Schothorst inherits victory and gets championship lead back

26/07/14 - In the second race of the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup at Spa-Francorchamps it was Saturday's winner Kevin Jörg (Josef Kaufmann Racing) who let the race from start to finish. However, with a 30 seconds penalty for a jumpstart, the Swiss fell back to 20th. After two safety car periods, the final victory went to Steijn Schothorst (MP Manor Motorsport) followed by Louis Delétraz and Gustav Malja (both Josef Kaufmann Racing).

It was not a good weekend for Callan O'Keeffe (ART junior team). In the second race he started second only to finish 15th. The day before the South African had to stop after he damaged his car in the first lap.

While Jörg stayed ahead of the field, the battle for the other podium places was fought between Schothorst, Delétraz and Gustav Malja (Josef Kaufmann Racing).

The first safety car period came because newcomer Michele La Rosa (Euronova Racing), who usually races in the Auto GP series, left the track in Les Combes and crashed into the tire wall.

Shortly before the end of the race it was Raoul Owens of Mark Burdett Motorsport who went out at the same place, after he had collided with Seb Morris (Fortec Motorsports).

Under safety car conditions it was Kevin Jörg who crossed the finish line first, but with the 30 second penalty, fell back to 20th. With his first win of the season Steijn Schothorst is back in the lead of the championship after Ben Barnicoat (Fortec Motorsports) held this position for only a day. Louis Delétraz and Gustav Malja completed the top three.

Behind Ukyo Sasahara (Euronova Racing) Ben Barnicoat finished fifth. Barnicoat, fresh out of karting, is now 13 points behind Schothorst. Five points behind him is Delétraz.

Steijn Schothorst (Manor MP Motorsport) #11: “Because of the jumpstart of Kevin Jörg I moved up to first. Never a good feeling, but the points do matter, and it is my first sort of a win. Just after the start I moved from third to second and could just about attack Kevin Jörg but had not enough speed to overtake. Then I lost a bit and he pulled a gap. After the first safety car I had a bad restart but could hold onto second position. I am happy to be back as the leader of the championship.”

Louis Delétraz (Josef Kaufmann Racing) # 17: “I have something with 3rd this weekend. Two third podium places and third in the championship. That was until the jumpstart. And now I am second in the second race. I had a good weekend and some really good racing and look forward to Assen to get more championship points and finally, hopefully, get back on the highest step of the podium.”

Gustav Malja (Josef Kaufmann Racing) #14: “I had a really good weekend after some not so good qualifying. Yesterday was one of my best ever races, I overtook eight cars. My car was just perfect. Today I went from P5 to P3. I am very happy with my result.”

Next weekend the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup is at Assen, Netherlands at Gamma Racing Day.