Eurocup Mégane Trophy
Mike Verschuur (McGregor by Equipe Verschuur) ran a perfect strategy to secure victory in race two at Moscow Raceway. The Dutchman took advantage of a safety car intervention to finish ahead of Mirko Bortolotti (Oregon Team) and Kelvin Snoeks (Oregon Team).
For the fifth time in six outings this season, Mirko Bortolotti started the race on pole. His fastest qualifying lap of 1:38.01 was enough to secure his place at the front of the grid, ahead of Mike Verschuur and Pieter Schothorst (Las Moras by Equipe Verschuur).
When the lights went out, Mirko Bortolotti made a clean start and held his lead from Mike Verschuur. Behind the front pair, Pieter Schothorst and Erik Janis (Gravity Charouz) collided, forcing the former to retire. On lap four, the safety car was called into action to allow Max Braams's (Las Moras by Equipe Verschuur) car to be removed, after he became stuck on the pit straight.
The safety car intervention worked out perfectly for the drivers refuelling at the time, particularly Mike Verschuur, who was able to regain the race lead ahead of Kelvin Snoeks and Steven Palette (Team Lompech Sport). Mirko Bortolotti made his stop a lap later, while in seventh place. At the restart at the end of lap eight, championship leader Bortolotti lit up the field with a series of overtaking manoeuvres, while the Oregon Team pair of Kevin Gilardoni and Vladimir Lunkin collided on lap nine.
Mike Verschuur held his nerve and eventually took the chequered flag ahead of Mirko Bortolotti and Kelvin Snoeks. Erik Janis finished fourth, ahead of Steven Palette and the best-placed Gentleman Driver, Jeroen Schothorst (McGregor by Equipe Verschuur). Jean-Charles Miginiac (Team Lompech Sport), Michela Cerruti (Oregon Team), Toni Forné (Gravity Charouz) and Roman Golikov (Oregon Team) also finished in the points after a race full of overtaking.
What they said
Mike Verschuur: "We had problems yesterday, which caused us to lose a lot of points. Luckily the car stayed as competitive as it could be. I hadn't seen the accident, so my engineer and I made the right choice by stopping. The victory tastes sweet after yesterday."
Mirko Bortolotti: "We'll have to content ourselves with today's result. We didn't make the right decision. These things can happen sometimes."
Kelvin Snoeks: "I was happy to finish third yesterday, so I'm even happier today! It's a great result in terms of the championship. My pace was really good and I tried hard to keep up with Mike after the restart. Unfortunately, my lap times suffered after the flat spot I got from braking."
Eurocup Megane Trophy – provisional championship standings: 1. M. Bortolotti 130; 2. M. Verschuur 84; 3. K. Snoeks 71; 4. E. Janis 60; 5. K. Gilardoni 54 [...]
Official Renault Sport Press Release.