Adrien Simon was back to his best after taking another victory in the Turkish V-Prix, but he was pushed hard by Puccio Giodano, Tumo Kinnumen, Nathaniel Powers and Enrique Ruiz. The Frenchman won a big battle between himself, Powers, Kinnumen and Ruiz to be the leading soft tyre runner, which Kinnumen led early on before being jumped by Powers in the pits only for Simon to pass both of them. Giodano also led a good portion of the race but had to pit a couple of laps from the end which left him second. Rain came pouring down at the end, but most of the drivers held on with slick tyres, while those who swapped to wets gained no ground. Giodano and Powers held position off the starting grid, but behind them Kinnumen passed Allar Kangur, and Klaas van Snelheid stole an opportunity to snatch another place off the Estonian. Behind there was carnage as Finn Schnyder, Sebastian Vocquelin and Jules Simon came together in a big collision. Simon dive bombed Schnyder at turn three and they spun, with Vocquelin getting caught up in the accident. At the end of the long back straight, Powers and Kinnumen put their extra grip to good use by passing Giodano around the outside for first and second, while Simon joined the list of drivers to pass Kangur. Judson Sikes saw an opportunity for a good race spin away literally when he lost the rear end of his car at turn one. Kinnumen had good pace and on lap three he went around the outside of his former teammate Powers at the end of the back straight to take the lead of the race. Van Snelheid tried to pass Giodano but failed, while Kangur and Simon swapped places. Giodano pulled off an identical move on Powers for second just like his teammate had done. Beyer meanwhile was showing good pace, battling with Inman for eighth place behind the top seven who were only separated by four seconds. That was until Kangur and van Snelheid collided at turn three following a dive bomb from the DS Mathershaw, spinning both around. Van Snelheid rejoined the race in sixth, while Kangur was down in fifteenth. Jean Mattson also spun in a collision which led to him, Felix Perez, Dmytro Kovalenko and the younger Simon brother to lose their front wings. Powers re-passed Giodano at the exact same spot for second place. On lap eleven, James Vasquez lost his front wing while trying to pass Inman, ruining Ingram’s race. A lap later; Inman, who had lost out to Beyer, hit the Holmqvist and spun. The Argentine rookie Sergio Alvarez, unsighted, hit his rear end and knocked both cars out of the race. Kangur was on the charge, making up positions, but he hit Johan Halvosen while passing him and both drivers lost time. He ended up pitting for repairs, while Will Hoskins passed Halvosen. Davenport overtook Beyer on lap fourteen for seventh as the two continued to duel, only for the Dutchman to re-pass him a lap later. Up front, Simon was hauling in the top three at a vast rate of knots. His teammate wowed the crowd with a brave overtake on Sikes around the outside of turn 8, but he was still outside of the points. Meanwhile, surprise surprise, Davenport had put another pass on Beyer. Kangur mysteriously came into the pits on lap sixteen for unknown reasons. On lap eighteen, while Kinnumen tried to lap Vocquelin on the back straight, the Frenchman hit the kerb and spun. He held up the top four and Giodano nipped past Powers for second. The soft tyre runners pitted at the end of that lap, with Kinnumen leading them, but he fell behind Powers, while Simon remained behind the both of them and Beyer - who had overtaken Davenport again. Vocquelin reversed into the wall and lost his rear wing, leaving him with another DNF. This left all the soft shod drivers on three stop races, including Ruiz despite the Brazilian eking out another lap on his tyres. However, Ruiz came out ahead of Simon, leaving him in fifth. Giodano led from van Snelheid, but their pace, or lack of, was rather ominous as Powers, Kinnumen, Simon and Ruiz flew on their new tyres. Ruiz continued his push as he passed Kinnumen for fourth. They all soon caught van Snelheid, who let Powers past. Kinnumen had already used his straight line speed to take back his position from Ruiz when he caught up with last years runner-up. Van Snelheid held Kinnumen and Ruiz up, allowing Simon to close in. Yoshida out braked van Snelheid at the end of the back straight and the Downton spun, with Simon passing Ruiz as the two passed van Snelheid. Giodano and Klaas, as well as the other medium runners, made their first pit stops on lap twenty-eight. Critically, they would make one more pit stop before the end with a few laps to go, which was bad news for Giodano as Powers had closed the gap dramatically to him before his pit stop. The Italian nearly collided with Jules Simon, who had spun off at turn four. His older brother was gaining on Kinnumen, and on lap thirty-one he passed the Ocelot driver at the end of the back straight, moving into second. Halvosen finally passed Hoskins, after being held up since his collision with Kangur earlier in the race. Kinnumen launched a frenzy of attacks on Simon but he failed to pass him. Hoskins on the hard tyres made his one and only stop on lap thirty-five. Powers, Simon and Kinnumen made their second pit stops on lap thirty-seven and came out in the same order. Ruiz pitted a lap later and came out behind them, handing the lead back to Giodano. Simon showed excellent pace and kept close to Powers. On lap forty he passed the Briton just as he did on Kinnumen and took second. Davenport finally ended his duel with Beyer when the Holmqvist suddenly lost time, dropping behind the Phoenix into ninth. Giodano was in an FV2 car compared to his rivals behind, who were taking seconds out of his advantage. His teammate wasn’t helping matters; the Fin hit the kerb and spun at turn seven along with Sikes. He rejoined in fifth. Perez and Mattson collided at the very same corner, and the Mexican hit the wall while rejoining, putting him out of the race. Van Snelheid strangely pitted at the end of lap forty-five, though his unscheduled pit stop didn’t affect the amount of pit stops he would do. Ruiz moved into the podium places on lap forty-eight when he passed Powers for third, while Simon was only one second behind Giodano. The two caught up with Elroy Wagner to lap him, and the German was squeezed onto the kerb on the back straight. His car flipped onto two wheels and he went straight into the inside barrier, breaking his rear wing and suspension. He parked his car on the other side of the track, leaving the marshals bemused. Powers managed to re-pass Ruiz when he got held up in the incident, while Kinnumen continued to practice ballerina dancing by performing a 360 degrees spin at the scene of the incident. Oleksandr Zozulya had an engine failure at the same time and parked his car on the inside of turn eight, leaving FIRST with a double DNF. A lap later Simon passed Giodano at the end of the back straight, unusually on the inside since Giodano had little grip compared to his rival who was pushing to the maximum. Neither Powers nor Ruiz could make any impression on the top two though, while the three K’s where on another planet. With a handful of laps to go however, rain began to fall, just before the medium and soft shod cars would make their final pit stops, putting pressure on strategists to figure out which tyre was the right one for the conditions. The soft runners, led by Simon, all stayed on the dry tyres, with the rain being only a drizzle. Giodano took the lead, but still had a stop to make. He pitted with two laps to go and took a gamble by going on to the wets. He rejoined behind Simon and ahead of Powers, but despite the difference in tyres, none of them could make inroads on anyone. There were no changes elsewhere in the top ten, as no tyre seemed to have a clear-cut advantage. Simon kept on the track to take another win and further increase his lead in the championship. Giodano had to be content with second but moved into third in the standings. Powers took another third place while Ruiz was fourth. Kinnumen was fifth on his Ocelot debut ahead of a dejected Kangur in sixth who had to make do with the fastest lap. Van Snelheid’s miserable run continued with seventh but behind there were celebrations at Phoenix as Davenport came home eighth and moved the team into seventh in the championship. For the first time in ages there was a smile on Felix Beyer’s face after finishing ninth while Hoskins made it a double points finish for Holmqvist in tenth. See the full race below: Comments are closed.
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