Kouzkin takes IFM win on debut at Pau

The 16-year-old Italian started fifth but profited from several incidents to join the battle for the lead early in the race. Team JVA's Jonathan Kennard failed to start the race, which moved Kouzkin up to fourth on the first lap.

Kouzkin benefited further when pole-sitter Dennis Retera came under threat for the lead. Frankie Provanzano tried to pass the Dutchman on the run up to Turn 2 on the second lap, but Retera squeezed him into the wall and damaged his car.

Harald Schlegelmilch was next to attempt a pass on Retera, but he had to abort a move up the inside into the hairpin and the loss of momentum allowed Kouzkin to take second on the exit.

It was then up to Kouzkin to challenge Retera himself, and his move came in the form of an optimistic lunge down the inside under braking for Turn 1. Kouzkin lost his car sideways as locked up the brakes, but instead of crashing he somehow gathered it all up in time to hold onto the lead through the corner.

From there on he cruised away into a four-second lead and a comfortable victory. Retera held onto second behind, while Pal Varhaug scored his second podium of the weekend in third.

Alexander Rossi finished fourth ahead of Earl Bamber and Marcello Puglisi, who both demoted race one victor Fabio Leimer to seventh place.

Pos  Driver                Team                Time
 1.  AlessandroKouzkin     Cram Competition    29m35.789s
 2.  Dennis Retera         AR Motorsport        +  4.304s
 3.  Pal Varhaug           Jenzer Motorsport    +  6.410s
 4.  Alexander Rossi       Hitech Junior Team   +  8.042s
 5.  Earl Bamber           ADM Motorsport       +  8.634s
 6.  Marcello Puglisi      ADM Motorsport       + 11.993s
 7.  Fabio Leimer          Jenzer Motorsport    + 13.412s
 8.  Simon Trummer         Iris Project         + 19.532s
 9.  Sergei Afanasiev      JD Motorsport        + 19.949s
10.  Duncan Tappy          Team JVA             + 22.730s
11.  Kasper Andersen       Hitech Junior Team   + 23.703s
12.  Kelvin Snoeks         AR Motorsport        + 24.637s
13.  Josef Kral            JD Motorsport        + 38.931s

Retirements:

     Vlado Arabadjiev      JD Motorsport        20 laps
     Harald Schlegelmilch  Cram Competition     19 laps
     Frankie Provenzano    Trident Racing       3 laps
     Patrick Reiterer      Iris Project         1 lap
     Jonathan Kennard      Team JVA             1 lap