IFM: Series Pau race one report

LEIMER CLINCHES FIRST VICTORY OF THE SEASON

International Formula Master's first round of the season saw Jenzer Motorsport's Fabio Leimer clinch the first victory in Pau, France, today, after leading from start to finish.

The young Swiss secured pole position during qualifying this morning, which he kept despite a difficult start, thanks to fellow front-runner JD Motorsport's Josef Kral hitting the barriers on lap one.

This promoted Vladimir Arabadzhiev to second, also driving for JD Motorsport, which he kept for the remainder of the race. Despite closing the gap towards the later stage of the race, third-place finisher Pål Varhaug was unable to catch Arabadzhiev and took the final step on the podium for Jenzer Motorsport.

Running fourth for the majority of the race, Team JVA's Jonathan Kennard fought hard to keep Cram Competition's Alessandro Kouzkin behind him to no avail. The pair finished fifth and fourth respectively when an overtaking manoeuvre payed off for Kouzkin on the very last lap.

Sixth-place finisher Harald Schlegelmilch provided most of the entertainment with a strong drive after starting twelfth. The Cram Competition driver pressurised Hitech Junior's Alessandro Rossi increasingly before overtaking him on lap 25.

Trident Racing's Frankie Provenzano also provided a share of overtaking action, passing AR Motorsport's Dennis Retera and ADM Motorsport's Marcello Puglisi before crossing the finish line in seventh.

Retera collected the last point of the race in eighth place, ahead of Team JVA's Duncan Tappy, Rossi and ADM Motorsport's Earl Bamber.

Leimer now leads the drivers' classification after scoring a point for pole position this morning, a point for fastest lap and the 10 points for his win. Pål Varhaug leads the rookies' classification thanks to his third-place finish, fastest rookie lap and best qualifying position for a rookie.

Race one takes place tomorrow, Sunday 17 May, and will be shown live on Eurosport International and Asia Pacific from 11:45 (GMT).

Best rookie: Pål Varhaug

Fabio Leimer, Jenzer Motorsport

"I didn't have the best start, Josef [Kral] got alongside me and could have passed me if he hadn't gone off. After that it was not so difficult as there was no one in front of me so I could drive my own race. I had to be careful in the middle part of the race as I had some tyre wear but otherwise it was a straight-forward win and I'm really pleased for myself and the team; things couldn't have gone better so far this weekend. I wanted fastest lap and I got that; I got pole and now we won the first race; it's perfect."

Vladimir Arabadzhiev, JD Motorsport

"My start was not the best but I keep my position and my team-mate unfortunately went off, which promoted me. It's no ideal but at least it helped me. Leimer was too fast to catch but compared to last year, where I didn't have a very strong result, I'm very happy to be on the podium today."

Pål Varhaug, Jenzer Motorsport

"The race was good; I had a good start and I was lucky with Josef [Kral] going out as I got third place. After that the two people behind me where busy fighting together so I was ok, I concentrated on pushing to catch P2 but the gap was too big in the end."

-credit: ifm