28 June 2014
Aurélien Panis takes maiden win in Russia
Aurélien Panis (ART Junior Team) scores his maiden victory in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, becoming the fifth winner in as many races this season. At the Moscow Raceway, the Frenchman took the pole before going on for the win ahead of countryman Andrea Pizzitola (Manor MP Motorsport). Anthoine Hubert (Tech 1 Racing) was penalized for jumping the start, allowing Caterham Racing Academy driver, Matt Parry (Fortec Motorsports) to take his first podium result of the season. Championship co-leaders, Nyck de Vries (Koiranen GP) and Bruno Bonifacio (Prema Powerteam) failed to score points on Saturday.
This morning, Aurélien Panis clocked his first pole position in the category ahead of compatriots Anthoine Hubert and Andrea Pizzitola. Egor Orudzhev (Tech 1 Racing) and Levin Amweg (ART Junior Team) completed the top five in qualifying.
When the lights went out, Aurélien Panis held onto the lead while Andrea Pizzitola overtook Anthoine Hubert. Levin Amweg was able to get past Egor Orudzhev. The Russian tried to retake the spot, but the move worked in favour of Matt Parry, who managed to pick up two positions at the end of the opening lap, which also marked the end of Nyck de Vries’ chances.
As the laps ticked off, Aurélien Panis extended his lead from his two rivals, while Matt Parry pushed hard to stay in striking distance. Meanwhile, Anthoine Hubert received a 10-second penalty for jumping the start. The action in the field was extremely intense with several battles up and down the order just until the finish.
Aurélien Panis took the chequered flag with a more than two second margin of victory from Andrea Pizzitola and Anthoine Hubert. The penalty for Anthoine Hubert saw the Frenchman drop to 10th place, allowing Matt Parry to inherit the third spot on the podium. Levin Amweg came home fourth ahead of Callan O’Keeffe (ART Junior Team), thanks to an overtaking move on Egor Orudzhev on lap 11. Kevin Jörg (Josef Kaufmann Racing), Matevos Isaakyan (JD Motorsport) and Dennis Olsen (Prema Powerteam) completed the top ten.
Quotes
Aurélien Panis: “Since the start of the season, we’ve put in good runs in qualifying without being able to confirm our form. I am very happy about this race and this first success in the Eurocup. The start was a little complicated, but I managed to widen the gap from Andrea. I now hope that the future will go as well!”
Andrea Pizzitola: “I managed to put in a good move on Anthoine Hubert at the start. It wasn’t easy to stay concentrated because he had a clutch problem and his car moved on the grid. Alas, I couldn’t catch Aurélien during the race but I am thrilled to be on the podium in Moscow. I wasn’t hoping for so much after my results here last year!”
Matt Parry: “We had a tricky start to the season, but this weekend the team and I made an massive step forward. The pace was good throughout the race. I hope this will also be the case tomorrow, then for the future, in order to really start our campaign.”
Provisional General Classification * : 1. N. de Vries – 70 points, 2. B. Bonifacio – 70, 3. D. Olsen – 51, 4. A. Pizzitola – 45, 5. L. Amweg – 42, …
*Subject to confirmation of the results following the technical and sporting verifications.
