It was a day for breakthroughs at the World Series by Nissan races in France - first Narain Karthikeyan broke his victory duck in the series, also arguably making history with the biggest success for an Indian driver in the history of the sport. Then, in the longer second race Pons Racing got their first win, safely delivered by Heikki Kovalainen.

After getting pole position , Karthikeyan had no trouble dominating the race from the lights to the flag. His margin of victory was just under three seconds, but it had been even greater before he made a small mistake at the Adelaide hairpin when he locked up his brakes. Kovalainen might have briefly thought he had a sniff of a chance, but once Karthikeyan had resumed his momentum it was clear that the Finn still had no answer.

“It’s a great day for the team and myself,” said Karthikeyan. “It’s a great thing for India too, because this is the biggest single-seater championship after F1. I am over the moon, everything is coming together so nicely.”

Kovalainen was equally unchallenged in second, with Enrique Bernoldi finishing a long distance behind him. Bernoldi faded in the latter stages and was almost caught by Jean-Cristophe Ravier, who had sat unthreateningly a couple of seconds behind throughout the race.

Kovalainen streaked away from pole position in the second race, stayed out for as long as permissible until his crew executed a perfect pitstop that let him back out with his advantage intact. He was several seconds ahead of nearest rival Tristan Gommendy (who stopped on the same lap) at the flag.

“I knew if I got a start then there would be no problem,” said Kovalainen, who now leads the championship. “It’s taken some time for this team to come together, and I’m not always such a fast season-starter either. But I think we can definitely challenge for the title from now on.”

Gommendy had got ahead of Karthikeyan into Estoril corner on the first lap, and then spent the first half of the race fending off the Indian. But Karthikeyan then got a drive-through penalty for speeding at his first stop, and so dropped out of podium contention. He still finished in fourth, behind Epsilon Euskadi driver Ander Vilarino, who made up for a disappointing first race with this podium finish.

The first World Series Lights race was a thrilling encounter, even though the series leader Milos Pavlovic led the whole way. Pavlovic survived some early presssure from Simon Abadie to take a comfortable win, only allowing Abadie to close up to him just before the finish line.

But it was the battle for third that was the most inspiring. Celso Miguez held the spot for most of the race, but Bastien Briere was trying desperately hard to find a way past. Briere was far too close for far too long for there not to be a moment of madness before the end. It came on the exit of the Adelaide hairpin, where there was repeated contact between Miguez and Briere. Briere shoved his way past as Miguez sustained a broken wing, which meant he got passed by the waiting Mathieu Lahaye within a few corners. Fortunately the end of the race was nigh, so Miguez did not lose any further places.

In race two, it was again Pavlovic who dominated, but he was pushed a little harder by Abadie. The French driver did a great race, fighting his way from fifth on the grid with a couple of forceful overtaking moves. When he got into second he was around three seconds down on Pavlovic, but that came down to just under a second near the end.

Matteo Pellegrino was second early on, but had a big moment at Imola during the figth with Abadie, which dropped him almost to the back of the field and ended his chances of a good result. Celso Miguez was also in the fight for second at one stage, but ended up dropping out with a spin at Adelaide. Mathieu Lahaye drove a fine race to third place, and was right on Abadie’s tail through the final corner of the race.

The second Formula Junior 1600 race of the weekend was also on today’s programme, and Belgium’s Michael Herck won again. He led the whole way from Giacomo Ricci, but Ricci subsequently lost his second place with a 25 second time penalty for overtaking on the formation lap.

Third went to Arturo Llobell, while Tom Dillman got fourth after taking the place from Miguel Molina earlier in the race. Molina went off to have a most disappointing final lap, because he had to pull off the circuit and retire.

