Two times this weekend it was Russian national anthem to play on the podium and two times Robert Shwartzman (R-ace GP) was penalized to lose the victories and valuable points – first time after a contact with his championship rival Sacha Fenestraz (Josef Kaufmann Racing) and second time after technical verification.

The SMP Racing driver started his race from pole position and won it in front of Fenestraz but the gap in the overall rankings had not been reduced at all.

The technical check unexpectedly showed that one of the oil system details in his car was repaired instead of been replaced, which, as revealed, is not allowed by the technical regulations.

The Russian driver was disqualified despite the fact that the performance gain was not proven. Fenestraz advanced to the 1^st position and his advantage in the Eurocup is not 27 points over Will Palmer (R-ace GP) and 52 points over Robert Shwartzman. The Russian was obviously frustrated by the decision but made himself clear that he continues to fight for the wins together with his team to the final race of the season.

Second place in the race went to Max Defourny (R-ace GP). The Belgian driver also showed the fastest lap of the race. Gabriel Aubry (Tech 1 Racing) completed the top 3.

RACE RESULTS

Sacha Fenestraz (Josef Kaufmann Racing): “Unfortunately we cannot erase what happened yesterday! My first accident will always be a roll, a spectacular one and we had to change the monocoque. We know that two cars are never exactly identical and we were expecting some eventual problems. There was one with the gearbox and the clutch, but everything held together in order to keep Max behind me. Nevertheless we managed to score a lot of points. I can’t wait for Spa, where we should have a good weekend.”

Max Defourny (R-ace GP): “The win on a silver platter yesterday was good for the general classification. I needed that following my start to the season. Today, I lost a little time on lap one in trying to overtake Gabriel Aubry. He didn’t leave me any room in pushing me wide at the exit of the corner. I did manage to complete my pass into Beausset. Unfortunately, once my move was made, the gap was too big and I couldn’t really make up the ground. The goal at Spa will win as many races as I can. Last year, our pace was just as good in the Eurocup as the NEC, so we will give it all we’ve got!”

Daniel Ticktum (MP Motorsport): “We struggled a lot this the weekend to find the pace we wanted. Our only solution was to extricate the maximum from our package, especially in this intense race where I had to be 100% from the start to the end against Max Fewtrell, who was running less aero than I was. I did a good job in defending to win that battle. This is all the more positive as we knew that this circuit would be our weak point of the season. This is the best result I could get today, and it’s good to finish on a high note.”

*Results subject to confirmation following technical and sporting verifications.

Race 2 replay:

Interviews from: Renault Sport