Spa Eurocup: Norris secures title, Boccolacci wins Race 2
Dorian Boccolacci took his second win of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season at Spa-Francorchamps, beating newly crowned champion Lando Norris.
Lando Norris, Josef Kaufmann Racing
DPPI
Race 1 winner Hugo de Sadeleer made a decisive move on Lap 1 over polesitter Max Defourny and front-row starter Jehan Daruvala on Les Combes to take the lead of the race.
While de Sadeleer extended his lead upfront, Defourny battled with Daruvala for second place with the Indian taking the spot from the Belgian, going off-track around the outside at Blanchimont.
And Defourny's slump continued from that point on, the Belgian having damaged his front wing over the kerbs on Lap 1 and eventually pitting after losing chunk of places.
Meanwhile, Force India protégé Daruvala lost second place to a faster Boccolacci, with the third Tech 1 car of Sacha Fenestraz joining the battle.
With de Sadeleer leading Boccolacci, Fenestraz made it a Tech 1 Racing 1-2-3 for a brief moment, after the Frenchman banged wheels with Daruvala, the Indian suffering minor wing damage in the process.
That allowed Norris to slot into fourth with Daruvala fending AVF’s Harrison Scott, just after Will Palmer spun on his own from fourth to drop down the order.
The Indian was then given a 10-second time penalty for his off-track overtaking move on Defourny. To add to his torrid run, he later on collided with JD Motorsport’s James Allen on Les Combes when fighting for sixth.
The incident where Daruvala's front left hit Allen's right rear ended both their races is under investigation.
Up ahead, Boccolacci closed in on teammate de Sadeleer and went past the Swiss driver for the lead, as Norris passed Fenestraz for the final podium spot at the same time.
With Boccolacci managing to preserve the lead ahead, Norris was able to make a move on de Sadeleer to take second and secure the 2016 title with just two races remaining.
The British driver has a 59 points lead over second-placed Boccolacci and with only 50 points up for grabs in the season finale, the 2016 title fight is now over.
It is Norris' third title in junior single-seaters, the Briton having already won the British MSA Formula champonship and New Zealand's Toyota Racing Series.
With de Sadeleer completing the podium, Fenestraz held on to fourth, as Tech 1 enjoyed a fruitful weekend with a 1-3-4 finish, building on its Race 1 result.
Behind the top four, Scott was a lonely fifth, with guest driver Nikita Troitskiy a strong sixth after early hiccups in the race.
Julien Falchero was the lead R-ace GP driver in seventh as AVF's Henrique Chaves Jr. fended off a recovering Palmer for eighth.
Fortec's Ferdinand Habsburg had a subdued weekend, rounding off the top 10 to score the last point.
Race 2 results:
Pos | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Delay |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Dorian Boccolacci | Tech 1 Racing | 12 | 27'48.737 | |
2 | Lando Norris | Josef Kaufmann Racing | 12 | 27'49.381 | 0.644 |
3 | Hugo de Sadeleer | Tech 1 Racing | 12 | 27'49.922 | 1.185 |
4 | Sacha Fenestraz | Tech 1 Racing | 12 | 27'50.382 | 1.645 |
5 | Harrison Scott | AVF by Adrian Valles | 12 | 27'53.989 | 5.252 |
6 | Nikita Troitskiy | Fortec Motorsports | 12 | 27'59.037 | 10.300 |
7 | Julien Falchero | R-ace GP | 12 | 28'02.274 | 13.537 |
8 | Henrique Chaves Jr. | AVF by Adrian Valles | 12 | 28'05.216 | 16.479 |
9 | Will Palmer | R-ace GP | 12 | 28'05.407 | 16.670 |
10 | Ferdinand Habsburg | Fortec Motorsports | 12 | 28'06.437 | 17.700 |
11 | Bruno Baptista | Fortec Motorsports | 12 | 28'06.933 | 18.196 |
12 | Alexey Korneev | JD Motorsport | 12 | 28'07.042 | 18.305 |
13 | Alessandro Perullo | Technorace | 12 | 28'16.269 | 27.532 |
14 | Robert Shwartzman | Josef Kaufmann Racing | 12 | 28'23.923 | 35.186 |
15 | Max Defourny | R-ace GP | 12 | 28'48.173 | 59.436 |
- | James Allen | JD Motorsport | 6 | 13'54.359 | |
- | Jehan Daruvala | Josef Kaufmann Racing | 6 | 14'04.048 | |
- | Gabriel Aubry | Tech 1 Racing | 1 | 2'11.871 | |
- | Ghislain Cordeel | GMMA Formula Racing | 0 |
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