Soucek wins first race at Turkey
From a pole position start, Andy Soucek (Interwetten.com) led World Series Formula Renault 3.5 race one from start to finish on Saturday. The Spaniard held off his countryman Borja Garcia (RC Motorsport), who nevertheless took some valuable Championship points. For Alvaro Parente (Victory Engineering), it was his first podium finish this season.
Andy Soucek got a good start from pole position and was first into the opening bend ahead of Alx Danielsson. Behind them, things went far less smoothly as Grégory Franchi (Prema Powerteam) flipped up over another car and hit Tomas Kostka (Draco Multiracing USA). Patrick Pilet (GD Racing) and Jaap Van Lagen (Comtec Racing) were also involved and forced to abandon. Starting from the third row, Ben Hanley (Cram Compétition) and Eric Salignon (Interwetten.com) also collided and threw away the advantage they earned in qualifying.
Danielsson was passed on lap one by Borja Garcia. The Swede then lost another place to Pastor Maldonado (Draco Multiracing USA), but immediately managed to grab it back. That wasn't, however, to be the last word between the two men. Maldonado kept putting in the attacks, but Danielsson held on.
At the front, Soucek simply could not shake off Garcia. The battle was a little less intense for third, but it was just as real! While holding onto fifth, James Rossiter (Pons Racing) made an error to let Alvaro Parente (Victory Engineering), Enrico Toccacelo (Eurointernational), Sean McIntosh (KTR), Davide Valsecchi (Epsilon Euskadi) and Hayanari Shimoda (Victory Engineering) through. On lap eight, Maldonado was so impatient that he came into contact with Danielsson sending him into a spin! The Venezuelan picked up a drive-through penalty as a result. He duly went in to serve his penalty, leaving the third podium spot to Alvaro Parente.
Lap eleven saw Enrico Toccacelo in difficulty and Sean McIntosh was able to capitalize on the situation. The Canadian moved up into fourth to take by far his best result so far this season! He finished ahead of Davide Valsecchi and Alx Danielsson, who is the big loser from this race. Outside the points, Steven Kane (Epsilon Euskadi) and Mikhail Aleshin (Carlin Motorsport) collided with each other but were able to continue. With three laps to go, Borja Garcia seemed well poised to get the better of Andy Soucek. But the Interwetten.com driver held firm to give the Austrian team its third win in four races!
Andy Soucek "I hope that this is just the first of many victories! I have been very quick since the start of the weekend and I've confirmed this in the best way possible. This is going to do me good in the Championship standings. Back again tomorrow for another pole position start!"
Borja Garcia "It's good to be back to form after a disappointing weekend in Monaco. This is a good result for the Championship as it brings me back to within a point of Pastor. We'll have to build on this tomorrow!"
Alvaro Parente "I'm very happy with this podium finish after my poor performance in Zolder. I kept a cool head and took advantage of the mistakes of those in front of me. I made good improvements over the opening section of the course."
