Home News Felix da Costa scores first victory of 2013

Felix da Costa scores first victory of 2013

by Peter Allen

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