Salignon makes it a double
Eric Salignon took victory in Zolder's second World Series by Renault race, after Ben Hanley crashed out of the lead under safety car conditions with just five scheduled laps remaining
Hanley's accident, and the treacherous track conditions that contributed towards it, brought out the red flags and secured the win for the Frenchman.
Borja Garcia finished second for RC Motorsport, joining Salignon on the podium for the second successive race.
Third place was series returnee Pastor Maldonado, his progress from seventeenth on the grid aided by slick pit work from his Draco crew.
Unfortunately, it was pit trouble that provided the undoing of pole-sitter Davide Valsecchi.
Having converted his grid position successfully into the lead and fought off the attentions of Salignon for ten laps, the Italian was called in for a drive-through penalty for fitting an incorrectly marked up tyre.
Steven Kane took some consolation for the Epislon Eusakdi team by finishing fourth, having pitted early on lap seven.
Fifth place went to Salignon's Interwetten teammate Andy Soucek, a result that moves the Austrian outfit clear at the top of the teams' standings. Milos Pavlovic brought his Cram car home sixth.
The race started under bright sunshine, albeit with a slight drizzle in the air, not enough however to make the tyre choice anything other than slicks.
Valsecchi and Salignon initially opened a comfortable gap at the front, as behind Patrick Pilet in third was under pressure from Garcia.
The Spaniard was unable to find a way by and was himself soon jumped by James Rossiter, who then passed Pilet with a confident move at Turn one on lap five.
Rossiter's race was cut short when, after working his way up from his pitstop, he suffered an accident bringing out the safety car.
Hanley found himself in the lead, helped in no small way by the consistent speed that had seen him take the race's fastest lap.
With rain beginning to fall, conditions behind the safety car deteriorated rapidly. Alessandro Bonetti lost control at the downhill approach to the chicane, and moments later Hanley hit the wall as he warmed his tyres in preparation for the re-start.
"The conditions at the end were like driving on ice," recalled winner Salignon, "I'm just happy that the restart was called off after Hanley's accident.
"I never expected before this weekend to come away with two wins."
CLASSIFIED: Pos Driver Team Time 1. Eric Salignon Interwetten.com 39:08.295 2. Borja Garcia RC Motorsport + 0.965 3. Pastor Maldonado Draco Multiracing USA + 1.621 4. Steven Kane Epsilon Euskadi + 2.642 5. Andy Soucek Interwetten.Com + 3.363 6. Milos Pavlovic Cram Competition + 4.703 7. Alvaro Barba Jenzer Motorsport + 6.815 8. Enrico Toccacelo Eurointernational + 7.752 9. Bruce Jouanny RC Motorsport + 8.510 10. Alx Danielsson Comtec + 9.492 11. Pascal Kochem Eurointernational + 12.066 12. Gregory Franchi Prema Powerteam + 13.872 13. Hayanari Shimoda Victory Engineering + 14.994 14. Tomas Kostka Draco Multiracing USA + 15.937 15. Davide Valsecchi Epsilon Euskadi + 16.784 16. Christian Montanari Prema Powerteam + 1 Lap 17. Ben Hanley Cram Competition + 2 Laps 18. Alessandro Bonetti Jenzer Motorsport + 2 Laps 19. Jerome D'ambrosio Tech 1 Racing + 2 Laps NOT CLASSIFIED: Driver Team Laps James Rossiter Pons Racing 17 Patrick Pilet GD Racing 14 Celso Miguez Pons Racing 12 Ryo Fukuda Tech 1 Racing 9 Michael Aleshin Carlin Motorsport 1 Robbie Kerr KTR 0 Fastest Lap: Ben Hanley, 1:17.934 on lap 17
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