Formula V8 3.5

Oschersleben: Race two report

Kubica sublime in the wet! Robert Kubica (Epsilon Euskadi) rounded off a perfect weekend by taking both victories in World Series Formula Renault 3.5 category. In front of a total of 60,000 spectators for the weekend, the Polish driver ...

Edited: Aug 8, 2005, 12:13 AM

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Kubica sublime in the wet!

Robert Kubica (Epsilon Euskadi) rounded off a perfect weekend by taking both victories in World Series Formula Renault 3.5 category. In front of a total of 60,000 spectators for the weekend, the Polish driver took another huge step towards the title while Will Power yet again failed to take any points. Tristan Gommendy (KTR) and Markus Winkelhock (Draco Multiracing USA) were once again present on the podium.

Simon Pagenaud (DHG Saulnier Racing) was unable to start after crashing out in the first race while Giovanni Tedeschi (RC Motorsport) started from the pit lane. His team had hesitated to fit rain tyres until the very last moment because of the clouds looming over the circuit.

Robert Kubica got the best start from pole position and completed the first few laps ahead of Andreas Zuber (Carlin Motorsport), Markus Winkelhock, Will Power (Carlin Motorsport) and Tristan Gommendy. Gommendy and Power then collided on lap 5: Tristan fell back to 7th, while Will ended up right back in 20th! Among those to profit from the incident were Eric Salignon (Cram Comp0x00e9tition), Felix Porteiro (Epsilon Euskadi) and Fernando Rees (Interwetten.com).

Just as the window allocated for the mandatory pit-stops opened, as feared, the heavens opened too and drenched the circuit. Damien Pasini (Cram Comp0x00e9tition) was the first to take the opportunity to pit, followed a lap later by Winkelhock, Zuber, Gommendy, Danielsson, Fukuda, Mondini, Power and a number of others. Danielsson retired after coming into the pits after losing a rear wheel. Robert Kubica kept on going for one more lap, as did Celso Miguez (Pons Racing), Felix Porteiro and Jaap Van Lagen (KTR).

With eight laps gone, it was the drivers who had stayed out who were in front: Eric Salignon (Cram Comp0x00e9tition), Adrian Valles (Pons Racing), Christian Montanari (Draco Multiracing USA), Milos Pavlovic (GD Racing) and Ryan Sharp (Jenzer Motorsport) led ahead of Markus Winkelhock, the first driver to stop.

Zuber and Power then lost precious time by running off onto the grass. One by one, the drivers out front then came in to make their stops, as the rain was showing no signs of relenting. Markus Winkelhock eventually inherited the lead on lap 11 ahead of Robert Kubica and Tristan Gommendy.

But the German was unable to hold onto the lead for long, as he soon span his car, falling back two places as a result! With fifteen laps gone, Kubica thus assumed control of the race ahead of Gommendy, Winkelhock, Miguez and Valles.

Gommendy then took a minor off-road excursion, but managed to hold his position. Celso Miguez was less effective at damage limitation as he ran off into the gravel while still in 4th. In the end, he finished 5th behind Jaap Van Lagen.

Robert Kubica: "It's another superb result for the Championship standings. I think I drove a good race as it was easy to make a mistake. I may have been slower than Tristan but I didn't make any errors."

Tristan Gommendy: "I started from quite far back on the grid but I like these conditions. Our strategy to make an early pit stop was a good one. I drove an attacking race but in the final stages I was looking to hold onto my second place."

Markus Winkelhock: "I'm obviously a little disappointed. I was talking to my engineer on the radio when I was in the lead and I got my braking all wrong. That mistake cost me the win. As for the car, it was more difficult to drive than it was this morning."

-wsr-

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