Australian Joseph Mawson put on an impeccable display of driving to win the first heat from Dane Lasse Sorensen and Frenchman Dorian Boccolacci, author of a promising race.
Mawson and Anglo-Swiss Félix Hirsiger shared the front row for the first race of the weekend with Lasse Sorensen and Bryan Elpitiya on row 2. The rain was back, the track was wet and all the drivers put on the appropriate tyres.
When the lights went out the Australian made a perfect start while Hirsiger made a mess of his.
Sorensen and Valentin Moineault latched on to Mawson’s tail and tried to take first place. The Dane who started from third place launched attack after attack, but the Aussie was very quick and gave nothing away. Hirsiger and Bryan Elpitiya were the main losers at the start and came round in 6th and 13th places at the end of lap 1, while Dorian Boccolacci was already up to ninth. Up front, Mawson and Sorensen went at it hammer and tongs, and opened up a gap over Moineault in third place who was trying to fend off a group of cars led by Boccolacci, Amaury Richard and the Russian drivers.
Boccolacci, who started from 10th place, made a great comeback and took third at the beginning of lap 3 where he stayed till the end of the race. The third lap proved fatal to Russian driver Denis Bulatov who went off. Around half distance Anouk Abadie also left the track and had to retire while the mid-field positions kept changing. All the drivers showed considerable skill in the difficult conditions as the track began to dry out quickly. By now, Mawson had a solid lead and he opened up a gap over Sorensen who had to keep a weather eye out for Boccolacci who was looming in his rear-view mirrors.
After 15 minutes’ racing, Hirsiger made a mistake in the La Chappelle corner and by-passed the gravel trap losing a few places. He fought back to sixth, where he stayed until the chequered flag setting the fastest lap of the race in the process.
However, the drive of the race came from Swiss Paul Hokfelt Jr. He started from last place after problems in qualifying yesterday and he carved his way up through the field to seventh spot! Among the leading foursome Boccolacci and Richard fought a ding-dong duel in the closing laps for third place, which the former managed to hold on to till the finish after a great battle. Mawson, who already looks like one of the favourites, won the race with a considerable lead over his nearest pursuer. He was followed home by Sorensen, Boccolacci, Richard and Russian Vladimir Atoev. Hirsiger was sixth in front of the brilliant Swiss Hokfelt Jr. Erwan Julé, who was 12th on the grid, also made a good comeback to take eighth with Reuben Kressner from Sweden ninth and Elpitiya, tenth. These two will share the front row for race 2 because of the reverse order grid for the first 10 in the first heat.
The line-up for the first race will be established according the second-fastest time of each driver in the qualifying session. The classification of race 1 will decide the grid positions for race 2 with the first ten in race 1 starting in reverse order. The other drivers will start in the finishing order. The grid line-up for race 3 will be established according to the fastest time of each driver in qualifying.
Race 2: Saturday 26 April, start at 17h30
Info Auto Sport Academy / © Photos KSP