Spa NEC: Norris doubles up after epic duel with Defourny
Lando Norris was victorious in the second Formula Renault 2.0 NEC race at Spa-Francorchamps after a feisty battle with Max Defourny.
Race 1 winner Lando Norris, Josef Kaufmann Racing
Josef Kaufmann Racing
Unlike on Friday, it was bright and sunny at Spa for Race 2 as Norris led the way at the start.
Meanwhile, Defourny slotted in to second after overtaking Sacha Fenestraz and James Allen at Turn 1.
However, the field was bunched up straightaway when the safety car was out to collect the cars of Will Palmer and Jehan Daruvala.
Having been unable to set a time in a red-flagged Qualifying 2, the duo started from the back of the grid.
The Indian spun at Les Combes after he was tagged from behind and Palmer, unable to take evasive action, went airborne into the tyre barrier.
After two laps behind the SC, the race got going and Defourny swept past Norris as both continued to fight throughout the lap.
Norris took it back going around the outside of the R-ace GP car at Blanchimont in a brave move but the Belgian once again had the upper hand at Turn 1 to go into the lead.
Defourny then managed to hold on until the penultimate lap, when Norris came back at him to overtake at Turn 1.
But Defourny re-took the spot at Les Combes only to make a mistake at Bruxelles, giving Norris the opportunity to dive to the inside and take the lead.
The British driver took the chequered flag first to take his second win of the weekend and become the new championship leader.
Behind the lead battle, Fenestraz finished third, having defended well from a fighting duo of Allen and Alex Gill.
At the restart, Gill took fourth place from Allen but with two laps remaining the Australian fought back to retake the position as the former ended up fifth.
Dorian Boccolacci was sixth ahead of Ferdinand Habsburg, who made up six places, having started the race from 13th.
Robert Shwartzman eventually finished eighth, having dropped to 11th while taking evasive action from a spinning Bartlomiej Mirecki on the first lap.
The top 10 was completed by Henrique Chaves and Hugo de Sadeleer, the latter making up 10 places from 20th on the grid.
Race 2 results:
Pos | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lando Norris | Josef Kaufmann Racing | 10 | 27'09.840 |
2 | Max Defourny | R-ace GP | 10 | 0.722 |
3 | Sacha Fenestraz | Tech 1 Racing | 10 | 2.640 |
4 | James Allen | JD Motorsport | 10 | 3.060 |
5 | Alex Gill | Mark Burdett Motorsport | 10 | 4.315 |
6 | Dorian Boccolacci | Tech 1 Racing | 10 | 4.904 |
7 | Ferdinand Habsburg | Fortec Motorsports | 10 | 8.502 |
8 | Robert Shwartzman | Josef Kaufmann Racing | 10 | 9.086 |
9 | Henrique Chaves Jr. | AVF | 10 | 9.998 |
10 | Hugo de Sadeleer | Tech 1 Racing | 10 | 10.431 |
11 | Vasiliy Romanov | Fortec Motorsports | 10 | 12.271 |
12 | Julien Falchero | R-ace GP | 10 | 12.969 |
13 | Nikita Troitskiy | Fortec Motorsports | 10 | 14.756 |
14 | Alexey Korneev | JD Motorsport | 10 | 15.446 |
15 | Laurents Horr | Dutt Motorsport | 10 | 20.461 |
16 | Gabriel Aubry | Tech 1 Racing | 10 | 21.433 |
17 | Bartek Mirecki | BM Racing Team | 10 | 22.006 |
18 | Antoni Ptak | Cram Motorsport | 10 | 26.678 |
19 | Bruno Baptista | Fortec Motorsports | 10 | 29.587 |
20 | Kasper Larsen | KEO Racing | 10 | 31.578 |
21 | Nerses Isaakyan | AVF | 10 | 34.228 |
22 | Finlay Hutchison | Mark Burdett Motorsport | 10 | 34.669 |
23 | Thomas Neubauer | Formula Motorsport | 10 | 36.908 |
24 | Nicolas Melin | Formula Motorsport | 10 | 37.223 |
25 | Pietro Peccenini | TS Corse | 10 | 43.391 |
26 | Julia Pankiewicz | AVF | 10 | 43.613 |
27 | P.Haezebrouck | Formula Motorsport | 10 | 1'12.480 |
28 | Ghislain Cordeel | JD Motorsport | 10 | 2'04.326 |
- | Jehan Daruvala | Josef Kaufmann Racing | 0 | |
- | Will Palmer | R-ace GP | 0 |
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