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Wickens controls opening Spa race

Robert Wickens produced a faultless victory in the opening Formula Renault 3.5 race of the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps

The Canadian led every lap from pole position and completed his dominance by setting fastest lap. Wickens' Carlin team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne tracked the Marussia-backed driver throughout. But, unwilling to chance a risky manoeuvre on his stable-mate, the reigning British Formula 3 champion settled for second, 2.6 seconds adrift at the chequered flag.

Wickens' only threat came from front row qualifier Albert Costa. The Spaniard staged an audacious outbraking attempt on Wickens at Les Combes on the opening lap. After locking-up spectacularly, Costa ran wide over the grass on the exit of the corner and was passed by Vergne. Costa survived, albeit with heavily flat-spotted tyres, to round out the podium for EPIC Racing.

"The start was much better than Motorland [Aragon]," said Wickens, referring to his minor first corner mistake in round one. "But I knew I was going to be in trouble on the straight after Eau Rouge. Albert had a pretty good run, but fortunately he braked a little too late. After that I opened up a small gap and maintained it for the next 23 laps."

Costa's tyre problems delayed the progress of KMP Racing's Nelson Panciatici in fourth and Gravity-Charouz driver Brendon Hartley. Although the trio contested the final podium position closely, the only overtaking move occurred on the final lap, when Kiwi Hartley passed Panciatici into Les Combes.

Sixth qualifier Daniel Ricciardo lost several places into Les Combes over the duration of the race. The Australian's ISR car appeared to suffer from a lack of straight-line speed.

Alexander Rossi [Fortec] took seventh position from Ricciardo on lap three, but the Motorland winner was unable to pass P1 Motorsport's Daniil Move for sixth spot. The battling duo were separated by just 0.3s at the finish. Red Bull Junior driver Ricciardo would score just a single point after slipping to 10th.

Wickens' win promotes him into the lead of the championship with 53 points, four clear of Rossi. Costa lies third with 42.

Draco's Andre Negrao did not start the race suffering an illness that contributed to his qualifying crash. The Brazilian was up and walking on the grid, but had earlier reported to have felt dizzy. Technical difficulties caused KMP Racing's Anton Nebylistkiy to join Negrao as a non-starter.

Results - 22 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team                Time/Gap
 1.  Robert Wickens       Carlin            46m34.016s
 2.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Carlin              + 2.694s
 3.  Albert Costa         EPIC               + 19.544s
 4.  Brendon Hartley      Gravity-Charouz    + 19.867s
 5.  Nelson Panciatici    KMP                + 20.958s
 6.  Daniil Move          P1                 + 21.919s
 7.  Alexander Rossi      Fortec             + 22.273s
 8.  Jan Charouz          Gravity-Charouz    + 24.697s
 9.  Sergio Canamasas     BVM Target         + 27.214s
10.  Daniel Ricciardo     ISR                + 28.072s
11.  Chris van der Drift  Mofaz              + 29.011s
12.  Walter Grubmuller    P1                 + 29.663s
13.  Cesar Ramos          Fortec             + 35.079s
14.  Nathanael Berthon    ISR                + 39.601s
15.  Jean-Karl Vernay     Pons               + 45.077s
16.  Arthur Pic           Tech 1             + 47.335s
17.  Stephane Richelmi    Draco              + 48.731s
18.  Daniel Zampieri      BVM Target         + 49.145s
19.  Daniel McKenzie      Comtec             + 50.486s
20.  Jake Rosenzweig      Mofaz            + 1m06.863s

Retirements:

     Kevin Korjus         Tech 1               10 laps
     Oliver Webb          Pons                  5 laps
     Daniel de Jong       Comtec                4 laps
     Sten Pentus          EPIC                  2 laps
     Andre Negrao         Draco                 0 laps
     Anton Nebylistkiy    KMP                   0 laps

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