Photo: Gedlich Racing
Dries Van Langendonck tops the Formula Winter Series after last weekend’s season-opening round at Estoril.
The Rodin Motorsport driver started on pole for a very wet race one on Saturday. Heavy rain led to the safety car leading the field through to lap three, at which point red flags waved.
After a 13-minute stoppage, the safety car led the field out of the pits for a second attempt at race three. Green flags waved on lap five, and there was drama by turn two as Alexander Ruta (Van Amersfoort Racing) and Ary Bansal (US Racing) collided while fighting over fifth and went into the gravel.
There were several others who spun or went off, while Ethan Lennon (Rodin) struck trouble before even reaching turn one, and once he parked up there the safety car was summoned. It stayed out until the chequered flag waved at the end of lap seven, meaning Van Langendonck won ahead of team-mate Alfie Slater, Levi Arn (Jenzer Motorsport), Alisha Palmowski (Campos Racing) and Noah Killion (US).
Only three drivers technically qualified for race two on Sunday, which also took place in gloomy conditions so wet-weather tyres were the go-to. Palmowski and AKM Motorsport’s Felipe Reijs and Vittorio Orsini filled the grid’s top three spots, and Ruta started fourth thanks to his laptimes from pre-event testing.
The next places were filled by Van Langendonck, Rocco Coronel (VAR), Thomas Bearman (VAR), Bansal, Lennon and Slater. There was drama on the formation lap as Olexander Savinkov (US) spun, but it proved inconsequential.
Palmowski was slow off the line and Reijs was ahead on the inside, but the pole-sitter had the grippier line down the hill to turn one so actually pulled back ahead. On the outside, Coronel swept into second and he was in the lead after turn two.
There was a three-wide fight for second at turn three, and Van Langendonck took the position. Bearman flew off at the turn six hairpin but rejoined in fourth alongside Ruta. Palmowski made a mistake at Gancho lost out to Ruta, with Slater and Lennon in sixth and seventh ahead of Reijs.
Bearman dived down Palmowski’s inside at turn six on lap two but went deep again and conceded the place he briefly claimed. He instead got past at turn seven, with the Rodin duo following through in the next corners.
As Coronel gradually pulled away from Van Langendonck, Ruta was dropped by several seconds and on lap four he came under attack from Bearman at turn one. His team-mate went past on the outside, but ventured too deep and was back behind with Lennon on his tail. Bearman repeated his turn six error, tried passing at turn seven then at Gancho contact led to Slater spinning down the order.
Eventually Bearman did get past his team-mate, and by the time Lennon cleared Ruta he and Bearman were over 13 seconds behind Coronel. That gap was then eliminated on lap six as the safety car appeared.
The restart was two laps later, and Coronel nailed his timing to prevent Van Langendonck from attacking. When his chaser showed suprerior pace on the next lap, Coronel responded with the fastest lap and began lap 13 with a 5.8s gap to Bearman who was being attacked by Lennon.
AKM’s Abdullah Kamel triggered another safety car period at the end of that lap, but the field was able to race again on the 15th and final lap and Coronel comfortably claimed victory.
Bansal had overtaken Ruta on lap 13, and after Lennon made a failed overtaking attempt on Bearman around the outside of turn one he came under attack for fourth. At turn six Bansal made a lunge, Lennon ran off but they maintained their positions. Savinkov and Pedro Lima (VAR) finished seventh and eight from 16th and 18th on the grid respectively, and Palmowski was shuffled down to 11th on the final lap.
Drivers headed to race three’s grid on slick tyres, but the track was damp and Chiara Battig (Campos) started from the pitlane rather than 29th after opting to change to the grooved rubber.
Van Langendonck had pole and moved to the inside to cover off Lennon, allowing Coronel to go from fourth to second on the outside. But he braked early for turn one and Lennon got back past. A four-car crash at turn two meant the safety car was called, with the boards being shown as the leading drivers reached turn six. Lennon, Bearman and Coronel narrowly avoided colliding.
Savinkov and Orsini pitted for wet tyres, and a majority of drivers made the same decision in the next laps as it started raining. Bearman and Coronel went in on lap four, leaving Lennon to attack Van Langendonck on the lap five restart. Savinkov was up to fourth by turn three, and by turn six the sliding Bansal led him, Battig and Orsini as Van Langendonck fell down the order before slithering into the pits along with his team-mates.
Mathilda Paatz (Mathilda Racing) was among those on a charge, while Palmowski lost ground and her front wing.
The top two were testing the limits of worsening track conditions, and on lap eight Savinkov got alongside Bansal exiting turn six then swept around the outside of him through turn seven. Battig went down Bansal’s inside at turn three two laps later, and Paatz did the same on lap 11.
Savinkov ended up winning the treacherous 13-lap encounter by 7.725s, with Bansal holding off Orsini for fourth while Samuel Ifrid took sixth after battling past his early-pitting Cram Motorsport team-mate Andre Rodriguez and then Arn.
Palmowski finished 15th, two places ahead of Coronel. Bearman was 20th, and Van Langendonck was Rodin’s top driver in a very distant 22nd with fastest lap.
Results round-up
Race 1 (7 laps)
1 Dries Van Langendonck Rodin Motorsport 37m52.840s
2 Alfie Slater Rodin Motorsport +1.050s
3 Levi Arn Jenzer Motorsport +2.026s
4 Alisha Palmowski Campos Racing +2.789s
5 Noah Killion US Racing +3.593s
6 Arjen Kraling US Racing +4.618s
7 Felipe Reijs AKM Motorsport +5.865s
8 Tomas Rudokas Renauer Motorsport +6.999s
9 Ginevra Panzeri AS Motorsport +8.160s
10 Ludovico Busso US Racing +9.051s
Fastest lap: Kraling, 2m12.718s
Race 2 (15 laps)
1 Rocco Coronel Van Amersfoort Racing 33m59.657s
2 Van Langendonck +0.857s
3 Thomas Bearman Van Amersfoort Racing +2.570s
4 Ethan Lennon Rodin Motorsport +2.991s
5 Ary Bansal US Racing +3.553s
6 Alexander Ruta Van Amersfoort Racing +4.534s
7 Olexander Savinkov US Racing +5.755s
8 Pedro Lima Van Amersfoort Racing +6.079s
9 Oscar Repetto Cram Motorsport +6.518s
10 Samuel Ifrid Cram Motorsport +7.461s
FL: Coronel, 1m55.819s
Race 3 (13 laps)
1 Savinkov 33m09.777s
2 Chiara Battig Campos Racing +7.725s
3 Mathilda Paatz Mathilda Racing +8.802s
4 Bansal +14.253s
5 Vittorio Orsini AKM Motorsport +14.933s
6 Ifrid +15.712s
7 Arn +16.399s
8 Andre Rodriguez Cram Motorsport +17.336s
9 Abdullah Kamel AKM Motorsport +22.388s
10 Busso +23.823s
FL: Van Langendonck, 1m59.979s
Championship standings
1 Van Langendonck 48 2 Savinkov 31 3 Coronel 26 4 Bansal 22 5 Arn 21 6 Battig 18 7 Slater 18 8 Bearman 15 9 Paatz 15 10 Palmowski 12