Jousse earns maiden win in Spain
Julien Jousse has finally earned his maiden win in the World Series, after two years of hard graft in the championship
The Frenchman's Barcelona victory also moved him ahead of Fabio Carbone into second position in the drivers' standings, and allowed his Tech 1 squad to clinch the team's title.
Carlin teammates Mikhail Aleshin and Robert Wickens finished in second and third, but Aleshin's result remains in doubt owing to his role in an ugly accident in which Comtec's Marco Bonanomi somersaulted down the pit straight.
Bonanomi had been poised to take the lead from Aleshin on lap 11, and ducked out from the Russian's slipstream. Aleshin moved to the right to counter the move and the pair touched wheels.
The Comtec car clipped the support structure of the scoring tower during its flight and proceeded to carve up the grass next to the exit of the pitlane with its roll-hoop as it came to rest. Miraculously, the Italian was reported to be uninjured from the experience.
Aleshin lost the lead to Jousse on the restart by running too deep into the tight, left-hand La Caixa corner.
Although struggling with increased braking vibrations, he was then able to fend off a spirited drive from Wickens in the closing laps.
"I have waited a long time for my first victory," said Jousse. "The fight with Bonanomi and Aleshin was very hard, and I was very fearful for Marco when he had his accident. When Aleshin made a little mistake on the restart I had it very easy until the end of the race."
Having witnessed the carnage, Wickens was equally concerned over the wellbeing of his rival.
"I had to close my eyes when I saw Marco take off," said Wickens. "I didn't want to see what was going to happen to him. Hats off to Dallara for making such a strong car, but if he had hit the tower square on I think it would have been bad."
Filipe Albuquerque finished fourth in his second outing of the year with Epsilon-Euskadi, three tenths of a second ahead of Fabio Carbone.
Albuquerque had qualified 19th, but took advantage of a confused restart from a safety car period to leapfrog six places in one lap. Prema's Alvaro Barba made a stunning recovery from a first lap accident with Marcos Martinez to claim sixth with a move around the outside of James Walker at turn one on the last lap.
Catalan Miguel Molina saw his outside hopes of finishing in the runner-up spot in the championship evaporate with contact at the first corner on the opening lap. The victor at Barcelona in 2007 turned in across the bows of reverse grid pole-sitter Fairuz Fauzy's Fortec machine, resulting in the retirement of both drivers. A further accident at turn five brought out the safety car on lap one, with Aleshin leading Bonanomi, Jousse in third and Ultimate-Signature's Esteban Guerrieri in fourth.
Guerrieri encountered gearbox gremlins on the restart, and the field was bunched up behind the Argentinean as the following drivers were unable to commit to an overtaking move before crossing the start/finish line.
Bertrand Baguette and Sergey Afanasiev were caught unawares as Guerrieri failed to accelerate up to speed, and the ensuing accident accounted for the premature end the afternoon's work for both men.
Full report to follow.
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Julien Jousse Tech 1 Racing 47:00.549 2. Mikhail Aleshin Carlin + 9.343 3. Robert Wickens Carlin + 9.554 4. Filipe Albuquerque Epsilon-Euskadi + 10.086 5. Fabio Carbone Ultimate-Signature + 10.319 6. Alvaro Barba Prema Powerteam + 10.766 7. James Walker Fortec + 12.135 8. Charles Pic Tech 1 + 13.409 9. Alexandre Marsoin Epsilon-Euskadi + 17.901 10. Duncan Tappy RC + 23.958 11. Aleix Alcaraz Pons + 27.773 12. Pablo Sanchez Interwetten.Com + 28.548 13. Pippa Mann P1 + 28.988 14. Sten Pentus Comtec + 29.457 15. Siso Cunill KTR + 44.067 16. Marco Barba Draco + 3 laps Not classified Driver Team Laps Marco Bonanomi Comtec 11 laps Claudio Cantelli RC 10 laps Bertrand Baguette Draco 5 laps Esteban Guerrieri Ultimate-Signature 5 laps Sergey Afanasiev KTR 4 laps Miguel Molina Prema Powerteam 0 laps Marcos Martinez Pons 0 laps Fairuz Fauzy Fortec 0 laps
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