Jack Aitken held off the race-long challenge of Ukyo Sasahara to take his third victory of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Series as the battle for the championship closed up once more at the Nurburgring.
The British Koiranen GP driver took advantage of a slow start from pole sitter Louis Deletraz, who found himself down in sixth at the end of the first lap, to take the win and move himself firmly into championship contention.
Sasahara started fourth but gave Aitken a tough challenge, with the ART Junior Team driver securing his fourth podium finish of the season, with Matevos Isaakyan securing his second trip to the podium of 2015 in third.
Fortec Motorsports’ Ben Barnicoat got the better of Koiranen GP’s Jake Hughes for fourth, while Josef Kaufmann Racing’s Deletraz could not improve on the position he found himself in on the opening lap, and could only finish sixth.
Wild card entrant Jehan Daruvala secured his first top ten finish in Eurocup with seventh for Fortec Motorsports, ahead of Kevin Jörg of Josef Kaufmann Racing, while Martin Kodric of Fortec Motorsports and Dennis Olsen of Manor MP Motorsport secured ninth and tenth.
With Daruvala ineligible to score points, Tech 1 Racing’s Anthoine Hubert secured the final point on offer despite finishing eleventh on the road.
The safety car made a brief appearance at the end of the second lap when on two consecutive laps, drivers found themselves beached in the gravel trap at the final corner, with Hugo de Sadeleer retiring on the opening lap after a clash with Bruno Baptista and Henrique Chaves, while Valentin Hasse-Clot followed suit a lap later after a clash with Pontus Fredricsson.
The result of the race means Deletraz remains in the lead of the championship by three points from team-mate Jörg, with Aitken a further point back in third and Hughes fourth, only six points down on the leader.
Nurburgring Race 1 Result
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