Photo: Chris Schotanus
Lotus F1 junior driver Esteban Ocon reaped the spoils of war in race one of the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC season at Hockenheim, taking a race victory after the leading duo of Matt Parry and Jake Dennis hit trouble.
Ocon started the race in third behind Parry and Dennis and wasn’t looking to particularly trouble them when an accident between the two demoted Parry to third and put reigning champion Dennis out of the points.
As such, Mikko Pakari picked up second while Oliver Rowland managed to pass Parry for third with a few laps to go. The Caterham junior’s car was clearly damaged but, due to a safety car brought out by Miika Laiho, he managed to make it to the end without losing any more positions.
Another Intersteps graduate, Jack Aitken, was fifth, ahead of Andrea Pizzitola and Shahaan Engineer. Teammates Steijn Schothorst and Gustav Malja were eighth and ninth ahead of Victor Sendin.
Dennis Olsen picked up some decent points in 11th, despite losing a few spots. Kuba Dalewski, Raoul Owens and Ed Jones followed, while Yu Kanamaru rounded out the top 15. The rest of the points were picked up by Erik Johansson, Roman Beregech, Aurelien Panis, Javier Merlo and Jakub Smiechowski.
Race results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Esteban Ocon | ART Junior Team | 14 laps in 25:41.882 |
| 2 | Mikko Pakari | Fortec Motorsports | +0.172 |
| 3 | Oliver Rowland | Manor MP Motorsport | +0.764 |
| 4 | Matt Parry | Fortec Motorsports | +2.169 |
| 5 | Jack Aitken | Fortec Motorsports | +2.277 |
| 6 | Andrea Pizzitola | ART Junior Team | +2.772 |
| 7 | Shahaan Engineer | Fortec Motorsports | +2.933 |
| 8 | Steijn Schothorst | Josef Kaufmann Racing | +3.171 |
| 9 | Gustav Malja | Josef Kaufmann Racing | +3.585 |
| 10 | Victor Sendin | AV Formula | +4.323 |
| 11 | Dennis Olsen | Josef Kaufmann Racing | +4.469 |
| 12 | Kuba Dalewski | JD Motorsport | +5.338 |
| 13 | Raoul Owens | Mark Burdett Racing | +5.910 |
| 14 | Ed Jones | Fortec Motorsports | +6.162 |
| 15 | Yu Kanamaru | KTR | +7.106 |
| 16 | Erik Johansson | KEO Racing | +7.815 |
| 17 | Roman Beregech | Fortec Competition | +8.016 |
| 18 | Aurelien Panis | RC Formula | +8.357 |
| 19 | Javier Merlo | Manor MP Motorsport | +8.861 |
| 20 | Jakub Smiechowski | EuroInterpol | +9.798 |
| 21 | Tanart Sathienthirakul | ART Junior Team | +10.148 |
| 22 | Patric Armand | Fortec Motorsports | +11.498 |
| 23 | Cedric Freiburghaus | SL Formula | +12.411 |
| 24 | Jake Dennis | Fortec Motorsports | +13.095 |
| 25 | Louis Del?traz | Josef Kaufmann Racing | +13.390 |
| 26 | Juan Branger | JD Motorsport | +13.907 |
| 27 | Andres Mendez | Mark Burdett Racing | +15.581 |
| 28 | Simon Stoller | SL Formula | +16.631 |
| 29 | Julio Moreno | JTR Racing | +17.478 |
| 30 | Ryan Tveter | Fortec Competition | +18.282 |
| 31 | Nicolas Jamin | ART Junior Team | +1 lap |
| 32 | Alexander Albon | KTR | +1 lap |
| 33 | Miika Laiho | PositiOne Motorsport | +4 laps |
| Not classified | |||
| Alfonso Celis | Fortec Competition | +7 laps | |
| Roman Mavlanov | RC Formula | +13 laps | |
| Ignazio D’Agosto | KTR | +14 laps | |
| Fran Rueda | AV Formula | +14 laps | |
| Alex Baron | ART Junior Team | +14 laps | |