Bansal wins FWinter Series thriller blighted by track limits abuse

Photo: Gedlich Racing

US Racing’s Ary Bansal won a dramatic Formula Winter Series race at Motorland Aragon that took place in changing conditions.

The track was wet for qualifying on Saturday morning, and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Thomas Bearman took pole. He was quickest by 0.63 seconds over US’s Olexandar Savinkov, but he had exceeded track limits on his fastest lap so had it deleted and Bansal moved up to second.

Bansal was 0.903s slower than Bearman, and Rodin Motorsport’s Dries Van Langendonck was 1.075s off the pace in third. Cram Motorsport’s Samuel Ifrid and Savinkov ended up 1.712s and 1.809s behind, with US’s Noah Killion a further 0.05s back and the last driver within two seconds of pole. Two drivers lost all of their laptimes to track limits abuse, and US’s Ludovico Busso only completed an outlap. AKM Motorsport’s George Proudford-Nalder qualified ninth for his single-seater debut.

It was still wet off-line in areas when race one began. Ifrid lost fourth, then reclaimed it, on the opening lap before VAR’s Alexander Ruta got past. Ifrid then spun at the downhill turn nine, a corner which most of the field cut every lap, and Jenzer Motorsport’s Markas Silkuna spun at the turn 16 hairpin.

The top four broke clear, and Proudford-Nalder began lap two in fifth ahead of Savinkov, Pedro Lima (VAR), Alfie Slater (Rodin), Platon Kostin (VAR) and Noah Killion (US).

Van Langendonck took second place on lap three, and it began raining at turn 12 a lap later. Bearman weaved down the back straight, and Van Langendonck slid through turn 16 so wasted the opportunity to attack.

On lap six, Van Langendonck and Bansal went to Bearman’s outside down the back straight but the leader hung on. Bansal attempted a pass at turn one next time by, and this time Van Langendonck used the outside then switched to inside at turn 16. He took the lead as Bearman ran deep, and Bansal went off at turn 18 trying to claim second.

Bansal completed a pass early in lap eight as Bearman ran wide, but they swapped places again and after Bearman went deep at turn 16 to defend against Bansal it allowed Ruta through into third. Bearman lost two spots by going off at the first corner of lap nine, but was back to second by turn nine as Ruta moved across on Bansal and then spun when contact was made. Only one spot was lost by Bansal, who did a switchback move at the turn 16 hairpin to snatch second again.

Van Langendonck was 2.43s up the road by lap 10, and was beginning to lap drivers. Bearman was his closest rival again at the end of lap 11, after Bansal had gone sliding through a particularly wet corner. Second place changed hands three times on lap 12, and despite battling the pair was closing in on the leader.

A group of lapped cars allowed Van Langendonck to pull away early in lap 14, but then he slid through turn eight and Bansal was right onto his tail. Some drivers were now also unlapping themselves, which initially assisted Van Langendonck until two went past at turn 16 and brought Bansal onto his gearbox again.

Van Langendonck went at turn one next time by and lost the lead, and after Bansal lost grip in sector three the fight for first continued. Bansal made a mistake at turn 16 but went deep to stop Van Langendonck on the outside from profiting, and won by 0.991s. Bearman was four seconds behind, then there was a 17s gap to Lima.

Savinkov had took fifth on lap two, then Lima’s pass for sixth sent Proudford-Nalder into a half-spin. Killion and Slater, who had been squabbling, cleared him on lap four and a lap later Savinkov had been demoted to seventh. He weaved down the back straight with Lima and Killion side-by-side behind him, then Lima made a turn 16 dive that sent Savinkov off and cost him two places.

Lima was very defensive against Killion thereon, until Savinkov regained a spot on lap nine. Killion passed him again on lap 10, bringing Rodin’s Ethan Lennon into the fight along with Ruta. They cleared Savinkov (as did Proudford-Nalder later on), then Killion held the the pair off.

But fifth place went to Lennon, who had started 20th, as Killion was one of 20 drivers to get track limits penalties. A 15s penalty demoted Ruta from seventh to 10th, and a 40s penalty sent Campos Racing’s Alisha Palmowski from 11th down to 19th. Savinkov was penalised five seconds for causing a collision.

Race results (15 laps)