In front of 50,000 spectators who had already been given an appetizer of what was to come with David Hallydays demonstration of the Renault F1 R24, Kamui Kobayashi (Prema Power Team) put an end to Michael Ammermüllers (Jenzer Motorsport) run of four consecutive victories. The German had to settle for third place on the podium behind local driver Yann Clairay (SG Formula).
Despite starting from pole position, Yann Clairay was unable to hold off Kamui Kobayashi who came out of the Dunlop chicane in the lead. Michael Ammermüller also got off to an excellent start which put him straight into third.
From the end of the first lap, the two leaders then started to pull away. Ammermüller was followed by a group consisting of Carlo Van Dam (SG Formula), Daniel Serra (Cram Competition) and Franck Mailleux (SG Formula). After being forced off into the gravel by Juan Antonio del Pino (Epsilon Euskadi), Westley Barber had to abandon. Meanwhile, nothing was going right for Comtec Racing, as Pippa Mann collided with Dima Raikhlin (SL Formula Racing), meaning the safety car had to be called out after two laps. Kasper Andersen (Team Formula Sport) also had to abandon after being involved in a collision.
Racing resumed as the cars went past the pits for the fifth time and there was no change in the race order from the restart. Xavier Maasen (JD Motorsport) took an excursion into the gravel trap on lap 6 just as he had managed to get the better of Bertrand Baguette (Epsilon Euskadi).
Yann Clairay was starting to attack Kamui Kobayashi and Michael Ammermüller used every bit of the fight to his advantage. But, as the laps went by, the positions settled down and the gaps started to open up.
Back in the field, Bertrand Baguette had managed to get the upper hand over Julien Jousse (SG Formula) to take 7th place (lap 11). Two laps later, Julien Canal (Graff Racing) found his way into the top 10 by getting past Junior Strous (Mr. Glow Motorsport). Adrian Zaugg (Jenzer Motorsport), who made a fantastic comeback, was also to pass the Dutchman a lap later.
Kamui Kobayashi: «It's something special to win in front of such a large and enthusiastic crowd! The team has put in some excellent work here and the car was excellent, so it was easy for me to control the race.»
Yann Clairay: «I got off to a good start myself, but Kamui's start was simply unbelievable. From then on, he was just too quick, especially because he was on a fresh set of tyres that he'd managed to save at the end of qualifying. I hope to do better tomorrow. In short, I'll be looking to win!»
Michael Ammermüller: «This is a tricky circuit for me. I don't think my driving style is very well suited to it. I can't quite seem to get the sweeping bends right. Having said that, this is still a good result for me as I score plenty of points with the podium finish.»
- Blanca de Foronda -
