Kevin Korjus takes first win
In his first race in Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, Kevin Korjus (Koiranen Bros Motorsport) took the win on a wet track ahead of Daniel De Jong (MP Motorsport) and Luciano Bacheta (Interwetten.com), the latter having started from twelfth place on the grid. The Estonian driver will go down in WSR history as the first driver to take a race win behind the wheel of the new Formula Renault 2.0.
The first qualifying session of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season was fought out on a wet track this morning. With wet conditions to the liking of André Negrao (Cram Competition), he succeeded in grabbing the first pole position of the season, ahead of Tech 1 Racing drivers, Arthur Pic and Hugo Valente.
The rain persisted into race 1, New Formula Renault 2.0’s maiden race in Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0. As the twenty one competitors set off on the warm-up lap, Hugo Valente stalled and was left stranded on the start grid. The Tech 1 Racing driver eventually got underway from the pit. Miki Weckström (Koiranen Bros Motorsport) suffered the same mishap and he too had to start from the pit lane.
André Negrao made the best start and led into the first turn ahead of Arthur Pic. Kevin Korjus got a good start from row 3, and moved swiftly up to third place, ahead of Daniel De Jong and Miguel Otegui (Epsilon Euskadi).
The start of the race saw André Negrao, Arthur Pic and Kevin Korjus taking all sorts of risks to pull away from the field. Daniel De Jong led the chasing pack with Miguel Otegui, Giovanni Venturini (Epsilon Euskadi), Karl Oscar Liiv (MP Motorsport) and Luciano Bacheta hot on his tail. Dog-fights between Venturini, Otegui, Liiv and Bacheta put plenty of spice into the early stages of the race. After multiple overtaking manoeuvres, Giovanni Venturini was up in fifth and Luciano Bacheta sixth.
The situation was clearer up front. André Negrao built up a one point five second gap over Arthur Pic and was controlling the situation. Kevin Korjus had to contend with Daniel De Jong, who was coming back strong, while the chasing group, now led by Giovanni Venturini, lay some way behind.
With the track drying out in the closing minutes of the race, Arthur Pic was able to get back in touch with André Negrao. The French driver was looking for an opening, but the Brasilian wasn't having any of it. Arthur Pic attempted an attack in lap 7 and the two cars came together. André Negrao ended his race in the gravel trap while Arthur Pic restarted his race from 6th.
Kevin Korjus was only too happy to inherit first place, ahead of Daniel De Jong and Giovanni Venturini. The Italian driver was finally ousted from his third place by Luciano Bacheta, two laps from the finish. After a hotly contested first race, Kevin Korjus - in what was his debut in Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 - took the win ahead of Daniel De Jong and Luciano Bacheta.
Quote, unquote:
Kevin Korjus: “I honestly didn’t expect a victory in my first race in Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0. I got away to a good start, and I had a little bit of good fortune during the race. But I didn’t make any mistakes and everything was very positive. It's perfect."
Daniel De Jong: “Starting from seventh position on the grid, I really didn’t expect to finish on the podium. The race saw plenty of action and I took advantage of that. This result confirms my good performance in collective testing.”
Luciano Bacheta: “I was in twelfth position on the grid, so I did plenty of overtaking! In fact, I touched someone at the start of the race, and the car wasn’t behaving perfectly after that. But at the end of the day, it's a good result. These are important points…”
Results: Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 - Motorland - Race 1
| Pos | Number | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Gap | KPH |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28 | Kevin KORJUS | KOIRANEN BROS MOTORSPORT | 12 | 26:46.904 | - | 145.4 |
| 2 | 10 | Daniel DE JONG | MP MOTORSPORT | 12 | 26:49.564 | +2.660 | 145.3 |
| 3 | 18 | Luciano BACHETA | INTERWETTEN | 12 | 26:55.828 | +8.924 | 145.7 |
| 4 | 3 | Giovanni VENTURINI | EPSILON EUSKADI | 12 | 26:57.125 | +10.221 | 145.3 |
| 5 | 5 | Arthur PIC | TECH 1 RACING | 12 | 27:08.981 | +22.077 | 145.5 |
| 6 | 9 | Karl Oscar LIIV | MP MOTORSPORT | 12 | 27:10.480 | +23.576 | 144.6 |
| 7 | 7 | Aaro VAINIO | TECH 1 RACING | 12 | 27:12.537 | +25.633 | 144.9 |
| 8 | 23 | Daniel MANCINELLI | ONE RACING | 12 | 27:13.386 | +26.482 | 145.0 |
| 9 | 6 | Hugo VALENTE | TECH 1 RACING | 12 | 27:16.808 | +29.904 | 144.6 |
| 10 | 2 | Miguel OTEGUI | EPSILON EUSKADI | 12 | 27:19.565 | +32.661 | 143.5 |
| 11 | 4 | Alex RIBERAS | EPSILON EUSKADI | 12 | 27:20.288 | +33.384 | 144.2 |
| 12 | 1 | Genís OLIVÉ | EPSILON EUSKADI | 12 | 27:24.263 | +37.359 | 143.6 |
| 13 | 29 | Jukka HONKAVUORI | KOIRANEN BROS MOTORSPORT | 12 | 27:25.822 | +38.918 | 143.5 |
| 14 | 19 | Craig REIFF | INTERWETTEN | 12 | 27:27.378 | +40.474 | 143.9 |
| 15 | 30 | Kalle KULMANEN | MP MOTORSPORT | 12 | 28:06.790 | +1:19.886 | 142.6 |
| 16 | 31 | Brice BOSI | BOETTI RACING TEAM | 12 | 28:17.498 | +1:30.594 | 140.4 |
| 17 | 16 | Henrique MARTINS | CRAM COMPETITION | 12 | 28:38.874 | +1:51.970 | 141.2 |
| 17 | André NEGRAO | CRAM COMPETITION | 7 | 15:38.446 | 144.5 | ||
| 22 | Jordan OAKES | ONE RACING | 4 | 9:19.437 | 141.7 | ||
| 27 | Miki WECKSTROM | KOIRANEN BROS MOTORSPORT | 2 | 5:04.592 | |||
| 26 | Bart HYLKEMA | KOIRANEN BROS MOTORSPORT | 1 | 2:32.808 |
Official Renault Sport Press Release