Allar Kangur took a hard-fought victory in the United States V-Prix one year on from his maiden win. The Estonian was followed home by Will Hoskins who shone in the wet conditions. The Brit held second early on during the wet conditions and judged the weather correctly later in the race to hit the front once again. Puccio Giodano was third after recovering from a poor weekend, the Italian keeping his car on the road. The same however could not be said for Adrien Simon who spun off while battling Hoskins for the lead, leaving him fourth. He did extend his lead in the championship however, after his rival Nathaniel Powers lost his rear wing. At the start it was Powers who got away the best, trying to go in between the two DS Mathershaws. He cleared Kangur and got alongside Simon, but the Frenchman held on to the lead. Klaas van Snelheid had a storming start, rising from seventh to fourth, which was held by Carson Davenport. Davenport slipped back to sixth by the end of the opening lap, behind Inman who had a poor getaway. Johan Halvosen was another big gainer, leapfrogging into ninth. Further back, both Elroy Wagner and Giodano had to pit at the end of the first lap after colliding on the start/finish straight. As the drivers came across the line to complete lap one, Kangur picked up tremendous slipstream down the main straight on Powers. He tried to go around the outside of the Downton at turn one and succeeded. A lap later, Sergio Alvarez misjudged his braking point at the same corner, running into the back of Viktor Ostberg and spinning the Swede around, costing him time and positions. Davenport began to drop back into the midfield after his stunning qualifying performance. Yoshida was a driver on the move, passing Inman and starting to gain on the Downton pair. Vasquez also spun off at turn one, dropping him to fourteenth. A lap later Kinnumen and Mattson demoted Halvosen to eleventh, while Vasquez went up the inside of Hoskins at turn one. Hoskins used the switchback to try and retake the position back, but the two collided and Vasquez was spun around again. When the Colombian came back onto the track his front wing made contact with Oleksandr Zozluya, wiping it clean off. He then hit the side of Felix Perez, costing both drivers heaps of time. Up front, Kangur was starting to eat into Simon’s lead, while van Snelheid made his move on Powers at turn one where most overtakes were taking place. Yoshida took advantage of this to nip past the Briton into fourth. On lap ten the promised rain began to fall, coming at the worst time for the supersoft runners. They had to pit at the end of the lap but could only move onto the dry tyres, with it not being wet enough yet for the grooved tyres. Sergio Alvarez lost his front wing over the kerbs, though his pit stop was scheduled anyway. A few laps later the rain was too heavy, and the drivers pitted for the wet tyres. Most went onto the green striped intermediate, but some, most notably Halvosen and Hoskins, went for the wets. Yoshida lost out to Powers and Ruiz fell behind Inman. A lap later however the race turned on his head. All the drivers on the inters pitted and Halvosen took a shock lead over Hoskins, with Simon rejoining in third, having extended his lead to five seconds over Kangur. Van Snelheid lost a heap of places, falling to tenth. Ostberg, who’s weekend started off brilliantly, saw his race end on lap sixteen when he was hit by Kinnumen. Up front the difference between the top and midfield teams became clear as the usual front runners began to pass Halvosen and Hoskins with ease. While Simon, Kangur and Powers made their way into first, second and third, Ruiz managed to pass Inman. Van Snelheid began to put him under pressure, while unseen to the public Halvosen lost out to Hoskins, before being demoted a further place by Yoshida. Giodano made a pitstop on lap thirty-one for another set of wets. The next lap most drivers at the front came in and out in the same order, except van Snelheid who waited an extra lap. This turned out to be costly, as he fell behind Giodano who also jumped Mattson. Replays soon showed Inman spun off at turn three, dropping him to eleventh behind Inman. A few laps later, everyone was back into the pits again, this time to move onto the intermediates. By this point the order was Simon, Kangur, Powers, Yoshida, Ruiz, Hoskins, van Snelheid, Giodano, Mattson and Halvosen. A few laps later Inman made a overtake on Halvosen at turn one, taking the final points paying position at the time. On lap forty though, Simon reached a large group of back-markers, and he lost a lot of time to Kangur. Kangur