Nyck de Vries moved one step closer to the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Series title after taking a dominant victory in the opening race at Paul Ricard on Saturday, and became the first driver to take three victories during the season.
The Koiranen GP made a great start from pole position to lead until the flag, and eventually won by over eleven seconds from Egor Orudzhev of Tech 1 Racing, who overtook Alexander Albon of KTR on the penultimate lap for second place.
Aurelien Panis took fourth for ART Junior Team ahead of Andrea Pizzitola of Manor MP Motorsport, who held off the challenge of Dennis Olsen of Prema Powerteam until the flag.
Kevin Jorg was seventh for Josef Kaufmann Racing ahead of Bruno Bonifacio of Prema Powerteam, while Gustav Malja of Josef Kaufmann Racing and Hans Villemi of Prema Powerteam completed the top ten.
De Vries’ win and Olsen’s sixth place means that the Dutch driver now has a sixty-three point lead over the Norwegian driver, and should he leave France with a lead of more than fifty points, he will be the 2014 series champion.
Paul Ricard Race 1 Result
| POS | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME/Laps |
| 1 | Nyck de Vries | NED | Koiranen GP | 27m27.090s |
| 2 | Egor Orudzhev | RUS | Tech 1 Racing | +11.050s |
| 3 | Alexander Albon | THA | KTR | +12.232s |
| 4 | Aurelien Panis | FRA | ART Junior Team | +13.218s |
| 5 | Andrea Pizzitola | FRA | Manor MP Motorsport | +16.426s |
| 6 | Dennis Olsen | NOR | Prema Powerteam | +16.643s |
| 7 | Kevin Jorg | SWI | Josef Kaufmann Racing | +20.418s |
| 8 | Bruno Bonifacio | BRZ | Prema Powerteam | +20.782s |
| 9 | Gustav Malja | SWE | Josef Kaufmann Racing | +27.015s |
| 10 | Hans Villemi | EST | Prema Powerteam | +27.365s |
| 11 | Martin Rump | EST | Fortec Motorsports | +28.361s |
| 12 | Anthoine Hubert | FRA | Tech 1 Racing | +28.877s |
| 13 | Steijn Schothorst | NED | Manor MP Motorsport | +29.356s |
| 14 | Ignazio d’Agosto | ITA | Koiranen GP | +34.430s |
| 15 | Ryan Tveter | USA | Josef Kaufmann Racing | +34.926s |
| 16 | Louis Deletraz | SWI | AV Formula | +35.728s |
| 17 | Philo Armand | INA | Tech 1 Racing | +38.369s |
| 18 | Hugo de Sadeleer | SWI | Tech 1 Racing | +39.478s |
| 19 | Levin Amweg | SWI | ART Junior Team | +42.101s |
| 20 | James Allen | AUS | ARTA Engineering | +43.535s |
| 21 | Jack Aitken | GBR | Fortec Motorsports | +45.234s |
| 22 | Callan O’Keeffe | RSA | KTR | +48.667s |
| 23 | Simon Gachet | FRA | ART Junior Team | +1m23.897s |
| 24 | Hong Li Ye | CHN | Koiranen GP | +1 Lap |
| RET | Jules Gounon | FRA | AV Formula | 6 Laps |
| RET | Matt Parry | GBR | Fortec Motorsports | 0 Laps |
| RET | Gregor Ramsey | GBR | KTR | 0 Laps |
