Robert Shwartzman (R-ace GP) won the first race of the final Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 event of the season at Catalunya circuit. The Russian driver started his race from pole position and dominated the field to the checkered flag.

Shwartzman took the best lap of the race as well before finishing in 3 seconds ahead of his teammate Will Palmer (R-ace GP) with Gabriel Aubry (Tech 1 Racing) completing the podium.

The championship leader Sacha Fenestraz (Josef Kaufmann Racing) lost a place to Aubry at the start but managed to comfortably stay in 4^th position after defending from Max Defourny (R-ace GP). Fenestraz left the title hunt open till Sunday but still has big advantage of 46,5 points.

That means the Frenchman can finish in 8^th position in the second race of the weekend to make sure he becomes the champion of 2017 season.

Meanwhile the battle between R-ace GP drivers is still open. Shwartzman is now 36 points after Palmer and Defourny is only 2 points behind the Russian member of Ferrari Driver Academy.

Robert Shwartzman: “It’s the best way basically. I’m really happy. Everything just went very good, especially the qualifying and the free practice. The race pace was just awesome, the car felt really great until the last lap. Everything was just perfect. It feels good to be in Ferrari Driver Academy and to win the very first race with them! So I’m really proud of that. Massive thanks to Ferrari Driver Academy and SMP Racing for support and for believing in me that I can win the races in the future as well. I’m really happy, let’s push the next 2 races like that.”

Race 1 replay: