Nathaniel Powers took his first win of the season after a chaotic race in Malaysia. The Briton took the lead when pole sitter Puccio Giodano lost his front wing after hitting a loose tyre stranded on the pit straight. Powers held off Adrein Simon who finished second, while James Vasquez stunned to take a shock third for Ingram after Klaas van Snelheid retired late on in the race. Only eight drivers saw the chequered flag after it started raining. Powers jumped Giodano at the start, but as they went into turn one, the Italian went around the outside of the Downton, giving him the inside line through turn two allowing him to retake the lead. There was drama already as Finn Schnyder and Carson Davenport collided going through turns 5 and 6. The rear of their cars touched and both drivers lost a rear wheel, putting them out of the race. Olen Inman did himself no favours by spinning and losing places. Will Hoskins had a good start moving up to 7th behind his teammate and soon passed Kinnumen, putting his soft tyres to the test. Inman passed Sergio Alvarez at the final corner, but the Phoenix somehow re-passed the Franklin at turn one, to the shock of many. The two Ingram cars blasted pass Elroy Wagner, as did Ryota Yoshida; but the Japanese driver got too greedy trying to pass Vasquez, losing momentum and being re-passed by Wagner. Van Snelheid crucially passed Powers for second at the start of lap five, he set off after Giodano and passed the Italian for first, though he was on the softer tyre. Enrique Ruiz attempted to pass Allar Kangur a few corners later but he hit the Estonian and put the Mathershaw driver out of the race. He also lost his own front wing, forcing him to pit. Van Snelheid and Hoskins made their first pit stops but this came at the wrong time, as the promised rain began to fall, which meant the pair would have to make an additional stop. The Dutchman quickly picked off Inman and the two Ingrams just as the rain began to fall harder. The top three drivers pitted and kept position, with Giodano just four seconds behind van Snelheid. Both the Downton and Vasquez did another lap on slicks and it turned out to be a good call as they pulled out a few seconds over the wet shod cars. They both pitted and van Snelheid came out in 4th, within 10 seconds of the lead. Vasquez meanwhile managed to over-cut both Yoshida and Mattson. Then all hell broke loose. Johan Halvosen tried to pass Yoshida at the final corner but the two collided and their wheels interlocked. Yoshida dragged the North Star a bit up the pit straight, before Inman came along and smashed into the back of Halvosen, who was out of the race while the Franklin lost its front wing. Viktor Östberg also hit the Dane and lost his front left wheel. The worst impact, however, was when Beyer hit the stricken Halvosen; the AMR drove straight at the North Star and hit him, hard. The Dutchman was out on the spot but Halvosen was knocked into a series of barrel rolls, before the car eventually landed. He was sent to the medical centre, and it became evident in the following hours that all was not well, with North Star confirming he may have to miss the British V-Prix. Things got worse for North Star as Judson Sikes and Yoshida collided; the Ocelot attempted to dive bomb the Russian going into the final turn but they collided and their wheels interlocked. The two were dragged into the pit lane until Sikes' car hit the wall and pulled both cars into the wall, breaking their suspension. Sebastian Vocquelin choose the wrong time to enter the pits and hit the two stranded cars, his Meteor went over both cars and landed sideways, but impressively it was still functioning. That was until, rather predictably, he drove into the wall and put himself out of the race. The drama didn't stop there. As the TV feed moved back to the front runners, Giodano dived into the pits with a broken front wing, he had hit a loose tyre on the main straight, barely visable in the rain. He rejoined in 11th, and any hope of securing Ocelot's maiden win was gone, to the despair of many. He, along with Ruiz, passed Wagner to push the Lopez out of the points, but the Italian made a mistake and let the 2015 world champion back pass. Only for Giodano to eventually re-pass him. On lap 26; Kinnumen, running in fourth, went off into the gravel with a mechanical problem, making him the tenth retiree. All the drives began to make their pit stops on lap 31 until lap 33, while Mattson spun off and lost time. By lap 34, the order was Powers, Simon, van Snelheid, Vasquez, Beckenbauer, Hoskins, Mattson, Wagner, Ruiz and Alvarez. Ruiz and Alvarez then passed Wagner. However, a few laps later, Ruiz spun off at turn 11. Alvarez drifted through the corner but kept his car on the track and held position, as Ruiz returned to the track he hit the side of Wagner and the two were forced to pit. Perez and Inman also spun off, highlighting how wet the track was. As a result, both Giodano and Perez entered the top ten. Hoskins and Mattson both had their races ended early when the Holmqvist's engine failed. Hoskins attempted to pull the car to the side but spun and was facing the wrong way on the racing line. Mattson hit him and the two were out of the race. Ruiz also lost his front wing in the crash. Beckenbauer's hopes of points ended in smoke as his Renault engine gave up on lap 44. Wagner got past Perez for 7th and Kovalenko tried to follow, but failed to. The Ukrainian was soon in tears, however, as his engine also went pop while he was running in the points with ten laps to go. It was looking like being a decent finish for Jules Simon, but the younger brother of the championship leader found himself with an engine failure and was also out of the race, leaving just 11 drivers. Perez spun off at, you guessed it, turn 11, as the field made their final stops. There was another twist with only a few laps to go, van Snelheid parked his car with an engine failure, which elevated Vasquez up into third and Alvarez into fourth, to the joy of the Phoenix team. Up front, Simon closed in slightly on Powers but he was never close enough to make an overtaking attempt. Giodano passed Ruiz to put himself in fifth, oh what could have been for the pole sitter. But for Nathaniel Powers, it was a race to remember. On the sixth anniversary of his first win, the double world champion from Manchester crossed the line to claim the full 25 points. Simon took second, while Vasquez ended a cool and calm drive with a stunning third, Ingram's first podium since 2016. Alvarez ran fourth, and as he approached the final corner, the emotions were seen in the Phoenix garage as they awaited to see the Argentinian record their first points. Alas, as he rounded the hairpin, his Judd V10 cried enough and with only half the pit straight to go, he was out. Giodano recovered to finish fourth with the fastest lap while Ruiz was fifth after a scrappy race. Wagner did well to get his first points of the season in 6th while Zozulya also took his - and FIRST's - first points this year, finishing 7th. Inman, who spun on the last lap, was the last of the finishers in 8th. Alvarez was classified 9th, as was Perez in tenth after he retired on the last lap. See the full race below: Comments are closed.
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