Nurburgring: Series race one report

Carbone keeps up the winning habit

Leader from start to finish, Fabio Carbone (Ultimate Signature) claimed his second successive win of the season at the end of an exciting race. The Brazilian finished ahead of Fairuz Fauzy (Fortec Motorsport) and Giedo Van der Garde (P1 Motorsport) who picked up a lot of points.

As always, the reverse grid system was in operation for the first race. Fairuz Fauzy started in pole position ahead of Fabio Carbone, Julien Jousee (Tech 1 Racing) and Marco Bonanomi (Red Devil Team Comtec).

Fauzy made the best start before he was taken by Carbone who out-braked him. A collision in the middle of the pack between Alvaro Barba (Prema Powerteam) and Miguel Molina (Prema Powerteam) caused confusion. The safety car came out. Alvaro Barba, Miguel Molina, Charles Pic (Tech 1 Racing), Marco Bonanomi and Pasquale DiSabatino (Red Devil Team Comtec) were all out of the race.

At the restart, Carbone kept his lead over Fauzy, under threat from Julien Jousse. Salvador Duran (Interwetten.com Racing) was fourth ahead of Esteban Guerrieri (Ultimate Signature) and Bertrand Baguette (International Draco Racing). Twentieth on the grid, the Belgian made the best of these opening laps. He caught up with Van der Garde and Mikhail Aleshin (Carlin Motorsport).

At the head of the field, Fabio Carbone strengthened his lead, taking advantage of the battle between Fauzy and Jousse. The trio of Van der Garde, Aleshin and Baguette all caught up with the chasing pack led by Fauzy.

On the sixth lap, Julien Jousse crashed out and finished his race in the gravel trap. The race was over for the Frenchman, whose Championship hopes paid a heavy price.

Back in third, Salvador Duran was gaining on Fairuz Fauzy. In turn, Duran committed an error on the fourteenth lap which allowed Esteban Guerrieri and Giedo Van der Garde to find an opening and take third and fourth places. The Championship leader soon snatched third when Guerrieri and Duran made contact. Duran ran into the gravel trap and fell back to seventh place.

Seven laps from the end, Carbone had the race firmly in his grasp. But the Brazilian's lead disappeared rapidly as the safety car came out, after Aleix Alcaraz retired due to a due to a battery problem which led to a fire.

The race restarted for another two laps, but the positions remained as they were. Carbone was victorious for the second time this season ahead of Fauzy and Van der Garde, who again extended his lead in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series.

Fabio Carbone: "The car is perfect since Hungary. I made a mistake in the SuperPole, I could have done better. I took the lead at the first corner, then I just drove. This win will have an important effect on the rest of the season."

Fairuz Fauzy: "The car was hard work, in particular I had a lot of oversteer each time I braked. I held off Jousse. Then it was tight with Duran. By accident, I switched on the speed limiter on a tight corner! I must say, the safety car really helped as it would have been difficult to hold off Giedo."

Giedo Van der Garde: "I was lucky at the start. Pic came up on my left, then there were cars going everywhere. I put the car in neutral and managed to avoid them. The car was running very well. Things took care of themselves, Jousse made a mistake, Duran made a mistake, Guerrieri made a mistake..."

-credit: wsbyrenault.com

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