himself then forfeited some of that gained time as he negotiated the numerous mobile chicanes, but overall he had gained on his teammate. Behind them, however, Powers made the big mistake of trying to lap Sebastian Vocquelin. The two collided at the final corner, and Powers reversed into the wall, breaking his rear wing and leaving him with a no points score. Just as Powers had his collision, the next frenzy of pit stops began. Yoshida lead a group of cars into the pit lane, the Japanese having lost his front wing but didn’t suffer the consequences of losing positions. Most went for the dry tyres as a clear dry line had appeared, but Hoskins decided he was in a mood to gamble and threw on another set of inters. Simon and Kangur pitted the next lap, as did others, and they also moved onto the dry tyres. Just as the DS Mathershaws came out of the pits however, the rest of the pack behind came back in, and everyone put on a set of intermediates. That was everyone except Hoskins, who’s gamble had once again payed off. When the two leaders pitted the next lap, the Holmqvist should have took the lead, but he pitted again, this time for dry tyres. The next two laps saw every driver follow suit and Hoskins found himself in the lead. With just over thirty laps left it was now a question of how long the soft and medium tyres would last. Hoskins was also facing problems; his teammate was now behind him having been lapped, but Kinnumen was on the supersofts, and wanted to get past him. Matters turned on their head when Kinnumen hit his teammate at turn one, spinning himself off, while Hoskins thankfully was able to continue without major damage. Van Snelheid was also in trouble, having taken to much kerb at turn two his car tilted to its side and went onto the grass. He managed to rejoin the track, but he lost a place to Mattson. Simon’s younger brother wasn't very kind to him when letting his older sibling through, allowing Kangur to close in on his teammate. By lap fifty-two, Hoskins had been caught by the much faster DS Mathershaws. Simon made a pass on him on the run up to turn one a lap later, taking the lead. Kangur tried the same another lap later but Hoskins held his position. As they passed turn two however, there was a roar from the crowd; Simon hit the kerb far too hard and spun off the track, dropping him behind his two rivals. Kangur overtook Hoskins corners later, while further back Yoshida’s fine drive so far came to a sudden stop with a broken front wing having also tried the impossible act of lapping a Meteor, this time Jules Simon. He rejoined the race towards the back end of the top ten. On lap fifty-seven Simon passed Hoskins without fuss, but the damage had been done - he was four seconds behind Kangur. Over the next few laps soft-shod drivers made their pit stops, meaning they would make one more stop towards the end. Kangur came out around fifteen seconds behind Hoskins, while Simon was crucially behind Giodano, who after putting on the first lap was now third. However, Hoskins lost a lot of time lapping Alvarez and suddenly Kangur dramatically closed the gap. The medium tyre drivers made their projected only pit stops on lap sixty-one onwards. Hoskins went in and out without any drama, but Simon hit Giodano at turn one, losing the Frenchman plenty of time to the Italian. Ruiz, having spent most of the race behind his teammate, finally passed him, just as the rain made yet another return. Just as it did, Vocquelin decided to go out with a bang. He lost control of his car at turn four before going into the side of Kovalenko, ending both of their races. By now it was clear the rain was too intense, and everyone dived into the pits, most going onto the intermediate tyres but Hoskins, Giodano and Mattson went onto the wet. Within a lap it was clear the wets were needed however, which was perfect for Kangur who postponed his pitstop by a lap. Kangur kept his lead after the final pit stops, and for the last ten laps it was a straightforward race as the drivers kept their cars on the track. The Estonian took the win ahead of Hoskins who took a well deserved podium. Giodano rounded off the top three ahead of a disappointed Simon who saw another win slip though his grasp, but took the positives from Powers’ retirement and setting the fastest lap. Mattson was a great fifth, ahead of Inman on sixth and Ruiz in seventh. Van Snelheid in the sole remaining Downton was eighth, Yoshida was ninth and Halvosen earned a critical point for North Star to elevate them above FIRST. See the full race below: Comments are closed.
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