Christopher Zanella won the second FIA Formula Two Championship race at Magny-Cours, completing a double victory at the French circuit and elevating himself to the top of the standings.
After his supreme drive in the wet in Saturday's Race 1, the Swiss star took pole position during Sunday morning's qualifying session.
He retained the lead at the start of the race and resisted the advances of Alex Brundle to keep the lead until he took the checkered flag after 24 laps.
“I like this track a lot and I'm very happy to be leading the championship,” said Zanella after the race. “I had a good start in the race and had a little fight with Brundle going into the first corner. After that I pushed a bit for three or four laps to make a gap. After that I tried to drive consistently.”
Brundle finished 1.4 seconds behind Zanella, with Mirko Bortolotti just behind in third. Miki Monras was held up by fellow Spaniard Ramon Pineiro early on but eventually found a way through. He then caught Mihai Marinescu, passing the Romanian for fourth on the last lap.
Jon Lancaster completed a fine debut F2 weekend by finishing sixth, just ahead of fellow Briton Will Bratt. Tobias Hegewald came home a lonely eighth, with Pineiro holding onto ninth after dropping back, just ahead of Jack Clarke.
Zanella has a five point lead over Bortolotti at the head of standings, with Monras a further two points back. There is a six-week gap for the F2 drivers before the next round at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on 25/26 June.
Results after 24 laps:
1. Christopher Zanella, 37m08.229s
2. Alex Brundle, + 1.414s
3. Mirko Bortolotti, + 2.815s
4. Miki Monras, + 6.136s
5. Mihai Marinescu, + 8.767s
6. Jon Lancaster, + 11.864s
7. Will Bratt, + 12.148s
8. Tobias Hegewald, + 17.785s
9. Ramon Pineiro, + 22.293s
10. Jack Clarke, + 23.075s
11. Johannes Theobald, + 36.115s
12. Mikkel Mac, + 36.555s
13. Benjamin Lariche, + 37.431s
14. Maxim Snegirev, + 41.771s
15. Thiemo Storz, + 47.876s
16. Jose Luis Abadin, + 52.167s
17. James Cole, + 1m04.706s
18. Plamen Kralev, + 1m15.779s
19. Sung-Hak Mun, + 1m17.687s
20. Natalia Kowalska, + 1m24.533s
Ret. Kelvin Snoeks, 8 laps
Ret. Julian Theobald, 4 laps
Ret. Armaan Ebrahim, 0 laps
