REPORT MONACO gp - Mundo Motorizado

PICS: FLEURBAAJI/LAT
RACE RATING
★★★✩✩
The intensity of the fight
at the front made up for the
inevitable lack of passing
his new team had made
over the weekend but, of
all the frontrunners, Rossi
still appeared to have the
most difficult car.
“It was tricky,” said the
American. “We’ve definitely
made a step here. I just saved
my tyres and DRS until the
end so I could push to
protect my place.”
Rossi’s defensive plan
worked, as it enabled him to
keep Tech 1’s Kevin Korjus at
bay once the Estonian had
inherited fourth place when
pre-weekend championship
leader Robin Frijns retired
with a pneumatic problem.
The Fortec-run Dutchman
had already been in the wars,
nudging Kevin Magnussen
into the wall at Ste Devote
on lap one. Magnussen
thought Frijns had been
RESULTS
GRID
2 ROSSI
1:22.863
4 MAGNUSSEN
1:22.875
6 MULLER
1:23.032
8 YELLOLY
1:23.790
1 BIRD
1:22.163
3 BIANCHI
1:23.163
5 FRIJNS
1:23.209
7 KORJUS
1:23.507
9 SORENSEN
10 GRUBMULLER
1:23.552
1:23.846
12 HUERTAS
1:23.865
14 STEVENS
1:23.938
16 FORESTI
1:24.000
18 N’LITSKIY
1:24.089
20 NEGRAO
1:24.149
22 AMBERG
1:24.228
11 ALESHIN
1:23.759
13 ROSENZWEIG
1:24.083
15 STANAWAY
1:24.546
17 PIC
1:24.559
19 GHIRELLI
1:26.112
21 VENTURINI
1:26.921
23 CUNHA
1:27.169
24 WILLIAMSON
1:24.878
25 MARTSENKO
26 MOVE 1:29.946
1:25.990
overaggressive, which
prompted a fierce response
from his fellow rookie.
“I had got ahead of him
before the corner, then on
the brakes he tried to come
back at me,” said Frijns.
“I don’t know what he
was thinking. Nobody
overtakes me on the
outside, and it wasn’t
going to happen today.”
So while Formula Renault
3.5’s class of star rookies
proved they have plenty
of pace, it was left to the
veterans of this level to lock
out the top places when the
pots were given out. Rossi
did well to hustle a difficult
car home, but Bird and
Bianchi – of whom much
fuss was made pre-season
following their switch from
GP2 – were a class apart.
Magnussen’s doomed
outside bid on Frijns
Formula Renault 3.5 Series, round 2 of 9, Monte Carlo (MC), May 27
PORSCHE SUPERCUP
MILESTONE
Back-to-back Monaco wins
in Formula Renault 3.5
for ISR – it won with
Daniel Ricciardo in 2011
33 LAPS, 68.487 MILES
POS NAME TEAM TIME GRID
1 Sam Bird (GB) ISR 46m16.823s 1
2 Jules Bianchi (F) Tech 1 Racing +2.689s 3
3 Alexander Rossi (USA) Arden Caterham +36.611s 2
4 Kevin Korjus (EE) Tech 1 Racing +37.607s 7
5 Nico Muller (CH) International Draco Racing +41.366s 6
6 Marco Sorensen (DK) Lotus (Gravity-Charouz) +44.694s 9
7 Nick Yelloly (GB) Comtec Racing +57.405s 8
8 Mikhail Aleshin (RUS) Team RFR +58.837s 11
9 Walter Grubmuller (A) P1 Motorsport +1m00.410s 10
10 Carlos Huertas (CO) Fortec Motorsports +1m02.734s 12
11 Arthur Pic (F) DAMS +1m11.708s 17
12 Will Stevens (GB) Carlin +1m25.350s 14
13 Lewis Williamson (GB) Arden Caterham -1 lap 24
14 Zoel Amberg (CH) Pons Racing -1 lap 22
15 Daniil Move (RUS) P1 Motorsport -1 lap 26
16 Vittorio Ghirelli (I) Comtec Racing -1 lap 19
17 Lucas Foresti (BR) DAMS -2 laps 16
18 Nicolay Martsenko (RUS) BVM Target -2 laps 25
R Yann Cunha (BR) Pons Racing 23 laps-accident 23
R Anton Nebylitskiy (RUS) Team RFR 20 laps-accident 18
R Giovanni Venturini (I) BVM Target 19 laps-electrical 21
R Richie Stanaway (NZ) Lotus (Gravity-Charouz) 18 laps-stuck throttle 15
R Robin Frijns (NL) Fortec Motorsports 8 laps-pneumatics 5
R Jake Rosenzweig (USA) ISR 6 laps-electrical 13
R Andre Negrao (BR) International Draco Racing 4 laps-electrical 20
R Kevin Magnussen (DK) Carlin 0 laps-accident 4
REPORT
FR3.5 MONTE CARLO
GLENN FREEMAN
reports
Superb Edwards is the guy to beat
↗Britain’s Sean
Edwards kept his head
under strong pressure
to take an impressive Porsche
Supercup win around the
streets of his adopted
home in Monte Carlo.
The Konrad Motorsport
driver took pole by the
small margin of 0.119s from
Sebastiaan Bleekemolen, who
did an outstanding job for
his family’s team. Kevin Estre
lined up third, ahead of 2011
Monaco winner Rene Rast.
The start was delayed by 15
minutes as officials struggled to
move a crane that had broken
down at the last corner, but once
that was sorted out Edwards
made a blinding start to ensure
he was safely in front at Ste
Devote. The rest followed on in
grid order with Bleekemolen
ahead of Estre, Rast, Nicki
Thiim and Christian Engelhart.
Edwards’s job was made
easier later in the first lap
when Bleekemolen tapped the
barrier on the outside of Tabac.
He continued in second but the
damage led to a spectacular
spin, fortunately without
involving anyone else, when
he hit the brakes at Ste Devote.
The only other early drama
came when Thiim dropped
back with an off at Ste Devote.
Initially it looked like
Edwards would dominate, but
Estre and Rast were soon on
his tail, the three machines
well clear of the rest and
circulating bumper to bumper.
The train lost a wagon when
Rast lost his powersteering
after a fanbelt failure and ran
hard into the barrier at the exit
of Ste Devote, stopping up the
hill with water pouring out of
the squashed radiator.
That briefly brought out
the safety car. At the restart
the Edwards/Estre battle
became even more intense, but
the Brit was given respite when
the Frenchman clipped the
inside barrier at Casino on the
last lap. He escaped unscathed,
but lost momentum. Engelhart,
championship leader Norbert
Siedler and guest driver Jeroen
Bleekemolen were next.
l Adam Cooper
RESULTS
1 Sean Edwards, 16 laps in
28m01.234s; 2 Kevin Estre,
+1.254s; 3 Christian Engelhart;
4 Norbert Siedler; 5 Jeroen
Bleekemolen; 6 Michael
Ammermuller; 7 Kuba Giermaziak;
8 Andrea Belicchi; 9 Robert Lukas;
10 Alessandro Zampedri. Points
1 Siedler, 54; 2 Engelhart, 48;
3 Edwards, 43; 4 Estre, 39; 5 Rene
Rast, 36; 6 Giermaziak, 30.
Edwards was pursued
hard by Estre all race
CHAMPIONSHIP TABLES
POS DRIVER PTS
1 Bird 45
2 Frijns 40
3 Yelloly 31
4 Rossi 25
5 Korjus 24
6= Bianchi 18
6= Magnussen 18
8 Pic 15
9 Sorensen 14
10 Huertas 13
POS TEAM PTS
1 Fortec Motorsports 53
2 ISR 45
3 Tech 1 Racing 42
4 Comtec Racing 31
5 Carlin 30
6 Arden Caterham 25
All in Dallara-Renault T12.
Winner’s average speed:
88.790mph. Fastest lap: Bianchi,
1m22.916s, 90.107mph.
May 31 2012 autosport.com 47