Enrique Bernoldi second in Championship
Heikki Kovalainen has pulled out a 24-point advantage in the World Series by Nissan after taking victory in the second race of the day at Valencia.
The Finn started his Pons Racing car from pole position and from then on was only briefly headed during the mandatory pitstops on his way to an 8.451-second success over first-race winner Jean-Christophe Ravier.
“This has been a fantastic weekend so we can’t be disappointed with losing the first race,” said Kovalainen. “I had a good feeling with the car and the win was pretty straightforward.”
Tiago Monteiro (Carlin Motorsport) held second place early in the race from Epsilon Euskadi driver Ravier. But there were problems with changing Monteiro’s left-front wheel during his pitstop and he lost several places. The Portuguese then damaged his front wing in a collision with Enrique Bernoldi and was forced to settle for seventh place, meaning he loses second place in the points to Bernoldi, who finished fourth.
The final place on the podium was therefore taken by Tristan Gommendy, who paid tribute to his Saulnier Racing crew for an amazing four-second pitstop. Adrian Valles was looking set for fourth until he retired with electrical problems, allowing Bernoldi to take the place from Olivier Pla and Felix Porteiro.
Other retirements were Narain Karthikeyan with a repeat of his first-race throttle problems, and Juan Cruz Alvarez, who spun out of fourth position.
A dramatic second World Series Lights race provided Saulnier Racing’s Mathieu Lahaye with his first win. Lahaye took advantage when front-row men Milos Pavlovic and Simon Abadie touched away from the line. Abadie went out in a first-lap collision with Matteo Pellegrino, while Pavlovic settled for second ahead of Bastien Briere. After the finish line Pavlovic accidentally crashed into Lahaye, who had slowed to celebrate with his team, and was taken to the medical centre. No-one was hurt, although Pavlovic was given a neck collar to wear by the doctors.
World Series - First Race
POSITION - NUMBER - NAME - NATION - TIME
1 4 Jean Christophe RAVIE FRA 25:43.192
2 22 Heikki KOVALAINEN FIN 25:55.870
3 20FelixPORTEIRO SPA 26:15.968
4 6 Olivier PLA FRA 26:18.365
5 3 Ander VILARIÑO SPA 26:19.3566 7 Enrique BERNOLDI BRA 36.690
7 10 Tristan GOMMENDY FRA 26:20.171
8 16 DidierANDREFRA26:26.8449 21 Roldan RODRIGUEZ SPA 26:27.310
10 8 Pablo DONOSO CHI 26:41.506
11 11 Narain KARTHIKEYAN IND 24:47.338
12 2 Juan Cruz ALVAREZ ARG 24:48.224
13 5 Tiago MONTEIRO POR 25:13.761
14 23 Adrian VALLES SPA 2 5:25.877
World Series - Second Race
1 22 Heikki KOVALAINEN FIN 37:53.722
2 4 Jean Christophe RAVIER FRA 38:02.173
3 10 TristanGOMMENDY FRA 38:13.2424 7 Enrique BERNOLDI BRA 38:24.359
56 Olivier PLA FRA 38:26.2796 20 Felix PORTEIRO SPA 38:29.7447 5 Tiago MONTEIRO POR 38:31.935
8 3 Ander VILARIÑO SPA 38:35.6669 16 Didier ANDRE FRA 38:46.8841012 Tomas KOSTKA CZE 38:48.545
11 21 Roldan RODRIGUEZ SPA 38:50.293
12 8 Pablo DONOSO CHI 39:09.901
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