Gustav Malja qualified for pole with a very small 0,026 advantage over the British driver Seb Morris (Fortec Motorsports). From row two Ben Barnicoat (Fortec Motorsports) started next to Swiss driver Louis Delétraz (Josef Kaufmann Racing) while Levin Amweg (ART Junior Team) and his teammate, the South African Callan O’Keefe, started from row three. The leader in the championship, Steijn Schothorst (Manor MP Motorsport), started from row 13.
At the start it was Delétraz who moved himself between both Fortec drivers but had to back off. Seb Morris damaged his car just after the start and had to come into the pit to change his damaged frontwing. He finished 21st.
Malja led the race from start to finish without danger from Barnicoat, Delétraz, Amweg and O’Keefe. With two laps to go it was Amweg who overtook Delétraz to finish third.
After a fourth place and three DNF Malja took the highest step of the podium. Second place for Ben Barnicoat, who only exchanged his kart for the Formula Renault 2.0 car this winter and third was for Amweg in front of Louis Delétraz and Callan O’Keefe. Sixth was for Aurélien Panis (ART Junior Team) who will be on pole for race 3. Steijn Schothorst went from 13th to ninth.
# 14 Gustav Malja (Kaufmann racing) : “It was a perfect race. At the start I could pull a gap and increase it a bit as well. It was my first pole in the Formula Renault 2.0 and my second pole ever. I was looking a lot in my mirrors but then I decided to enjoy life in the 25 minutes race and stopped looking. It is a great feeling to drive in front.”
# 33 Ben Barnicoat (Fortec Motorsport) : “I had a good start and a good race. I pulled in front of Seb Morris just after the start. Deletraz was realy good so I had to stay in front of him. I was on old tyres and Deletraz on new so he closed in on me. But I kept very consistent laptimes and could keep the gap. I am very happy to be on the podium for the first this year. Tomorrow I start from pole in the second race and from 5th in the third race because of being second now.”
# 35 Levin Amweg (ART Junior Team) : “I had a good start and then got touched in the first corner. I lost my confidence a bit and was not so fast in laps three and four and then refocussed and stopped looking in my mirror. I overtook Deletraz fair and square and am very happy to finish in third place. Tomorrow I start from third in race two and also in race 3. Three must be my lucky number this weekend.”
Tomorrow on Sunday June 15th, the second race will start at 10.05 hrs and race three will start at 14.05 hrs.
Live timing at www.raceresults.at
