Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr led the second Monza Formula Renault 3.5 series race from start to finish to make up for the disappointment of stalling on the dummy grid in race one. The DAMS driver won by a commanding 10.835s from Lotus driver Marlon Stockinger, while Russian driver Sergey Sirotkin finished third for Fortec Motorsport.
Sainz made a perfect start from pole position and led the field comfortably into the first corner, while Stockinger held onto second despite a sluggish getaway. Sirotkin made a good start to move from sixth to slip into third place.
International Draco Racing’s Luca Ghiotto also made a good start which enabled him to take fourth at the end, keeping Arden Motorsport’s Pierre Gasly behind him for the duration of the race; the second Red Bull junior driver finishing fifth. Nikolay Martsenko drove a good race for Comtec Racing to finish sixth, passing Jazeman Jaafar’s ISR entry a few laps from the end.
Brazilian Pietro Fantin finished eighth in the second of the International Draco Racing cars, while yesterdays second placed finisher Roberto Merhi claimed ninth for Zeta Corse.
For the second day running, we saw a driver stall on the dummy grid; yesterday it was Sainz and Lotus’ Matthieu Vaxiviere, but today it was Briton Oliver Rowland in the second Fortec car. The Racing Steps Foundation supported driver fought back from his pitlane start to finish tenth, right on Merhi’s tail.
Race one winner Will Stevens failed to see the chequered flag after an incident with Arden Motorsport’s Will Buller at the first chicane; Stevens’ right rear wheel clipped the front left of Buller’s car and ended up stuck in the gravel trap. Buller’s front wing was damaged and despite trying to stay on track to gain some points, he eventually had to retire.
But today was Sainz’s day, and the likes of Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat in the Toro Rosso Formula 1 team will have to take notice of this display. The Spaniard is heading to F1, and with DAMS he has a good chance of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series championship.
Monza Race 2 Race Result
POS | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME/Laps |
1 | Carlos Sainz Jr | ESP | DAMS | 43m10.774s |
2 | Marlon Stockinger | PHI | Lotus | +10.835s |
3 | Sergey Sirotkin | RUS | Fortec Motorsport | +12.524s |
4 | Luca Ghiotto | ITA | International Draco Racing | +19.137s |
5 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | Arden Motorsport | +20.178s |
6 | Nikolay Martsenko | RUS | Comtec Racing | +28.477s |
7 | Jazeman Jaafar | MAL | ISR | +30.014s |
8 | Pietro Fantin | BRZ | International Draco Racing | +33.845s |
9 | Roberto Merhi | ESP | Zeta Corse | +36.393s |
10 | Oliver Rowland | GBR | Fortec Motorsport | +36.959s |
11 | Norman Nato | FRA | DAMS | +41.465s |
12 | Matias Laine | FIN | Strakka Racing | +53.086s |
13 | Zoel Amberg | SWI | AVF | +54.792s |
14 | Oliver Webb | GBR | Pons Racing | +59.383s |
15 | Roman Mavlanov | RUS | Zeta Corse | +1m20.362s |
16 | Matthieu Vaxiviere | FRA | Lotus | +1m22.067s |
17 | Beitske Visser | NED | AVF | +1m29.307s |
RET | Will Buller | GBR | Arden Motorsport | 16 Laps |
RET | Will Stevens | GBR | Strakka Racing | 10 Laps |
RET | Marco Sorensen | DEN | Tech 1 Racing | 9 Laps |
RET | Meindert van Buuren | NED | Pons Racing | 7 Laps |