Will Palmer jumped into the lead at the start and was virtually untroubled thereafter to clinch victory in race two of the weekend at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on Sunday.
The R-ace GP racer moved ahead of polesitter Gabriel Aubry into turn one and despite a brief attack from the Tech 1 Racing driver was able to hold on to take his second career Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Series victory and his first of 2017.
Aubry looked set to finish second but an optimistic move by race one winner Robert Shwartzman at Rettifilo eliminated them both out of the race, leaving the final podium positions to be filled by Sacha Fenestraz and Max Defourny.
The early stages of the race were run behind the safety car after a crash on lap two between Alex Peroni and Henrique Chaves at Curva Grande, but even this did not put Palmer out of his stride as he went on to win by 3.058 seconds.
Fenestraz and Defourny enjoyed a tough but fair battle for what was fourth and fifth straight after the resumption, with the Frenchman coming out on top to take his second runners-up spot of the weekend for Josef Kaufmann Racing, while Defourny claimed his first podium with third for R-ace GP.
The rest of the top ten was completed by rookie drivers, with Red Bull Junior Neil Verhagen taking fourth for MP Motorsport after a late pass on Tech 1 Racing’s Thomas Maxwell, who had earlier had a clash of wheels with Fenestraz as they battled into the Roggia chicane, luckily without damage to either car.
Yifei Ye finished on Maxwell’s tail in sixth ahead of Richard Verschoor, while Max Fewtrell, Aleksandr Vartanyan and Raul Guzman completed the top ten and the points scorers.
Sacha Fenestraz came out on top in his battle with Max Defourny on Sunday – Credit: Florent Gooden / DPPI
Autodromo Nazionale Monza Race 2 Result
[table id=1905 /]
