Utzer back on winning track
Taking his 4th win of the season, Ben Utzer increased his championship lead over Mane Goddard, who finished 2nd today, to 15 points. A 3 stopper proved to be the right strategy for him, allowing to build a gap early on. He lost the lead to Ancevski and later Goddard for a few laps, before retaking it when they made their first of two stops. In the end he crossed the line with a comfortable 22s gap to Goddard. Engberink took 3rd place, having started from 2nd. He had dropped behind Ancevski and Harvey at the start. After a couple of laps he got back past Harvey, but almost at the same time also got overtaken by Goddard, remaining in 4th. Problems for Ancevski mid-race allowed him to get back on the podium position, which he kept until the end.
Harvey put in another strong performance to finish 4th. He was in a close fight with Engberink for many parts, but a slow 1st stop cost him valuable seconds. Lintner with what probably was the best drive of the day, having started from last he stayed out of trouble, to finish 5th in the end. Graham finished 6th, taking the position away from Ancevski with a last lap overtake. Rinneaho took 7th place, passing both Martins and Ancevski in the last 2 laps granted him the 2 points. Ancevski took the last point for 8th. It could've been much better, but problems with the car forced him to prepone his 2nd stop. He dropped from 1st to 7th. With others stopping he got back to 6th, but on worn tyres he couldn't hold on to it, dropping behind Graham and Rinneaho in the final lap.
The race saw 5 retirements, 4 of them due to technical problems. Diehl crashed out early in the race, having started from the back he tried a bit too hard to work his way up. Teammate Cornes wasn't off much better, he retired with a broken suspension. Laad suffered an engine failure at his home GP, Kederer and Keranen had gearbox failures.
FIA Press Conference
@Benutzername: Looking to seal the pole record at the next round?
@Mane Goddard: The Renaults seem to have the superior pace at the moment, still do you think you have a chance defending your title?
@Timmieturner12: After 3 consecutive dnfs this certainly was a much needed result?
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