Victor Martins withstood pressure from Lorenzo Colombo to take his maiden Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 series victory on Sunday morning at the Red Bull Ring, while a post-race penalty for the Italian meant Renault Sport Academy drivers filled the podium.
Colombo was adjudged to have jumped the start, with the JD Motorsport driver taking the lead into the first turn, although Martins was back in front by turn four, and the leading quartet then ran almost nose-to-tail throughout the twenty-one lap encounter.
Martins was able to manage the gap superbly to take the win for R-ace GP, while Max Fewtrell made it a one-two for the French team, with MP Motorsport’s Christian Lundgaard returning to the podium for the first time since winning race two at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza back in April.
Richard Verschoor completed his best weekend of the season to take fourth for Josef Kaufmann Racing, while Yifei Ye claimed fifth after coming out of a titanic battle with Alex Peroni to remain at the top of the championship standings.
Colombo’s penalty relegated him from second to sixth, while MP Motorsport’s Peroni, who had made a good start to run ahead of Verschoor and Ye before falling behind both, remained ahead of Tech 1 Racing’s Neil Verhagen to take seventh. The Red Bull-backed American may have failed to get ahead of Peroni, but he was again feisty behind the wheel, making a number of overtakes across the day, and indeed the weekend, to claim eighth.
Oscar Piastri took ninth for Arden Motorsport after a late race pass on Axel Matus, while Frank Bird also found a way passed the Mexican to take the final point for Tech 1 Racing, his second top ten finish of the season after an eighth place at Monza.
Matus is still seeking his first points finish of the season but the AVF by Adrian Valles driver can take heart from having by far his strongest performance of the season and his best result, but positions in the lower reaches of the top ten and below were battling almost nose to tail right from lights out to the chequered flag. It was simply a great representation of what Eurocup is all about.
Red Bull Ring Race 2 Result
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