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Ricciardo wins in Monaco again

ISR's Daniel Ricciardo drove a faultless race from pole position to win his second Monaco Formula Renault 3.5 event

It was Ricciardo's second victory of the season, following his success at Monza two weeks ago, and promoted the Toro Rosso Friday practice Formula 1 driver from seventh to fifth in the drivers' standings.

Carlin's Robert Wickens chased the Australian throughout, but was unable to mount an overtaking attempt. Wickens was rarely more than 1.5 seconds adrift, and two safety car periods and a late midfield crash on the approach to the Loews hairpin narrowed the margin of victory to 0.4s.

"I think the second time here made it a little bit more relaxed," said Ricciardo. "The race seemed to go quite quickly, whereas last year it went on forever. I wasn't too concerned about the safety cars. Robert had good speed after the restarts but I think I was faster on the longer runs."

Front row starter Brendon Hartley (Gravity-Charouz) had a disappointing getaway from the dirty side of the grid and dropped to third, but the Kiwi initially remained in touch with the leaders.

On lap seven, Hartley set the fastest lap and closed in on Wickens' gearbox, but the black and gold car would overshoot the chicane on the following tour.

Careful to avoid a repeat of a drive-through penalty for a similar offence on an earlier visit to the principality, Hartley lifted off markedly. A subsequent heavy lock-up into the chicane took the bite out of Hartley's challenge and he finished third, some 11s down.

Epic Racing's Albert Costa took fourth spot but failed to demonstrate his usual race pace. Fortec's Alexander Rossi exerted intense pressure on the Spaniard, but the American's race ended in a heavy crash at Massenet, the location of his accident in 2010.

Rossi was passing Pons Racing's Oliver Webb, who was recovering from a moment down the Sainte Devote escape road, when the pair made contact. Rossi complained of a sore left foot on his return to the paddock and has requested a doctor. Webb pitted after the incident with a punctured front-left wheel.

Motorland and Monza winner Kevin Korjus put in a mature display to take fifth for Tech 1 Racing. French racer Nelson Panciatici (KMP Racing) held off Korjus' team-mate Arthur Pic to complete the top six.

Championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne was one of seven drivers to receive a 10s penalty for cutting the Sainte Devote corner on a typically congested opening lap, and as a result drops out of the points.

Andre Negrao was another to receive a penalty, but the Brazilian was unfortunately not circulating at the finish. Both Negrao and his Draco team-mate Stephane Richelmi retired at the Mirabeau following attempts to avoid Jake Rosenzweig's stricken Mofaz machine.

Rosenzweig's accident occurred on a restart following a safety car period. KMP Racing's Anton Nebylitskiy and Hartley's team-mate Jan Charouz were the cause of the first full-circuit caution. A competitive Nebylitskiy took to the pavement at Loews as he dived inside Charouz, but the cars touched wheels on the exit of the hairpin, launching Charouz into the air.

Vergne remains in the lead of the championship on 90 points, but is now only one ahead of team-mate Wickens. Costa moves one point in front of Rossi in third with 74, while Ricciardo lies fifth on 61.

Round five of the championship takes place at the Nurburgring on June 18-19, where the World Series by Renault's double-header format resumes.

Results - 30 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team                Time/Gap
 1.  Daniel Ricciardo     ISR               46m10.332s
 2.  Robert Wickens       Carlin              + 0.403s
 3.  Brendon Hartley      Gravity-Charouz    + 11.474s
 4.  Albert Costa         Epic               + 13.921s
 5.  Kevin Korjus         Tech 1             + 15.168s
 6.  Nelson Panciatici    KMP                + 16.069s
 7.  Arthur Pic           Tech 1             + 16.662s
 8.  Adrien Tambay        Pons               + 22.484s
 9.  Chris van der Drift  Mofaz              + 23.233s
10.  Nathanael Berthon    ISR                + 25.360s
11.  Sten Pentus          Epic               + 26.906s
12.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Carlin             + 28.596s
13.  Walter Grubmuller    P1                 + 34.306s
14.  Daniel Zampieri      BVM Target         + 34.816s
15.  Daniel McKenzie      Comtec             + 36.651s
16.  Stephane Richelmi    Draco              + 37.222s
17.  Daniil Move          P1               + 1m00.445s
18.  Jake Rosenzweig      Mofaz            + 1m00.909s
19.  Daniel de Jong       Comtec           + 1m13.177s

Retirements:

     Cesar Ramos          Fortec               28 laps
     Sergio Canamasas     BVM Target           28 laps
     Alexander Rossi      Fortec               21 laps
     Oliver Webb          Pons                 20 laps
     Andre Negrao         Draco                19 laps
     Anton Nebylitskiy    KMP                  15 laps
     Jan Charouz          Gravity-Charouz      15 laps

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