David Vidales ends debut Eurocup weekend with second Imola win

Photo: Antonin Vincent / DPPI

Spanish teenager David Vidales controlled the second Formula Renault Eurocup race at Imola to claim back-to-back wins on his first-weekend racing single-seaters.

After claiming a maiden Eurocup pole and win on Saturday, Vidales was beaten to pole position for the Sunday race by his JD Motorsport team-mate William Alatalo.

Vidales was able to ease past Alatalo on the run down to Turn 1 on the opening lap and assumed a race lead that he would maintain until the chequered flag.

His second consecutive victory not only ensures that he’s the first repeat winner of the year, but also the first driver since current McLaren Formula 1 driver Lando Norris to earn back-to-back wins on his maiden Eurocup weekend.

Alatalo claimed his second consecutive podium finish in second place, with Arden’s Alex Quinn standing on the podium in third place for the first time since the season-opening race at Monza after fending off intense late-race pressure from ART Grand Prix driver Victor Martins.

Martins made a bold move on R-ace GP’s Renault junior Caio Collet into Tamburello shortly after an early safety car period, caused by Collet’s team-mate Petr Ptacek going off, to move up into fourth place.

Collet took fifth place behind Martins to extend his points lead, while ART’s Paul Aron made amends for his off in race one with a sixth-place finish ahead of MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto.

Arden’s Ugo de Wilde recovered from an early-race off to finish in eighth place ahead of FA Racing by Manor duo Tijmen van der Helm and Amaury Cordeel  – earning the team’s second double-points finish in the championship.

Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award winner Johnathan Hoggard was on course for his first points finish in only his second Eurocup start, before a couple of off-track excursions dropped him to a lapped 18th at the end of the race.

Race results