Vaxiviere wins again in Tech 1 one-two

Matthieu Vaxiviere produced a dominant drive from pole to win again in the wet at Aragon, completing a perfect season-opening weekend.

The Frenchman shot away quickly from the rest of the field, gradually increasing the gap over the course of the race from his Tech 1 team-mate Egor Orudzhev in second, achieving a one-two finish for the team, while they were joined on the podium by Britain?s Oliver Rowland.

The race started under the safety car due to the wet conditions and after two laps it pulled in and the racing commenced. Vaxiviere wasted no time in getting away, creating an early bit of breathing space for himself. Rowland made a positive start, jumping up to third-place from fifth on the grid getting in-front of Jake Dennis and Luca Ghiotto. Dennis dropped down to sixth as Oscar Tunjo came through, the Colombian then overtaking Ghiotto on lap four.

Pierre Gasly fell victim to Nyck de Vries, falling to ninth in the early stages then on lap six Ghiotto went off course, dropping way back down the field. Gasly was then overtaken by Ignazio D?Agosto of KTR for eighth.

Meanwhile out in front, Vaxiviere was unchallenged, increasing his lead to eight seconds as he took the flag with Orudzhev busy successfully keeping Rowland behind him collecting a maiden podium for himself in a weekend where the rookie has shown refreshing pace.
Tunjo found himself a few seconds further back ,missing out on the fight for the podium to come home in fourth with Dennis and Esteban Ocon in fifth and sixth.

Nyck de Vries finished seventh and will hope for more competitive weekends to come. In eight-place was D?Agosto followed by Gasly with William Vermont rounding off the top ten.

In the end it was a comfortable win for Vaxiviere and a superb weekend for the eighteen-year-old whose control of the meeting comes slightly as a surprise. His pre-season pace was a little inconsistent yet the 2011 French F4 Champion has proved himself at Aragon displaying his potential.
What will be most interesting to see is whether he can replicate his speed in the future in dryer conditions and to see who else will emerge on the dry track.

Race results

Series standings (points-scorers only)