Unstoppable Nyck de Vries in Imola, in these early stages of the weekend. The Koiranen GP driver managed pole and then ruled Race 1 leading from the very start.
A race soon affected by the safety car, on track for three laps, needed after the crash that involved also Matteo Cairoli (GSK Grand Prix) in the first curves. No problem at the start though for the Dutch that kept his first position with Bruno Bonifacio (Prema Powerteam) and Jack Aitken (Fortec Motorsports) respectively second and third. At the new start it was the latter that loosed ground being passed by the French Simon Gachet (Arta Engineering). De Vries instead slightly increases over his chaser.
THE REPORT. 39 cars on the grid, with De Vries capable of defending his pole from the Prema duo Bonifacio e Villemi at the green lights. Safety car joins at lap 2 and lapped three times before rejoining the pit. At the re-start de Vries is still ahead edging over his rivals and clocking fastest of the race. Slightly afterwards Morris and Gachet pass by Aitken thus fourth It is however Morris the next unwanted protagonist with a mistake that costs him the place. With de Vries and Bonifacio on podium thus is Gachet turn.
«I’m very happy to have started with a win. – declared Nyck de Vries – We had the right pace and all proved to be relatively easy ».
«In Formula Renault 2.0 this is my first ever podium. I’m happy for me and the team- it was Simon Gachet comment, virtually second as Bonifacio joined this weekend as a Wild Card and thus not collecting points».
Race 2 (25’ plus a la) will start Tomorrow at 2.15 pm, still with live web coverage on FormulaRapida.net
Race 1 (top 5): 1. Nyck de Vries NED (Koiranen GP) 14 giri in 28’02”627; 2. Bruno Bonifacio (Prema Powerteam) 10”372; 3. Simon Gachet (Arta Engineering) 10”958; 4. Jack Aitken (Fortec Motorsports) 11”555; 5. Dennis Olsen (Prema Powerteam) 13”043. The Championship: 1. Nyck de Vries 25; 2. Simon Gachet 18; 3. George Russell 15; 4. Andrew Tang 12; 5. Denis Korneev 10; 6. Sebastien Morris 8; 7. Marek Böckmann 7; 8. Alex Bosak 6; 9. Dennis Anoshin 2; 10. Akash Nandy 1.
Renault Sport Italia