Race Report

FORMULA RENAULT 2.0
2013 ALPS MEISTERSCHAFT, Rounds 05/06

Circuit: Spa-Francorchamps (B), Length 7,003 km, 8^th/9^th June 2013
www.spa-francorchamps.be

JENZER MOTORSPORT 2013:
Kevin Joerg (CH), Denis Korneev (RUS), Andrew Tang (SIN), Marcos Siebert (ARG) and Levin Amweg (CH)

First Podium for Joerg at Spa

The third of seven events in the Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS championship took place on the long, demanding GP circuit at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. 32 drivers entered this event.
The races are part of the well known Peroni Race Program and can be followed via live stream on the official website at http://www.renaultsportitalia.it/pg/streaming.html

Qualifying

Friday, 07/06/13, 15.55 – 17.00, Weather: Sunny, 23°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 sky was blue and the temperature wonderfully warm. For this race we also had two guest drivers in Marcos Siebert and Levin Amweg, who normally compete in the Eurocup with us.
Levin Amweg and Denis Korneev started in the first qualifying group. Levin started out well, and was 7^th using his first set of tyres. On his second set things didn’t work out and he dropped back to 11^th. Denis improved significantly over his free practice run, and he was able to improve further in qualifying, ending up 13^th in this group.

Kevin Joerg, Andrew Tang and Marcos Siebert all went out in the second group. Kevin shone in his best qualifying session of the season so far and set the 3^rd best lap time in his group. Andrew and Marcos also put in strong performances and were not far back in 5^th and 6^th respectively.

Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS Championship

Race One (25 minutes + 1 lap)

Saturday, 08/06/13, 14.00, Weather: Cloudy, 20°C

The start of the race went well but there were several first lap incidents. Orudzhev and Ghiotto spun off the track together, and Kevin was lucky to avoid them as he was now in 3^rd place. Marcos overtook Andrew at the start, putting the two in 7^th and 8^th respectively. Levin made up several places quickly and was already up to 15^th while Denis, on the other hand, had to avoid an accident and fell back to 30^th as a result. Then Chudleigh had a big accident and the race was red flagged. It was some time before it could be restarted, this time behind the Safety Car. After the restart Dalewski steadily piled pressure on Kevin, attacking and getting past, but then running wide and letting Kevin back through. The two were fought it out over the next few laps, Dalewski finally getting through to take 3^rd from Kevin. Kevin stayed close to Dalewski, but he couldn’t find a way back and had to settle for an excellent 4^th place, his best result of the season so far. After the restart Villemi made a mistake and dropped back, while Marcos overtook Silva, putting himself 5^th, a position he was able to defend all the way to the flag. Andrew, meanwhile, was tangled up in a close battle with Silva and Tereshenko, finally having to give way to Tereshenko. He still managed to claim a very good 8^th place. Levin dropped back to 23^rd after a spin, but then worked his way forward lap after lap and finished a hard race in 18^th. Denis also worked his way steadily forward and was still setting very good lap times even towards the end of the race. He crossed the finishing line in 21^st, which meant that all five cars had made it to the chequered flag and on top of that three Jenzer drivers had finished an exciting race in the top ten.
After the race a number of penalties were handed out. Fuoco, who had finished 2^nd, received a 25 seconds penalty. Marcos, who had gone off track in a difficult situation and had rejoined the field in front of his rival instead of behind him, received a 10 second penalty. That changed the final classification and Kevin was promoted to 3^rd place, while Andrew was now 6^th and Marcos was 9^th.

Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS Championship

Race 2 (25 Minutes + 1 Lap)

Sunday, 09/06/13, 10.40, Weather: Overcast, 10°C

On Sunday morning the weather was more like that which we normally find at Spa: the sky was dark and temperatures were cool, and we could not be sure when the rain would start falling. When the Formula Renault 2.0 lined up on the grid the first raindrops started falling. Two green flag laps were run, but then the start proceeded as normal, the rain only starting to fall properly in the afternoon. Again there were several incidents in the early stages, but this time the Safety Car didn’t need to be deployed. After four laps Kevin was already 5^th and was fighting hard with Villemi. He managed to overtake him, but on the same lap Villemi gained his position back, however, in the later stages of the race Kevin managed to overtake Villemi for good and to claim an excellent 4^th place. Andrew and Marcos were running together for quite some time, in 7th and 8th respectively, but then Marcos decided to go on the attack and managed to overtake Andrew. He made no mistakes and a short time later also overtook Dalewski, crossing the finishing line in a very good 6^th place. Andrew was close to Dalewski, but couldn’t quite find a way past. He had to be satisfied with a nice 8th place. Levin started very well and fought his way up the order and was soon 15^th, and then, a few laps later, had battled his way through to 12^th with the top ten in his sights. After Ghoparde and de Narda tangled and de Narda fell back, Levin was 11^th. He then set about fighting Tereshchenko, the two of them running side by side more than once. He finished the race just a few centimetres behind him, missing 10^th place by one hundredth of a second. Denis also drove a very good race and made up places lap after lap. He started from 25^th and took the chequered flag after an eventful race in 15^th, so Levin and Denis could justifiably be satisfied with today’s result!

The next race weekend of the ALPS championship is in one month‘s time, starting on 7^th July in Monza (I).

Championship Standings

Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS Championship after 6 out of 14 Races:

1^st Antonio Fuoco (I), 108 points; 2^nd Bruno Bonifacio (BRA), 95 points; 3^rd Luca Ghiotto (I), 69 points; 4^th Pierre Gasly (F), 57 points; 5^th William Vermont (F), 41 points; 6^th Guilherme Silva (BRA), 35 points; 9^th Kevin Jörg (CH), 28 points; 11^th Andrew Tang (SIN), 12 points; 13^th Marcos Siebert (ARG), 10 points

2013 CALENDAR

Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS Championship

For more information:

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