Franklin driver Enrique Ruiz kept his head in a chaotic race to win the Australian V-Prix, his and Franklin's first victory in 2 years. The Brazilian inherited the lead with a few laps to go after pole sitter Adrien Simon retired due to an engine failure. Downton began 2019 with a double podium, Klaas van Snelheid ahead of teammate and world champion Nathaniel Powers. Simon lead from the start, but Ruiz feel behind the fast starting James Vasquez, who went around the outside of him into turn 1. Ruiz got back past the Colombian before too long but lost a lot of time to Simon, and never managed to gain it back. Van Snelheid, after a poor qualifying session, quickly moved past the midfield runners and caught up to Ruiz, who was on the mediums compared to van Snelheid and Simon's softs. However, the Brazilian kept the Dutchman firmly behind until the first round of pit stops for the soft runners. Behind them, Vasquez lacked pace and after being passed by Ruiz and van Snelheid he was left trying to fend off Elroy Wagner, which he did until the first pit stops. Thierry Xylander also struggled, slipping to sixth at the start and never improving. He held up a train of cars including Rudolfo de la Fuente, Gabriele Garcia and Oleksandr Zozulya. The Ukranian had a bad start and even slipped behind Mario Juan Lopez, but he repassed him and caught up to Garcia. Towards the end of the stint, Xylander eventually loss out to his chasers - Garcia and Zozulya used great awareness to also pass de la Fuente. Just behind though, was one of the biggest trains in motorsport history. Lopez retained his 10th place after being passed by Zozulya, but soon was caught up by other cars as he was on the hards. However he managed to keep ahead and cost a lot of drivers a lot of time. Sergio Alvarez, Jean Mattson, Nathaniel Powers, Johan Halvosen, Allar Kangur, Hunter Ryan and Sebastian Bergkvist all spent some time stuck behind the Argentinian. It took until the first pit stops for the soft shod tyres before any places changed. Simon pitted on lap 17, meaning all drivers on the softs were on three stop races. He came out behind Ruiz and van Snelheid, and passed the Franklin after the Downton pitted to retake the lead. As other drivers pitted, Lopez moved up to 4th, ahead of Alvarez in 5th and Powers in 6th. Wagner used the undercut to move ahead of Vasquez in 7th and 8th. Bergkvist was behind them, followed by Garcia and Zozulya, who's overcut attempt failed. Kinnumen was just behind them - the Finn had a horrible opening stint, spinning at turn one and being as far down of 25th at one point. However, his strategy enabled him to start moving up the order. De la Fuente was also just behind Kinnumen. The soft shod cars started to make their way through the train, starting with Garcia and Zozulya who passed Bergkvist. Wagner then overtook Powers after the Brition tried and failed to pass Alvarez. Zozulya did likewise on Garcia when the North Star driver tried to pass Vasquez. Kinnumen used the pace of the Franklin to get ahead of Bergkvist at the same time. Vasquez demoted Powers another position, dropping the Downton to 8th. The Ingram then tried to pass Wagner but failed and paid the price as Powers, Zozulya and Garcia filed past him in quick succession. Zozulya got past Powers not long after, while up front Ruiz pitted on lap 27, leaving the medium drivers on a two stopper. Zozulya continued his charge, moving past Wagner into 6th and Vasquez continued to bounce around the order like a ping pong ball, repassing Garcia. Once Alvarez pitted, Zozulya and Wagner wasted no time in passing Lopez for 4th and 5th. Behind them, Powers had dropped behind Kinnumen thanks to Franklin executing an undercut. Alvarez came out ahead of Kinnumen, but was quickly overtaken by Kinnumen and Powers. The first retirement of the season was de la Fuente, who after a good drive was let down by and engine failure. Vasquez and Garcia became the latest additions to an elite group of people who managed to pass Lopez. They was followed by Halvosen, who after a tough start to the race managed to catch back up to the rest of the midfield runners. Lopez finally pitted on lap 33, which was completely unsurprisingly a one stop strategy. Two laps later Simon pitted, kicking off the second round of pit stops for the soft drivers. On track, Vasquez and Garcia collided. The Ingram was spun around and the North Star lost his front wing. Garcia managed to make his way back to the pit lane. While he was doing so Kinnumen came across him and was help up, allowing Powers to pass him. Back at the top of the pack van Snelheid emerged from his pit stop a few seconds behind Ruiz. Zozulya and Wagner slotted behind Powers and Kinnumen respectively. Halvosen meanwhile came out behind Lopez. On lap 41 though, he had enough. The Dane barged his way around the outside of the Meteor and the two spun. Halvosen managed to recover without losing a position, but Lopez was hit by a number of drivers and dropped to last. Amazingly only Felix Beyer received any damage, and ironically the only other person to lose out apart from Lopez wasn't even involved in the incident. Van Snelheid lost the rear of the car at the next corner and spun. He hit the barrier and lost his front wing. He had to pit, and it ended up deciding the race. Alvarez became the second retirement when his engine blew at the exit of the last corner, costing Phoenix what could be valuable points. Towards the back end of the top ten, Kangur, who had an up and down race, being as low as 20th but getting back up to the points, passed Halvosen for 9th. A lap later on 51, Simon pitted for the last time, coming out behind Ruiz. Viktor Ostberg joined the growing list of DNFs, after an engine failure capped off a weekend where he was dominated hy his teammate. Ruiz pitted at the end of lap 53, coming out ahead of van Snelheid. Simon retook the lead but then came the major twist. His engine began to smoke. The Frenchman tried to continue but before the end of the lap his DS engine had cried enough and he stopped on track. Felix Perez, after a horror story of a race, hit a suspension failure just as he passed Simon, also retiring. Ruiz inherited the lead but was held up, allowing van Snelheid to close up to him. The two encountered backmarkers, and Ruiz was the more efficent of the two, pulling out a gap that he held until the end of the race. Meanwhile Will Hoskins, who ran as high as 13th, retired reportedly due to damage though no replay was shown. Kangur continued his pace, getting past Bergkvist for 7th. Garcia was the last person to retire, due to a gearbox issue. But when the chequered flag came out, it was Enrique Ruiz who took it to take the win that Simon was cruelly denied. Van Snelheid was furious with 2nd after his spin, while Powers took 3rd on a day where his strategy helped him. Zozulya and FIRST were encouraged with 4th, while like Powers, Kinnumen took 5th due to the medium tyres on a day where he wasn't at the races. Wagner was one of the stars of the day with 6th, ahead of Kangur who took 7th when points seemed unlikely for him. Bergkvist took his first points in 8th, ahead of Halvosen who took 9th in a damage limitation race for North Star. Puccio Giodano used his strategy like others to take 10th for Ocelot. See the full race below:
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