Autosport – 18 April 2019

De Wilde soon assumed

the lead and was never

headed thereafter

Izawa’s Honda led the

Nissan pack through

the deluge at Okayama

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18 APRIL 2019 AUTOSPORT.COM 43

WORLD OF SPORT RACE CENTRE

De Wilde scores convincing win

to kick off new Eurocup chapter

BLANCPAIN GT ENDURANCE CUP

MONZA (ITA)

Andrea Rizzoli/Klaus Bachler/

Zaid Ashkanani

Dinamic Motorsport

Porsche 911 GT3-R

FORMULA RENAULT EUROCUP

MONZA (ITA)

Race 1 Ugo de Wilde

JD Motorsport

Race 2 Alexander Smolyar

R-ace GP

SUPER GT

OKAYAMA (JPN)

Tomoki Nojiri/Takuya Izawa

Team Aguri Honda NSX-GT

WEEKEND WINNERS

Baguette waiting for his stint) passed

Quintarelli. But then the safety car was

called upon once more after a huge

GT300 pile-up through the Moss ‘S’.

The top two NSXs got closer on track

after the restart, before Real Racing driver

Tsukakoshi put Yamamoto out onto the

gravel at the first corner, dropping the

Team Kunimitsu car to the back of the

field. After yet another accident at Moss

S it was the safety car driver’s turn to

earn his keep once more, and before the

race could resume heavier rain ended play.

At that time, Tsukakoshi was in front,

but a 34-second penalty for dangerous

driving in his Yamamoto clash relegated

him to 14th. Izawa and Nojiri inherited

victory but, with less than 75% of the

race completed, half points were awarded.

Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda were

second ahead of Daiki Sasaki in the Impul

Nissan he was due to share with James

Rossiter. Sasaki had put the car second on

the grid, but struggles with wet conditions

and an engine fault held him back.

The B-Max (Frederic Makowiecki and

Kohei Hirate) and Kondo (Mitsunori

Takaboshi and Jann Mardenborough)

Nissans finished next in fourth and fifth.

The Lexus LC500s struggled in the

slippery conditions, meaning the car’s

best result was sixth, courtesy of Sho

Tsuboi’s efforts with the Bandoh team.

JIRO TAKAHASHI

SUPER GT

OKAYAMA (JPN)

14 APRIL

ROUND 1/8

In a truncated season-opening Super GT

race hit by terrible wet conditions,

Takuya Izawa guided the Aguri Suzuki-

run Honda NSX-GT to victory to

earn maximum half-points for

himself and Tomoki Nojiri.

A drenched track caused no fewer

than four safety cars and two red flags

before the organisers ended the race on

lap 32 of the scheduled 82, before most

of the crews had changed drivers.

Ronnie Quintarelli, who had qualified

the NISMO Nissan GT-R on pole, led

right after the safety car peeled off track

at the end of lap three. But after only

two tours it was back out once more

because of a first-corner shunt that

needed four laps to be cleaned up.

At the restart, the two NSXs of

reigning champion Noaki Yamamoto

(due to share with Jenson Button) and

Kodai Tsukakoshi (with Bertrand

Half points for

rain-hit Super

GT opener

FORMULA RENAULT EUROCUP

MONZA (ITA)

13-14 APRIL

ROUND 1/10

It’s debatable whether Ugo de Wilde’s

Formula Renault Eurocup victory at Monza

on Saturday should be described as a rookie

win. The start of a new era for the long-

running series with the Tatuus regional F3

chassis, turbo engines and Hankook tyres

means everyone is starting afresh. But

there was no doubting the dominance

of the youngest driver on the grid.

The 16-year-old Belgian, runner-up in

last year’s French Formula 4 title race, got

the jump on pole winner Lorenzo Colombo

at the start and was never headed on the

way to a 1.5-second victory. He controlled

the gap to his JD Motorsport team-mate

Leonardo Lorandi through the 17-lap race,

which included a quickfire safety car

thrown in before the end of the first lap.

The yellows came out after MP

Motorsport driver Colombo retired more

or less on the spot after a clash with Kush

Maini at the second apex of the first

chicane. Maini, whose M2 Competition

entry was undamaged, came through to

third, five seconds in arrears of Lorandi,

to make it an all ‘rookie’ podium.

The Sunday race held on a wet track was

interrupted by a trio of safety cars, so much

so that there were only three full green

racing laps. Alexander Smolyar won from

pole for the R-ace GP squad by just under

two seconds from MP driver Victor Martins,

who pulled the only meaningful move of

the race when he took the runner-up spot

from Colombo at the penultimate restart.

GARY WATKINS

POWERED BY

For full results visit motorsportstats.com