WORLD SERIES BY NISSAN RACE 1

Narain KARTHIKEYAN (RC Motorsport) 25’43.521Heikki KOVALAINEN (Pons Racing) +2.916Enrique BERNOLDI (GD Racing) +19.297Jean Christophe RAVIER (Epsilon Euskadi) +20.455Tristan GOMMENDY (Saulnier Racing) +20.724Juan Cruz ALVAREZ (Gabord Reyco) +26.469Adrián VALLÈS (Pons Racing) +26.826Tiago MONTEIRO (Carlin Motorsport) +27.352Ander VILARIÑO (Epsilon Euskadi) +29.414Olivier PLA (Carlin Motorsport) +30.242Bruce JOUANNY (KTR) +32.164Didier ANDRE (KTR) +34.186Pablo DONOSO (GD Racing) +42.384Roldán RODRIGUEZ (Profesa Competición) +47.136Tomas KOSTKA (RC Motorsport) +50.528Félix PORTEIRO (Porfesa Competición) +6 laps

WORLD SERIES BY NISSAN RACE 2

Heikki KOVALAINEN (Pons Racing) 39’21.246Tristan GOMMENDY (Saulnier Racing) 7.26Ander VILARIÑO (Epsilon Euskadi) 15.432Narain KARTHIKEYAN (RC Motorsport) 16.853Tiago MONTEIRO (Carlin Motorsport) 19.963Bruce JOUANNY (KTR) +32.243Juan Cruz ALVAREZ (Gabord Reyco)33.000Jean Christophe RAVIER (Epsilon Euskadi) 35.792Adrián VALLES (Pons Racing)40.225Olivier Pla (Carlin Motorsport) 45.772Pablo DONOSO (GD Racing)47.205Didier ANDRE (KTR) 47.793Roldan RODRIGUEZ (S.Porteiro) 1’21.595Tomas KOSTKA (RC Motorsport) 1 lapFastet Lap : Heikki Kovalainen 1’30.404

WORLD SERIES LIGHTS RACE 1

Milos PAVLOVIC (Vergani Formula) 25’10.105Simon ABADIE (Epsilon Sport) +0.521Bastien BRIERE (Epsilon Sport) +15.972Mathieu LAHAYE (Saulnier Racing) +16.777Celso MIGUEZ (Meycom Sport) +25.437Harold PRIMAT (Saulnier Racing) +35.899Matteo PELLEGRINO (Vergani Formula) +37.300Giovanni TEDESCHI (Vergani Formula) +40.425Fastest Lap: Simon Abadie (1.33.753)WORLD SERIES LIGHTS RACE 2Milos PAVLOVIC (Vergani Formula) 25’19.130Simon ABADIE (Epsilon Sport) +3.700Mathieu LAHAYE (Saulnier Racing) +4.293Giovanni TEDESCHI (Vergani Formula) +12.942Matteo PELLEGRINO (Vergani Formula) +13.662Harold PRIMAT (Saulnier Racing) +28.712Not ClassifiedBstien BRIERE (Epsilon Sport)Celso MIGUEZ (Meycom Reyco)Fastest Lap: Simon Abadie (1’33.776)

SPANISH FORMULA JUNIOR RACE 2

Michael HERCK (Junior Racing) 20’21.684Arturo LLOBELL (Escuela Lois Circuit) +3.687Tom DILLMANN (Tom Team) +6.551Marco BARBA (Escuela Lois Circuit) +15.387Javier FERNANDEZ (HST Racing) +16.638José Miguel GUTIERREZ (Repsol Racing For Spain) +17.636Jorge GARRIDO (ECA Racing) +22.105Adrien LAVAIL (HST Racing) +22.494Manuel SAEZ-MERINO (Escuela Lois Circuit) +23.376Manel CERQUEDA (Automóvil Club d’Andorra) +25.294Giacomo RICCI (Ricci Sport) +26.401Marcos MARTINEZ (HST Racing) +40.093Roberto FUEYO (Paiez Progess) +54.918Miguel MOLINA (RACC Motorsport) +1 lapCarlos ALVAREZ (CLM Motorsport) +5 lapsDani CLOS (RACC Motorsport) Did not startJavier MIGNORANCE (Repsol Racing For Spain) Did not startJosé Luis LOPEZ-PAMPLO (CLM Motorport) Did not start

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