Frijns gets title in clash, da Costa wins

Antonio Felix da Costa completed a dominant Formula Renault 3.5 double at Barcelona, while Robin Frijns sealed the title after a collision with title rival Jules Bianchi.

While da Costa sprinted away after passing polesitter Mikhail Aleshin at the start, Frijns and Bianchi slotted into third and fifth positions respectively.

They were then nose-to-tail after pitting together, with early fourth place man Arthur Pic dropping back in the stops.

Both title contenders were jumped by a late-stopping Aaro Vainio, who scrapped with RFR team-mate Aleshin for second for the rest of the race.

Behind them, Bianchi sat in Frijns’ wheel tracks for several laps, before diving down the inside into Turn 1 on lap 21.

Frijns responded seconds later with a lunge of his own into Turn 4. They collided, with Bianchi sliding into the gravel and out of the race.

From there Frijns ran sixth after losing places in the scuffle to Kevin Magnussen and Alexander Rossi.

A recovering Pic passed him on the penultimate lap, but with Bianchi out and Sam Bird behind him, Frijns was safe to come home seventh and take the title, subject to an investigation by the stewards.

Up front, da Costa won for Arden Caterham by 27 seconds in the end, while Aleshin held on in a fierce scrap with Vainio to secure a double podium for RFR in its last FR3.5 race.

Results – 29 laps:
 
Pos  Driver                  Team               Time/Gap
  1.  Antonio Felix da Costa  Arden Caterham   46m06.997s
  2.  Mikhail Aleshin         RFR               + 27.856s
  3.  Aaro Vainio             RFR               + 28.689s
  4.  Kevin Magnussen         Carlin            + 29.398s
  5.  Alexander Rossi         Arden Caterham    + 29.919s
  6.  Arthur Pic              DAMS              + 32.398s
  7.  Robin Frijns            Fortec            + 33.293s
  8.  Sam Bird                ISR               + 34.088s
  9.  Andre Negrao            Draco             + 36.224s
 10.  Will Stevens            Carlin            + 40.049s
 11.  Walter Grubmuller       P1                + 42.532s
 12.  Jake Rosenzweig         ISR               + 43.998s
 13.  Tamas Pal Kiss          BVM Target        + 44.714s
 14.  Nick Yelloly            Comtec            + 54.282s
 15.  Nico Muller             Draco           + 1m05.300s
 16.  Daniil Move             P1              + 1m31.146s
 17.  Kevin Korjus            Lotus           + 1m31.336s
 18.  Carlos Huertas          Fortec          + 1m33.132s
 19.  Vittorio Ghirelli       Comtec          + 1m46.192s
 20.  Nikolay Martsenko       BVM Target      + 1m46.429s
 21.  Yann Cunha              Pons            + 1m58.682s
 22.  Zoel Amberg             Pons                + 1 lap
 
Retirements:
 
     Lucas Foresti           DAMS                25 laps
      Jules Bianchi           Tech 1              20 laps
      Daniel Abt              Tech 1               8 laps
      Marco Sorensen          Lotus                2 laps
 

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/real-world-racing/3rdparty/frijns-gets-title-in-clash-da-costa-wins

Nicolas Kiesa Leo Kinnunen Danny Kladis Hans Klenk Peter de Klerk