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Martinez takes another FR3.5 win

Marcos Martinez extended his Formula Renault 3.5 Series points lead with a flawless fourth win of the season in round five at Silverstone

The Pons driver got the jump on championship rival, and reverse-grid polesitter, Bertrand Baguette away from the line before withstanding a spirited challenge from Fairuz Fauzy over the closing laps.

To complete Martinez's celebrations, the Spaniard will now sample a 2008 Renault R28 Formula 1 car as his prize for leading the series at the halfway stage.

"My start was really good," said Martinez, "but I had to push very hard to keep Baguette behind in the early laps. Once I was five or six seconds ahead I had to push again as Fauzy was closing on me very quickly and my tyres were really bad. It is going to be a great experience to drive the Formula 1 car, World Series to F1 in ten minutes!"

Polesitter Baguette maintained contact with Martinez over the early laps but, under concerted pressure from Fauzy, out-braked himself at Abbey on lap 18 and dropped four positions through a grassy excursion.

Once unleashed from behind Baguette, Fauzy put in the drive of the race to whittle down a 4.6-second deficit to close to within half a second of Martinez. However, the Malaysian's tyres were unable to sustain the pace being asked of them, leaving Fauzy to opt for a safe second place.

"What a day," said Fauzy. "Baguette was getting slower and slower, I think he was struggling for grip, but the longer I was stuck behind him the more I struggled with grip too - because of the aero effect.

"Once through, I saw the pit board and there was only eight minutes left. I was really pushing, but I think Martinez had a little bit more tyre left than me as he had been out in the lead all race."

Oliver Turvey claimed third place, as the Carlin driver narrowly avoided collecting Baguette as the Draco racer rejoined the circuit from his misdemeanour.

Friday's pacesetter James Walker took a restrained fourth. The Jersey driver's P1 Motorsport team-mate Danill Move started from third on the grid but lost the opportunity for a solid points haul by running onto the grass at Vale on lap three. The error necessitated a pitstop to remove grass from his sidepods.

Red Bull young guns Brendon Hartley and Jaime Alguersuari also benefited from Baguette's late lapse to complete the top six; Alguersuari braving it around the outside of Baguette at Priory.

Pos  Driver                Team               Time/Gap
 1.  Marcos Martinez       Pons             45m49.264s
 2.  Fairuz Fauzy          Fortec           +   1.227s
 3.  Oliver Turvey         Carlin           +   3.218s
 4.  James Walker          P1               +   5.105s
 5.  Brendon Hartley       Tech 1           +   6.111s
 6.  Jaime Alguersuari     Carlin           +   6.717s
 7.  Charles Pic           Tech 1           +  11.978s
 8.  Bertrand Baguette     Draco            +  15.501s
 9.  Miguel Molina         Ultimate         +  15.893s
10.  Marco Barba           Draco            +  18.178s
11.  Greg Mansell          Ultimate         +  19.105s
12.  Adrian Valles         Epsilon Euskadi  +  19.480s
13.  Adrian Zaugg          Interwetten      +  21.785s
14.  Sten Pentus           Fortec           +  22.207s
15.  Federico Leo          Pons             +  39.219s
16.  Guillaume Moreau      SG               +  39.913s
17.  Julian Leal           Prema            +  51.516s
18.  Daniil Move           P1               +  51.800s
19.  Filip Salaquarda      Prema            +1m10.775s
20.  Michael Herck         Interwetten      +1m11.853s
21.  John Martin           Comtec           +    1 lap
22.  Jon Lancaster         Comtec           +    1 lap

Retirements:

     Pasquale di Sabatino  RC               5 laps
     Chris van der Drift   Epsilon Euskadi  4 laps
     Anton Nebylitskiy     SG               0 laps

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