Leimer cruises to IFM win at Valencia
Fabio Leimer scored his second victory of the International Formula Master season in today's first race at Valencia
The Swiss driver survived an attack from Josef Kral at a safety car restart early in the race, before settling into a rhythm and eased away into a lead which grew to over eight seconds by the flag.
"It was really nice today, I made pole position, fastest lap and won the race," said Leimer. "Josef was a little bit close to me after the safety car but I could make my own race to the finish."
The caution period was required after Earl Bamber caused a chain reaction of incidents when he spun on the first lap. Five cars were wiped out, although Pau winner Alessandro Kouzkin later rejoined the race following repairs in the pits.
Up front, Leimer and Kral pulled out a big gap over third-placed Vladimir Araadzhiev who had a lonely race to complete the podium. Behind him, Pal Varhaug and Patrick Reiterer both demoted Kasper Anderson to earn fourth and fifth places.
Sergei Afanasiev's retirement with a mechanical problem trimmed the field to nine cars prior to Kouzkin's late return.
Pos Driver Team Gap 1. Fabio Leimer Jenzer 40m02.900s 2. Josef Kral JD +8.110 3. Vladimir Arabadjiev JD +27.771 4. Pal Varhaug Jenzer +34.317 5. Patrick Reiterer Iris +39.315 6. Kasper Andersen Hitech +44.660 7. Alexander Rossi Hitech +1:08.233 8. Nicolas Maulini Jenzer +1 lap 9. Kelvin Snoeks AR +5 laps 10. Alessandro Kouzkin Cram +17 laps Retirements Sergei Afanasiev JD 6 laps Harald Schlegelmilch ADM 4 laps Frankie Provenzano Cram 1 lap Earl Bamber ADM 0 laps Simon Trummer Iris 0 laps
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