Ghiotto claims maiden Eurocup victory in Spa

Photo: Renault Sport/DPPI

Luca Ghiotto resisted strong pressure from Pierre Gasly to hold on and win his first Formula Renault 2.0 race.

The Italian Ghiotto took the lead early on from team mate Antonio Fuoco and had to deal with the distraction of a red flag, two safety cars and the eager Tech 1 of Gasly but stayed calm.

The red flag was deployed after an accident at Eau Rouge involving Gregor Ramsay and Stefan Wackerbauer, thankfully both walked away unharmed from the collision.

At the restart Oscar Tunjo began to fall back down the field as Gasly, Bruno Bonifacio and Jake Dennis came through.

Contact between Andrea Pizzitola and Ignazio D?Agosto left the KTR man in the wall and the safety car came out once more.

Gasly looked to capitalise on the opportunity to get closer to Ghiotto when the safety car went in and the pair battled fiercely for the lead. However Ghiotto defended and managed to bring the car home in first for his maiden victory since arriving in the series from Formula Abarth.

Prema?s Bonifacio overtook pole-man Fuoco to collect his first Eurocup podium. Fuoco ended up fourth while yesterday?s winner Oliver Rowland dropped away from the front late on as Dennis finished in fifth for Fortec.

Tunjo, Esteban Ocon and Nyck de Vries finished sixth, seventh and eighth with Mikko Pakari in ninth ahead of ARTA driver, William Vermont.

Gasly?s consistent points finishes now see him take over the lead of the championship after Matthieu Vaxiviere failed to build on his double race win at Motorland.

Race results