Race Report

FORMULA RENAULT 2.0
2014 ALPS CHAMPIONSHIP, Rounds 1/2

Circuit: Imola (I), Length 4.909 km, 5^th/6^th April 2014
www.autodromoimola.com

JENZER MOTORSPORT 2014:
Denis Korneev (RUS), Marek Boeckmann (D), Dennis Anoschin (RUS) and Bo Yuan (CHN)

Korneev off to a good start in Imola

The first of seven events in the 2014 Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS championship took place on the characterful Imola circuit and featured a full capacity field of 39 drivers.
The races are part of the well known Peroni Race Program and can be followed via live stream on the official website http://www.renaultsportitalia.it/pg/streaming.html

Qualifying

Saturday, 05/04/14, 10.15 – 11.20, Weather: Overcast, 12°C

According to the rules there is one qualifying session of 30 minutes, with the participants split into two groups, running in consecutive sessions. The best lap time per driver makes up the grid for race one, and the second fastest lap time for each driver determines the grid for race two.
The track was still wet from overnight rain, so everyone started the session on wet weather tyres. From the start of the second session it dried out rapidly, and if you were brave, you started on slick tyres. Conditions were clearly fastest towards the end of the second session.
Boeckmann and Anoschin ran in the first group. Despite the difficult conditions there were no stoppages, and both drivers improved steadily. With 20 cars on track they did a good job and finished in 9^th and 10^th respectively.
Korneev and Yuan were in the second group. Our man from China put himself under too much pressure in what was his first qualifying session here in Europe. Korneev meanwhile went out on slicks, but came back in immediately and wanted rain tyres. When he finally opted for slicks, there was not enough time left to really get the best out of them which was a bit of a pity.

Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS Championship

Race One (25 minutes + 1 lap)

Saturday, 05/04/14, 17.00, Weather: Cloudy, 16°C

After qualifying the rain started pouring down again, but by the time the race started the track had finally dried out and the dark clouds were now moving away fast. The start of the first race of the new season thus happened on schedule and the massive 39-car field got underway. Of course everyone was keen to move up the order and it was no surprise that there were several incidents in the first few corners. Unfortunately Yuan got involved in one, and after making contact with a fellow racer he ended up in a gravel trap and out of the race. The Safety Car had to be deployed and took the field over for several lap, while the debris was cleaned away. At this stage Korneev was 15^th, Boeckmann 17^th and Anoschin 18^th. After the restart there was movement in the field, and a few laps later our drivers were able to move up a number of places. After a hard race they all made it to the chequered flag, Korneev in 11^th, Boeckmann in 13^th, and Anoschin in 15^th. Because this race weekend took place ahead of the first Eurocup race event, there were plenty of “wild card” drivers on the grid. Because these drivers would only participate in a handful of races in this championship they would not be eligible to score points. Looking at the results of the regular ALPS runners our drivers all finished in the top ten, and thus all scored points: Korneev was 5^th, Boeckmann 6^th and Anoschin 9^th. It had been a very good start to the new season for us!

Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS Championship

Race 2 (25 Minutes + 1 Lap)

Sunday, 06/04/14, 14.15, Weather: Cloudy, 20°C

Temperatures finally improved on Sunday and it stayed dry. Today Korneev started from 15^th, Boeckmann from 17^th and Anoschin from 19^th. Yuan was back in 28^th position on the grid.
This time everything went well at the start and the field survived the first lap without any major incidents. Our drivers all got away well and were all able to improve their positions. Korneev was up to 13^th after the start, and was able to work his way forward to 11^th by the end. Marek was up in 16^th, but then fell back to 18^th again, eventually fighting his way back up to 15^th place. Anoschin was working his way up as well, but lost ground on several occasions when an overtaking manoeuvre didn’t go quite as planned. He finished the race in 19^th. Yuan also fought his way through to the finish and was involved in a constant fight for positions. He took the chequered flag in 24^th. After the race Marek was handed a 25 second penalty for an incident under yellow which dropped him almost to last place and cost him his hard fought for point.
For the championship standings this meant our drivers are currently 6^th (Korneev), 12^th (Anoschin), 16^th (Yuan) and 20^th (Boeckmann). We gained more points, claimed some good places and all four cars finished the race.

The next race weekend of the ALPS championship is in one month‘s time, starting on 7^th June in Spa-Francorchamps (B).

Championship Standings

Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS Championship after 2 out of 14 Races:

1^st Nick de Vries (NL), 50 points; 2^nd Simon Gachet (F), 36 points; 3^rd George Russel (GB), 25 points; 4^th Andrew Tang (SIN), 24 points; 5^th Sebastien Morris (GB), 23 points; 6^th Denis Korneev (RUS), 18 points; 7^th Aleksander Bosak (POL), 10 points; 8^th Marek Boeckmann (D), 6 points; 9^th Dario Capitanio (I), 4 points; 10^th Dennis Anoschin (RUS), 2 points; 11^th Akash Nandy (MAL), 2 points

2014 CALENDAR

Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS Championship

For more information:

• www.renaultsportitalia.it
• www.italiaracing.net