Perez on the next lap went for a massive divebomb on his teammate, and by defying the laws of physics pulled off a stunning overtake for the lead! And just behind them there’s a change for position as Rodolfo de la Fuente took 3rd from James Vasquez with a more textbook move on the Colombian driver. Onto the final lap, Niklaus Holzberg looked desperate to collect the pole for tomorrow’s race. That belonged to Lucio Valente, but a solid run through Signes allowed the German to get alongside and through on the Portuguese driver! Back to the front, it’s Felix Perez who comes around the final corner to take victory over from the Aussie, Hunter Ryan! Rodolfo de la Fuente managed to hold of a valiant Vasquez for the final step on the podium, whilst Oleksandr Zozulya did not have the greatest amount of difficulty today as he drove to 5th position, ahead of Alvarez, Toivonen, and the reminants of the Thompson Train. Full results below.
A great start to the season then for Kannan GP, as they take victory, while Morley will also be pleased with their drivers' performances. Niklaus Holzberg will be delighted to have got back past Lucio Valente as he now has pole position for tomorrow's sprint race. He'll start ahead of Steven Kasami, Brittany Johnson and Ellenor Haugland. Perez and Hunter will go to 13th and 12th respectively, so it will be interesting to see how their cars fare in the traffic. As today was the first race of the season, the championship standings reflect the race result.
It is expected to be raining overnight so the circuit could still have some moisture when these men rock up again tomorrow, and that's when we'll be back. See you soon!
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