Photo: World Series by Renault
Antonio Felix da Costa converted pole position into victory in race two of the opening round of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series at Monza, finishing ahead of rivals Kevin Magnussen and Stoffel Vandoorne.
Race one winner Vandoorne got the jump on Felix da Costa at the start to take the lead, but the Portuguese driver fought back at the start of the second lap. Vandoorne stayed ahead going into the first chicane but had to cut the corner. Forced to give up the lead to Felix da Costa, he also fell behind Magnussen.
The Dane now had the momentum, and took the lead away from Felix da Costa with a brave move around the outside of the Parabolica. Felix da Costa came back though, regaining the place at the first chicane.
Magnussen remained around a second behind Felix da Costa for the rest of the race, but was made to settle for second place as the Arden Caterham driver kick-started his campaign with victory after a puncture forced him to retire from Saturday’s race
Vandoorne came under pressure from Nico Muller once he’d lost the lead, but although he maintained third place, he was unable to keep up with the leading duo. He does however lead the championship standings after his debut weekend, four points ahead of Magnussen and 15 ahead of Felix da Costa.
Just as on Saturday, Arthur Pic produced a storming drive for new team AV Formula. After starting back in 16th, the Frenchman was up to eighth on the first lap before passing Sergey Sirotkin,compatriot Norman Nato,?Oliver Webb and Muller, and was even chasing down Vandoorne in the closing stages.
Muller came home fifth, and Webb would have been sixth had it not been for a last-lap puncture that dropped him to ninth behind Nato, Pietro Fantin and Christopher Zanella. Sirotkin had stopped out of eighth a few laps from the end. Mikhail Aleshin led a gaggle of cars across the line for tenth, but the final point went to Mihai Marinescu after the Russian was given a ten second penalty.
Race results
| Pos | Driver? | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Arden Caterham | 29 laps in 46:24.405 |
| 2 | Kevin Magnussen | DAMS | +2.767 |
| 3 | Stoffel Vandoorne | Fortec Motorsports | +5.922 |
| 4 | Arthur Pic | AV Formula | +11.600 |
| 5 | Nico Muller | International Draco Racing | +16.805 |
| 6 | Norman Nato | DAMS | +28.467 |
| 7 | Pietro Fantin | Arden Caterham | +29.106 |
| 8 | Christopher Zanella | ISR | +37.524 |
| 9 | Oliver Webb | Fortec Motorsports | +41.314 |
| 10 | Mihai Marinescu | Zeta Corse | +51.737 |
| 11 | Nigel Melker | Tech 1 Racing | +52.018 |
| 12 | Marlon Stockinger | Lotus | +52.250 |
| 13 | Andre Negrao | International Draco Racing | +52.921 |
| 14 | Mikhail Aleshin | Tech 1 Racing | +1:01.439 |
| 15 | Yann Cunha | AV Formula | +1:06.629 |
| 16 | Carlos Huertas | Carlin | +1:09.426 |
| 17 | Emmanuel Piget | Zeta Corse | +1:11.811 |
| 18 | Marco Sorensen | Lotus | +1 lap |
| 19 | Sergey Sirotkin | ISR | +3 laps |
| 20 | Zoel Amberg | Pons Racing | +3 laps |
| Not classified | |||
| Daniil Move | SMP Racing by Comtec | 23 laps | |
| Will Stevens | P1 Motorsport | 17 laps | |
| Nikolay Martsenko | Pons Racing | 17 laps | |
| Jazeman Jaafar | Carlin | 6 laps | |
| Lucas Foresti | SMP Racing by Comtec | 0 laps | |
| Matias Laine | P1 Motorsport | 0 laps | |
Drivers’ championship after one of nine rounds
| Pos | Driver | Team | Points |
| 1 | Stoffel Vandoorne | Fortec Motorsports | 40 |
| 2 | Kevin Magnussen | DAMS | 36 |
| 3 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Arden Caterham | 25 |
| 4 | Arthur Pic | AV Formula | 20 |
| 5 | Christopher Zanella | ISR | 19 |