Photo: Formula Winter Series
US Racing’s Gabriel Gomez took the Formula Winter Series title with a race to spare at Barcelona on Sunday.
Drivers’ second-best laptimes from the first qualifying session set the race two grid, putting Hitech GP’s Leo Robinson pole by 0.103 seconds over Jenzer Motorsport’s Artem Severiukhin.
US’s Kabir Anurag and Hitech’s Fionn McLaughlin were on row two of a very wet grid, and Jenzer’s newcomer Javier Herrera was an impressive fifth ahead of team-mate Bart Harrison, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Maximilian Popov and champion-elect Gomez.
AKM Motorsport’s Ginevra Panzeri had a crash that meant the safety car appeared on lap one, and Robinson initially led McLaughlin and Anurag. However technical trouble put Anurag out on lap three, so Harrison was third for the lap five restart.
The top two immediately pulled away when racing got underway again, and Hitech’s Thomas Bearman passed Gomez for ninth in the final sector but Gomez got back past.
Gomez and Bearman cleared AKM’s Davide Larini on lap six, and they each gained a spot on lap seven when US’s MaximRehmw enht off. Bearman gained another by getting down the inside of Gomez at turn four, and on lap 10 Popov spun out of fifth at turn one.
Bearman did not profit though, as he had a big off and rejoined down the order. Robinson had been 6.3s clear of McLaughlin, but the safety car returned and cut his advantage to nothing. Racing resumed on lap 12, and Gomez passed Herrera, who then went off at turn six, as Larini spun at turn two.
Gomez was now fifth, a position he held to the end to become champion as Robinson won. Bearman got back up to sixth, passing Rehm on the final lap after cutting turn two.
The track was dry for race three, with Rehm on pole. Bearman made the best start from third to lead into turn one, and Robinson also went past the slow-launching Rehm. McLaughlin, ninth on the grid, fared even worse as he dropped to 27th.
Bearman sprinted away up front, but had a five-second penalty for jumping the start, and Robinson held off Rehm until they collided at turn one on lap eight. Rehm punctured and crashed out, and Robinson got a five-second penalty for the incident.
Gomez dived past Severiukhin later in the lap to sit fifth behind Harrison, Anurag and Robinson.
Harrison almost forced Anurag off defending down the pit straight on lap 13, copping himself a five-second penalty for track limits abuse. Further back, Popov had passed Larini for eighth.
Outside of the points was the fastest driver on track, VAR’s Alexander Ruta, but he then crashed into McLaughlin, got a penalty and both had to pit. Popov cleared Sereviukhin on lap 14, as Robinson began forcing Gomez off the road in defence. He held him off, but they were gapped by the drivers ahead and it only further jumbled the order as Popov got 15s in track limits penalties and Harrison, Robinson and Larini also were penalised.
Anurag inherited victory, ahead of Bearman, Harrison, Gomez and Jenzer’s Enea Frey.
Results round-up
Race 2 (13 laps)
1 Leo Robinson Hitech GP 32m25.632s
2 Fionn McLaughlin Hitech GP +1.110s
3 Bart Harrison Jenzer Motorsport +2.203s
4 Artem Severiukhin Jenzer Motorsport +2.784s
5 Gabriel Gomez US Racing +5.560s
6 Thomas Bearman Hitech GP +6.080s
7 Maxim Rehm US Racing +7.412s
8 Andrea Dupe AS Motorsport +8.029s
9 Andrija Kostic US Racing +8.341s
10 Luka Sammalisto US Racing +9.573s
Pole: Robinson, 2m03.204s
Fastest lap: Robinson, 1m59.424s
Race 3 (19 laps)
1 Kabir Anurag US Racing 33m23.090s
2 Bearman +1.459s
3 Harrison +4.308s
4 Gomez +4.399s
5 Enea Frey Jenzer Motorsport +5.925s
6 Severeiukhin +7.227s
7 Kirill Kutskov Maffi Racing +12.624s
8 Robinson +13.683s
9 Sammalisto +16.733s
10 Davide Larini AKM Motorsport +17.309s
FL: Alexander Ruta, 1m44.010s
Championship standings
1 Gomez 204 2 L Robinson 163 3 McLaughlin 151 4 Anurag 138 5 Popov 88 6 Rehm 79 7 Harrison 68 8 Bearman 60 9 Frey 54 10 Severiukhin 42