Christensen Takes Win and Points’ Lead.

At a slightly warmer Nürburgring, with the temperature for race one up to 15º degrees Celcius, Michael Christensen (DK/Mücke Motorsport) took his third win of the season after beating polesitter, Felip Nasr (BR/Eurointernational) into second. Meanwhile Rookie, Robin Frijns (NL/Josef Kaufmann Racing) finished third after starting seventh.

At the start Nasr had to defend as William Buller (GB/Fortec Motorsport) made a good start from third and was side by side with him going into the first corner. However, the British driver was on the outside so it was the Brazilian who emerged to lead the first lap. Meanwhile behind them Christensen was having a battle for third with Daniel Juncadella (ES/Eurointernational).

The gap between Nasr and Buller at the end of lap one was point seven of a second. By the end of lap three the lead had stretched to 1.1 seconds, but by then Christensen was through into second. However, at the end of lap four not only was the lead cut by more than half, but also Buller in third was being persued by Facu Regalia (FR/Josef Kaufmann Racing). It was on lap six that Christensen was able to make a move on Nasr stick and from then on he increased his lead and won by over three seconds.

The big battle then was between Buller and Regalia. When they came over the line in that order at the end of lap eight the timing screens showed the gap was 0.0 seconds! As they fought for the same piece of ground they went wide and it was Frijns who saw his chance and took both of them for third after steadily moving up the field.

These were not the only battles as there were fractions between the drivers way down the field. A sign of how the battles were keeping the drivers looking in their rear mirrors was the fact the fastest lap by Christensen was set on lap four of the 11 lap race. Buller in the end was the biggest loser of the battles as he was given a drive through penalty for multiple changes of direction. As he did not have the full three laps to take this 25 seconds was added to his time.

1st - Round 7: Michael Christensen (DK/Mücke Motorsport): “That was very, very nice. I made only one mistake at the start and I was lucky I had a very good car to make up for that. I just tried to make a good start, but that didn’t happen for me. I knew it was low grip here for the start so I tried to make low revs, but they were too low. You have to take some chances in the race . I came back on the pace again and was by Juncadella on the second lap, Buller I think on the fifth lap and Nasr on lap six. I was fast enough to do that and very happy I managed to get back and win. Tomorrow we will see what the weather is like. I hope for dry but now I have seen I am fast enough to win even if I have to start from third tomorrow.“

2nd – Round 7: Felipe Nasr (BR/Eurointernational): “This was not what I was expecting. I tried to do a good start and in the first laps I had enough speed to go out in front. But then I was having problems with the car. I don’t know what happened. I shall have to see now and look at the data. Let’s see for tomorrow if we can do some changes to the car as I am in pole again. I have to try to get a better car.

3rd - Round 7: Robin Frijns (NL/Josef Kaufmann Racing): “I didn’t expect this at all. I started seventh and lost one position so was eighth at the first corner. For the first two laps the race was hard for me. Then I overtook David Mendesdorf. I saw Daniel Juncadella and Rupert Svensden-Cook fighting for position and when they hit each other I was lucky I was not hit as well, but I gained two positions at one corner. Then I saw my team-mate, Facu Regalia, fighting with William Buller. They were fighting down the straight so I went for the stipstream I knew they were going to brake late as Buller was on the inside, so I got on the inside and again got two positions in one corner. It was quite a lucky race for me and hopefully the second race will be the same."