Back to front for Vergne in Spa
30 July 2010Jean-Eric Vergne put in a stunning performance to take his eighth victory of the season this afternoon following an impressive drive through the field from seventh on the grid. The Red Bull Junior dominated proceedings during the 20 minute reverse-grid race to extend his lead in the championship to 66 points. Team mate James Calado took a competitive fourth place finish, with Svendsen-Cook coming home in seventh place. It was a disappointing race for Lucas Foresti, Adriano Buzaid and Jazeman Jaafar however, who all saw their races end in accidents.
With the top seven finishers from race one this morning reversed for race two, Vergne lined up in seventh on the grid, with Calado sixth, Svendsen-Cook fifth and Buzaid third. As the lights went out, Buzaid made a lightning start to challenge pole sitter Felipe Nasr into the first corner, while behind him, Vergne, Calado and Svendsen-Cook had also made good progress. As the field funnelled through the tight first corner, Calado was pushed wide onto the run-off, losing several places in the process while Svendsen-Cook also saw his first corner exit blocked and dropped to eighth. Vergne meanwhile had already muscled his way into fourth place and was already second by the end of the first lap. Lucas Foresti had made up several places to lie eighth on lap one, while Jazeman Jaafar saw his race end early when he was launched into the pit wall as the field thundered down to the first corner.
At the front, Buzaid clearly had the race lead in his sights and was right behind Nasr as the two entered Eau Rouge. Contact between the pair just after Les Combes resulted in Buzaid tumbling down the order to 12th. Buzaid's departure left the way open for team mate Vergne, who made swift work of Nasr on lap two to take the race lead. Calado meanwhile was also on a charge and passed Oliver Webb for fourth place on lap three.
While the front runners settled into a steady pace, the racing action continued behind them. The recovering Buzaid was involved in a close battle with Carlos Huertas, until heavy contact put them both out of the race on lap four. Foresti meanwhile was dicing with Carlos Munoz and Svendsen-Cook in a battle for sixth place. Trying to make up a place at the final corner, Foresti spun and dropped to 19th, allowing Svendsen-Cook to move up to seventh.
At the chequered flag, Vergne took a dominant victory, his eighth of the season to extend his championship lead, with Calado and Svendsen-Cook also taking points paying finishes.
Speaking about his second victory of the weekend, Vergne said, "I am really pleased to have won this afternoon. My inside desire was of course to win but I didn't think it would be possible. I knew that [polesitter] Nasr was on newer tyres than me, so to be honest I would have been happy with a podium. But when I got up to second place, I caught him quite quickly so then I knew I could challenge for the win. We have a really good car here, so there's no reason why we shouldn't aim for another race win tomorrow."