Huertas claims surprise race two win at drenched Aragon

Photo: Renault Sport/DPPI

Carlos Huertas produced a controlled drive in atrocious conditions to take a surprise win in the second Formula Renault 3.5 race at an extremely wet Motorland Aragon.

The Carlin driver had qualified second in the earlier rain-affected session, and inherited the lead when Norman Nato skated off at the first corner once the green flag was shown after a safety car start.

Huertas then took advantage of the clear track ahead of him without any spray to open up a healthy advantage desipte an off-track encounter, crossing the line nearly 12 seconds ahead of anyone else.

His cause was helped when the two drivers behind him, Sergey Sirotkin and Stoffel Vandoorne, had a moment together. Vandoorne slid down the inside of Sirotkin’s ISR car at the end of the back straight but went far too deep, but did manage to keep hold of third. Arthur Pic had started the race between the pair, but slowed to a halt after just one lap behind the safety car.

Will Stevens kept Nico Muller at bay to add a fourth place to his second from Saturday, while Nigel Melker passed?Antonio Felix da Costa around the outside in the closing moments to snatch sixth.

Christopher Zanella had been running eighth but stopped on track with a few minutes to go, promoting Andre Negrao. Saturday’s dominant winner Kevin Magnussen fought his way back to finish ninth after starting at the rear, while fellow Dane?Marco Sorensen beat Mikhail Aleshin to tenth.

Magnussen holds the championship lead after two meetings with 63 points to Vandoorne’s 59. Despite his non-finish, Pic has jumped Felix da Costa for third with Stevens and Sirotkin only a point behind the Red Bull man. The Monaco Grand Prix support race is next up.