Saturday saw one qualifying and two races taking place. Sunshine welcomed the teams and drivers in Ahvenisto as Q1 started as early as 9.00.
QUALIFYING 1
First qualifying session of the weekend started in chilly but sunny conditions. The lap times dropped during every lap until the end of the Q1 when Elias Niskanen crashed his car and the session was first red flagged and eventually suspended.
At that moment Christian Lundgaard sat at the first place but his efforts were made undone as stewards disqualified him because the Dane made his fastest lap under the red flag. Same destiny waited Juuso Puhakka and Tuomas Haapalainen who also were demoted to the back of the grid.
It meant that the pole position went to Sami-Matti Trogen, youngest driver of this 2017 season. Bent Viscaal finished P2 and Alexander Smolyar lined up in P3 for the Race 1. Nikita Volegov and Mike Belov followed the great showing from Russians with P4 and P5.
Despite of the crash Niskanen managed to get P6 ahead of championship leader Xavier Lloveras. Jan-Erik Meikup, Lukas Dunner and Guillem Pujeu completed top ten.
Qualifying 1 Results:
- Sami-Matti Trogen 1:14.554
2. Bent Viscaal +0.129
3. Alexander Smolyar +0.217
4. Nikita Volegov +0.306
5. Michael Belov +0.374
6. Elias Niskanen +0.433
7. Xavier Lloveras +0.581
8. Jan-Erik Meikup +0.624
9. Lukas Dunner +0.870
10. Guillem Pujeu +1.411
11. Ivan Berets +1.477
12. Vladimir Tziortzis +1.559
13. Sten Piirimagi +1.859
14. John Peters +1.900
15. Roman Lebedev +2.986
RACE 1
Pole sitter Trogen did not get the perfect getaway and dropped down to P8 at the start. Viscaal took the advantage of it and cruised to a brilliant victory, his first of the season. He was kept on his toes though as Volegov, Smolyar and Belov chased him down the whole race but with Ahvenisto being very technical track there was no chance dutchman was going to get overtaken.
Meikup finished P5 after holding up Lloveras and Lundgaard. The Dane made great recovery from P17 and lost only two points to Lloveras in the championship. Trogen came home in P8 and his fellow countrymen Niskanen and Puhakka managed to get points in front of the home crowd. Lukas Dunner was P4 in the early stages of the race but he went straight to the wall after flicking off of kerb.
Race 1 Results
- Bent Viscaal 21 Laps 26:31.082
2. Nikita Volegov +0.440
3. Alexander Smolyar +0.925
4. Michael Belov +1.383
5. Jan-Erik Meikup +11.272
6. Xavier Lloveras +11.845
7. Christian Lundgaard +12.857
8. Sami-Matti Trogen +13.236
9. Elias Niskanen +14.918
10. Juuso Puhakka +15.335
11. Tuomas Haapalainen +16.838
12. Ivan Berets +26.343
13. Sten Piirimagi +26.834
14. Roman Lebedev +38.071
15. John Peters +38.369
16. Vladimir Tziortzis +38.714
17. Gulhuseyn Abdullayev +42.746
18. Guillem Pujeu +43.374
DNF: Lukas Dunner
RACE 2
Race 2 brought its fair lot of drama. Again Trogen did not get the best start but he lost only one position to Volegov. The Russian did not look back and took his second win of the season. Trogen followed Volegov home in P2 and Smolyar took his second P3 of the day. In the first laps of the race, Viscaal and Dunner were fighting for P4 but they ended up crashing, taking both MP Motorsport drivers out of the race. Belov took advantage of their accident and finished P4. Puhakka managed to make a magnificent comeback from P18 to P5 and collected six important points for the championship. Lloveras extended his lead in the championship to eight points to Lundgaard who finished just behind the Spaniard. Estonian Meikup snatched one point from the race after having again to defend from the drivers behind, this time Tziortzis and Haapalainen. After crashing out in Q1, Niskanen did not finish the race due to a technical issue.
Sunday in Ahvenisto will start with Q2 at 9.00 and weekend-ending Race 3 at 12.30. After a dramatic day, we shall see an interesting one tomorrow.
Race 2 Results
- Nikita Volegov 20:20.982
2. Sami-Matti Trogen +4.036
3. Alexander Smolyar +6.244
4. Michael Belov +6.613
5. Juuso Puhakka +12.902
6. Xavier Lloveras +14.414
7. Christian Lundgaard +14.941
8. Jan-Erik Meikup +17.103
9. Vladimir Tziortzis +17.498
10. Tuomas Haapalainen +17.873
11. Ivan Berets +18.242
12. Sten Piirimagi +18.566
13. John Peters +30.257
14. Roman Lebedev +30.855
15. Guillem Pujeu +31.108
16. Gulhuseyn Abdullayev +33.629
DNF:
Elias Niskanen
Lukas Dunner
Bent Viscaal
SMP F4 NEZ