Vergne racks up his third win, Abelli his first!
In Barcelona, Jean-Eric Vergne consolidated his first place in the Formula Renault 2.0 WEC by winning the first race and finishing second in Race 2. He lost for the first time of the season to his team-mate Julien Abelli (SG Driver’s Project).Qualifying took place in the wet on Saturday evening. Jean-Eric Vergne dominated most of the session, but conditions improved towards the end. Arthur Pic (SG Formula) took advantage of this to score his first pole of the season ahead of Julien Abelli and Vergne. As the grid for the second race was established according to the second-best time of each driver, Abelli was on pole ahead of his team-mates led by Vergne and Pic.
On a sunny Sunday morning, Pic used his pole to perfection and took the lead from Vergne, Abelli and Hugo Valente (SG Formula). Vergne almost immediately shot past Pic to take first place. In the meantime, Albert Costa (Epsilon Euskadi) was fighting his way up from seventh place and after only 2 laps he was third! He sliced past Pic at the end of the pit straight and took second.
Behind, Miki Monras, Abelli, Nathanaël Berthon (Epsilon Euskadi) and Hugo Valente were battling for fourth place. Berthon overtook his rivals and latched onto Monras’s gearbox. The closing laps were pretty hectic. Costa was right up with the leader, while Pic in third place had to fend off the attacks of Monras and Berthon. Costa suddenly slowed towards the end, but just managed to hold on to his second place.
With 3 victories in 3 races counting for the Formula Renault 2.0 WEC Vergne was a happy man: “I made a good start but Albert (Costa) was all over me. I was a bit lucky today.” Second-placed Costa nearly lost everything at the end of the race: “I really pushed very hard to get from seventh to second. I was catching the leader and I reckon I had a good chance of winning, but I ran into a fuel feed problem at the very end of the race.” Pic in third had his first taste of the rostrum: “Jean-Eric was quicker at the start and I didn’t try to hold him back. I made a couple of small mistakes that allowed Monras and Berthon to catch me. I’m happy, though: it’s very positive to finish on the rostrum so early in the season.”
Late on Sunday afternoon, Abelli took full advantage of his pole to shoot into the lead from Vergne, Monras and Pic. He fought off Vergne’s attacks and their battle allowed Monras, Pic and Costa - up from ninth to fifth - to pull in the leading duo. The 5 cars were running nose-to-tail.
Costa then got past Pic to take fourth and he attacked Monras. His first attempt failed and the Spaniard damaged his car’s front wing in the incident. This handicapped him and he was unable to prevent Pic, Berthon and Benjamin Lariche from overtaking him.
The outcome of the battle for victory between Abelli, Vergne and Monras remained indecisive until the chequered flag, but Abelli held on to take his first victory in the Formula Renault 2.0 West European Cup. “I made a good start but after that the race got pretty complicated. I wasn’t as quick as Jean-Eric, so it was a question of not making any mistakes and keeping him behind as cleanly as possible.”With a first and a second place, Vergne holds a good lead in the Formula Renault 2.0 West European Cup. “Julien didn’t make any mistakes, so I couldn’t get past him. When you can’t win it’s better to take the points for second place.” Vergne, though, had better look out for his team-mates, and Miki Monras in particular, who is firmly decided to contest his leadership. “I’ve finished on the rostrum in Eurocup FR 2.0 and in FR 2.0 WEC so it’s been a good day on my home turf in Barcelona. I have to start winning races to close the gap to Jean-Eric. It won’t be long now!”
Overall classification: 1. Vergne 60 pts – 2. Monras 41 pts – 3. Abelli 37 pts – 4. Costa 29 pts – 5. Pic 28 pts – 6. Berthon 21 pts – 7. Azzam 15 pts – 8. Lariche 11 pts – 9. Breysse 9 pts – 10. Storey 8 pts
