McLaughlin shines through the spray for FWinter Series victory

Photo: FWinter Series

Hitech GP’s Fionn McLaughlin won the second Formula Winter Series race at Motorland Aragon, which took place on a very wet track surface.

US Racing’s Gabriel Gomez started on pole, but he was barely able to accelerate away from the puddles in his grid box and his team-mate Maxim Rehm – who started from third place – moved straight into the lead.

The top three, completed by US’s Kabir Anurag, were flying off the track as they approach corners at racing speed for the first time, and they were also cutting corners in the downhill section of the lap.

Anurag went down the inside of Rehm at the end of the back straight, but Rehm moved straight back before the next corner and 1.4 seconds split the trio at the end of lap one. A further 1.2s back was McLaughlin, but he would soon be the fastest driver on track.

A repeat attempt of his overtake on Gomez worked on lap two for Anurag, as further back Hitech’s Leo Robinson held off Van Amersfoort Racing driver Maximilian Popov’s attacks for sixth.

Popov bided his time and slipped past at turn one on lap three instead, as the top three began to pull away but continued to go off track as they struggled for grip. Rehm got alongside Anurag briefly on lap three, but now Gomez was back involved and he tried going around the outside of the top two under braking at the end of the back straight. He had the drive from the exit of the hairpin to take second, and McLaughlin was still some distance behind although had set a new fastest lap.

By the end of lap four it was a lead group of four, with Gomez having to defend his position. McLaughlin went to the inside of Rehm at the hairpin for third, and Anurag set the fastest lap up front.

On the next lap McLaughlin took second from Gomez and then had 2.7s to make up on Anurag. The 2.7s lead began to shrink, and on lap eight McLaughlin cut two seconds off Anurag’s gap. He hounded him down the back straight, and on lap nine they went side-by-side for several corners before McLaughlin moved ahead.

He then had the pace to break away, but the safety car was summoned after AS Motorsport’s Mathilda Paatz hit out VAR’s Payton Westcott and the latter’s car had to be retrieved. That left time for one more lap of racing, and McLaughlin escaped to win.

Anurag held second, and Rehm briefly got past Gomez for third before getting crossed up in the wet and dropping back behind.

Race results (13 laps)