EU 2000: Magny-Cours race two notes

Pagenaud Dominates in Race Two

The atmosphere was electric in the grandstand at Magny-Cours on Saturday afternoon, as France's Simon Pagenaud (Graff Racing) took the chequered flag ahead of Paul Meijer (AR Motorsport) and Scott Speed (Motopark Academy).

Starting on pole, Pagenaud stood firm, taking an early lead of nearly 2 seconds while perfectly controlling his rivals and himself. "Though half-way through the race," the driver said later, "the car became a little harder to handle. But I stayed focused as I wanted to win this one after missing out on scoring points in race two at Valencia."

Behind Pagenaud, Speed and Meijer were having their own ferocious race, while further back there were plenty of battles going on. "It was rough all the time and everywhere," said Pilet (Graff racing).

Right from the start, Ammermuller, Fleming (Jenzer Motorsport) and Pilet were putting on an amazing show as they braked late into turns and switched trajectories in a bid to intimidate each other. This was good hard racing, and the looks on their faces as they climbed out of their cars at the finish left us in no doubt that they'd given 100%.

Out on the track the leaders had no major troubles, though at the finish Scott Speed seemed the slightest bit disappointed. "I tried everything to pull up to Pagenaud," he said, "but it was impossible; we were lapping at the same speed every time around."

And so two renditions of the Marseillaise rang out at Magny-Cours for round three. With his victory and the two points that pole position earned him, Simon Pagenaud's total now stands at 98 points, half that of Maldonado. But close behind them on the leaderboard comes Moreau.

All of which promises to make this a championship to remember.

-frenault-