Photo: Formula Winter Series
Alpine Formula 1 junior Kabir Anurag beat his US Racing team-mate Gabriel Gomez to win the first Formula Winter Series of the weekend at Motorland Aragon.
Gomez had been fastest by a quarter of a second in Saturday morning’s first qualifying session ahead of Anurag, who then pipped Thomas Bearman and Fionn McLaughlin to top qualifying two.
Series leader Gomez retained the lead from pole position at the start of the race, despite a lock-up into Turn 1. Behind him and Anurag, second-row starters Bart Harrison and Maxim Rehm battled over third place and collided in Turn 5, sustaining a broken front wing and a left-rear puncture respectively.
Heading into lap two, Anurag managed to find a way past Gomez to take the lead.
Even after being passed, Gomez was able to remain close behind Anurag, with the gap staying at around half a second through the middle of the race.
In the closing stages though, Anurag had pace in hand, setting a fastest lap half a second quicker than anything Gomez could do, and the gap grew to over three seconds by the chequered flag.
Gomez could still increase his championship lead to 54 points after nearest rival Leo Robinson, having qualified down in seventh, lost his front wing in the first corner of the race and ultimately retired.
Hitech’s Red Bull junior MacLaughlin scored his second podium of the campaign after holding off Maximilian Popov. The Van Amersfoort Racing driver had to fend off Andrija Kostic late on, with the US Racing driver being forced wide onto the grass exiting the Turn 16 hairpin.
Bearman could briefly take advantage to get ahead down the start-finish straight, but Kostic fought back to finish fifth.
Norwegian Marcus Saeter finished his debut single-seater race in 12th with AKM Motorsport, as the Ginetta Junior graduate prepares for an Italian Formula 4 campaign with Van Amersfoort Racing. One place behind was Rafaela Ferreira, who has replaced fellow Red Bull-contracted F1 Academy driver Alisha Palmowski with Campos Racing this weekend.
Race results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kabir Anurag | US Racing | 17 laps |
| 2 | Gabriel Gomez | US Racing | +3.136s |
| 3 | Fionn McLaughlin | Hitech | +4.998s |
| 4 | Maximilian Popov | Van Amersfoort Racing | +7.052s |
| 5 | Andrija Kostic | US Racing | +10.426s |
| 6 | Thomas Bearman | Hitech | +11.080s |
| 7 | Enea Frey | Jenzer Motorsport | +14.516s |
| 8 | Artem Severiukhin | Jenzer Motorsport | +14.732s |
| 9 | Nina Gademan | Hitech | +15.233s |
| 10 | Aleksander Ruta | Cram | +24.011s |
| 11 | Andrea Dupe | AS Motorsport | +33.885s |
| 12 | Marcus Saeter | AKM Motorsport | +34.696s |
| 13 | Rafaela Ferreira | Campos Racing | +38.885s |
| 14 | Genaro Trappa | Van Amersfoort Racing | +41.597s |
| 15 | Mathilda Paatz | AS Motorsport | +42.004s |
| 16 | Alba Hurup Larsen | Jenzer Motorsport | +42.702s |
| 17 | Teo Borenstein | Maffi Racing | +42.729s |
| 18 | Payton Westcott | Van Amersfoort Racing | +45.891s |
| 19 | Ginevra Panzeri | AKM Motorsport | +1m04.306s |
| 20 | Dante Vinci | Van Amersfoort Racing | +1m13.812s |
| 21 | Kornelia Olkucka | Maffi Racing | +1m39.047s |
| 22 | Chloe Chambers | Campos Racing | +1m54.189s |
| 23 | David Walther | Maffi Racing | +1 lap |
| 24 | Elia Weiss | Cram | +1 lap |
| Ret | Leo Robinson | Hitech | |
| Ret | Bart Harrison | Jenzer Motorsport | |
| Ret | Maxim Rehm | US Racing | |
| Ret | Simon Schranz | Renauer Motorsport | |
| Ret | Sebastian Bach | AS Motorsport | |
| Fastest lap: Anurag, 1m58.414s
Championship standings |
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