Maldonado wins at wet Spa
Pastor Maldonado secured another World Series by Renault victory in a sodden and chaotic race at Spa-Francorchamps
A huge cloudburst shortly before the race left the track awash. Competitors were given additional reconaissance laps, although these saw Mikhail Aleshin crash out, and Alvaro Parente tangle with Matteo Meneghello in the pit lane.
When the race got underway (after a rolling start), Maldonado led under pressure from Sebastian Vettel, who had scored a double victory on his WSR debut two weeks ago.
But the young German Formula Three graduate came to grief at Raidillion on lap five, slamming into the barriers and sustaining a hand injury.
Third-placed Alx Danielsson collected some of Vettel's debris and also crashed, causing another safety car.
At the restart Maldonado led from Andy Soucek and Sean McIntosh, who had been swift progress through the field early on.
The Canadian's charge continued as he passed Soucek for second shortly before Bruce Jouanny became the latest victim of the Raidillion puddle and prompted a final yellow period.
When the race resumed, McIntosh briefly jumped ahead before Maldonado took charge again and pulled away, winning by nearly five seconds. McIntosh held off Soucek to earn his first podium in the series.
Results:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Pastor Maldonado Draco 35:08.921
2. Sean Mcintosh KTR + 4.185
3. Andy Soucek Interwetten + 5.981
4. Borja Garcia RC Motorsport + 9.150
5. Jaap Van Lagen Comtec + 9.658
6. Alvaro Barba Lopez Jenzer Motorsport + 10.518
7. Christian Montanari Prema Powerteam + 10.831
8. Davide Valsecchi Epsilon Euskadi + 11.385
9. Eric Salignon Interwetten + 13.592
10. Steven Kane Epsilon Euskadi + 16.331
11. Marco Bonanomi Tech 1 Racing + 18.340
12. Carlos Iaconelli EuroInternational + 20.974
13. Alessandro Bonetti Jenzer Motorsport + 22.007
14. Ryo Fukuda Tech 1 Racing + 25.763
15. Celso Miguez Pons Racing + 26.509
16. Hayanari Shimoda Victory Engineering + 27.486
17. Milos Pavlovic EuroInternational + 28.812
18. Pasquale Di Sabatino Cram Competition + 30.600
19. Matteo Meneghello GD Racing + 37.581
20. Gregory Franchi Prema Powerteam + 37.895
21. Tomas Kostka Draco + 2 LAPS
22. Patrick Pilet GD Racing + 2 LAPS
23. Robbie Kerr KTR + 2 LAPS
Alvaro Parente Victory Engineering D.N.F.
Bruce Jouanny RC Motorsport D.N.F.
Sebastian Vettel Carlin Motorsport D.N.F.
Alx Danielsson Comtec D.N.F.
Ben Hanley Cram Competition D.N.F.
James Rossiter Pons Racing D.N.F.
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