Adrien Simon put in an immaculate performance in Germany to take the lead of the 2018 Formula Virtual World Championship. The Frenchman lead from pole and never conceded first place. His teammate Allar Kangur recovered to finish second despite a spin while following the Franklin pair. Enrique Ruiz took his third consecutive podium with a third-place finish, but the big shock was both Downtons not scoring points for the first time since Malaysia 2017. Nathaniel Powers was one of the victims of the first turn kerb at the start, launching himself onto Ryota Yoshida’s car, before a collision with Olen Inman when the Monegasque tried to lap him, resigning the Brit to the back of the field. Klaas van Snelheid lost time on the opening lap before running over the kerbs on the outside of the final corner, pitching his car into the barrier. Simon got off the start cleanly but behind him chaos unfolded. Puccio Giodano, starting from second, destroyed his front wing by going over the kerb. Powers did the same and his car went airborne, landing on Yoshida’s car before eventually falling onto the ground. The incident held up quite a few drivers including van Snelheid, allowing Ruiz and Inman to nip past into third and fourth, which became second and third when Giodano pitted for a new front wing, with Powers doing likewise and Yoshida pitting for repairs a few laps later. Will Hoskins also hit the kerb and his wheel blew off, leaving him stranded in the middle of the track. More people were delayed, noticeably Carson Davenport who spun off and Felix Perez went into the Holmqvist leaving him out of the race.The big gainers were Sergio Alvarez and the two Lopez cars, who moved into the points by staying out of the chaos. Johan Halvosen lost a lot of time also, while Jean Mattson had an incident a few laps into the V-Prix, though he only lost a few seconds. Klaas began to make his way back towards the front, passing Tumo Kinnumen on lap four before overtaking James Vasquez two laps later. In the midfield, Viktor Ostberg began to fall backwards after climbing to tenth after the start, his hard tyres not providing him with enough grip. Judson Sikes was the first to capitalise on this, moving into the points paying positions. Davenport was on a mission, climbing his way through the field. The real mover, however, was Giodano. After Yoshida lost time in presumably a spin, he began to move his way through the pack. Up front, Ruiz and Inman’s clear lack of pace compared to the DS Mathershaws was clear, as Simon began to stretch his advantage, while Kangur was all over the back of Inman. That was until he spun at turn eight, dropping him down to seventh and releasing pressure off the Franklin duo. By lap fifteen he made his way back into fifth, while at the back Yoshida and Powers began to make their way up from the back of the field, with the champion passing the rookie on lap sixteen. At the end of that lap van Snelheid dived into the pit-lane on his soft tyres, putting him on a four stopper. Sikes and Sebastian Vocquelin followed a lap later, but they only had another two scheduled pit-stops. Powers had an unseen spin, dropping him back, just as Giodano moved into the top ten. The Italian though also lost time due to unknown reasons, dropping behind Davenport and out of the points. Mattson was another driver who was making up places, with a double pass on Halvosen and Ostberg at the hairpin on lap twenty-three moving him into thirteenth. By lap twenty-five van Snelheid was back into fifth after passing Vasquez and Kinnumen. Powers made his first pit-stop, dropping to last. Giodano, who had re-passed Davenport, and the Portuguese at the same time had caught up with Elroy Wagner, who had been stuck behind Alvarez for the whole race. Ruiz pitted on lap twenty-six, and more medium-shod drivers pitted over the next few laps, leaving them all with two stoppers. Simon, Inman and Kangur followed a lap later, as did Powers for mysterious reasons. Ruiz passed van Snelheid with minimum fuss. Halvosen then had a bizarre crash in the pit-lane, catching his left front wheel on the wall, ripping it off. Davenport went into the back of him and lost his front wing, before the North Star parked it in front of one of the garages. Unfortunately, he stopped on Wagner’s pit-box, meaning the German couldn’t complete any of his pit-stops. Up front though, an even more dramatic crash was about to happen; Inman attempted to lap Powers on the run down towards turn one and got alongside him. He went over the kerb however, and his car flew onto Powers’. The two cars came to a rest in the run-off area, both without their front wings, but miraculously they were able to continue. They collided again at the stadium section, before both pitted and returned to the track outside of the points. Yoshida was now in the top ten and made his way past Wagner and Alvarez without much delay. Klaas made his second pit-stop on lap thirty-two and came out ahead of Vasquez. Giodano also found himself in the points, after passing Mattson for tenth. Drivers on the hard tyres began to pit from lap thirty-seven onwards, but before Alvarez pitted Giodano stuck his nose up the inside of him at turn eleven. They collided and Giodano spun, costing him plenty of time. Wagner stayed out due to Halvosen being parked on his space. Van Snelheid crashed out on lap forty-three at the final corner. He went over the kerbs and his car was sent straight into the wall. Giodano passed Inman five laps later, the two and Yoshida all within a second of each other in a great battle. Kangur had been gaining on Ruiz ever since his spin, and the two came up to lap Alvarez as they headed down into the hairpin on lap forty-nine. Ruiz went to the left of the Argentinean, Kangur to the right in a brilliantly calculated move which gave the Estonian the inside line through the corner to take second. Not long after that, Davenport spun at turn one and collided with the wall, breaking his suspension. His car went over the track and Kinnumen went into the back of him, breaking his front wing. He pitted to fix it and came out in eighth. His unscheduled stop had come at a good time however: the final round of pit-stops for the medium runners had begun at around that time. Simon, Kangur, Ruiz and Vasquez came in and out of the pits without issue and retained their places. Giodano fell behind Inman and Yoshida before his pit-stop and came out in tenth but passed Alvarez and Mattson before the end of the race. Inman came out in seventh but quickly gained on Kinnumen and passed him for sixth. He charged after Yoshida, but his push was in vain as he failed to pass him before the chequered flag fell. Kangur began to catch Simon as the laps went by but it amounted to nothing, and the Frenchman took his third win of the season and, with it, the championship lead. Kangur made it another one-two for Mathershaw, while Ruiz came home third with a fine drive. Vasquez impressed in fourth, while Yoshida’s impressive recovery left him in fifth. Inman in sixth came home with the fastest lap while Kinnumen hung on to seventh ahead of Giodano. Mattson came from last to ninth ahead of Alvarez who rounded out the points. See the full race below: Comments are closed.
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