Lando Norris and Max Defourny each took a victory as their great 2016 battle raged on at Assen, round five of the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup.
Norris controlled Saturday’s opening race from pole position, pulling clear of the battle ensuing behind, with the Josef Kaufmann Racing driver winning the sixteen-lap race by 4.388 seconds.
Fellow front row starter Jehan Daruvala did not get a good start, falling to fourth behind Dorian Boccolacci and Defourny, but the Indian ace was able to reclaim the podium spot when Defourny made a mistake, with the Belgian also dropping behind Sacha Fenestraz.
Boccolacci secured second for Tech 1 Racing ahead of Daruvala, Fenestraz and Defourny, with the quartet separated by 1.793 seconds at the chequered flag.
Nikita Troitskiy finished sixth on the road, but a five-second penalty for a jump start relegated the Fortec Motorsports driver to tenth, which promoted team-mate Ferdinand Habsburg to sixth ahead of Josef Kaufmann Racing’s Robert Shwartzman, with Bruno Baptista and Hugo de Sadeleer also getting in front of Troitskiy.
Max Defourny – Credit: Octane Photographic Ltd
Norris was on course to claim his second victory of the weekend after another great start on Sunday, but found himself under attack from Defourny after the Belgian had found his way passed Daruvala on lap seven.
Defourny was in great form as the R-ace GP driver harried Norris until making a move for the lead into the chicane on the penultimate lap to take the honours, eventually winning by 1.696 seconds, with the rest of the pack over seven seconds back.
Daruvala held on to claim his second podium of the weekend ahead of Boccolacci and Fenestraz, the top five of the first race repeating the trick in the second event, although in a different order.
After missing out on points in race one, Will Palmer took sixth for R-ace GP ahead of Shwartzman and Habsburg, with Alex Gill of Mark Burdett Motorsport ninth ahead of Troitskiy.
Assen Race 1 Result
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Assen Race 2 Result
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