until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
Adam Maguire took his second race win of the Superleague season, converting pole position into an unchallenged first-place finish at Istanbul Park.
Jernej Simoncic qualified in third but got a good enough launch off his grid box to pass Robin Pansar for second place down the inside of the first corner.
That move proved to be vital as it meant he was in front of the massive pile-up of cars at the exit of the first corner, started in part by Pansar.
Laurent Keersmaekers started in fifth but looked to take the inside line into the first corner and overtake Eros Masciulli. As he went for the move, he simultaneously tagged Pansar in third with his front wing and Mascuilli with his rear-right tyre.
Mascuilli took to the run-off area whilst Pansar and Keersmaekers spun around and were collected by some of the 27 car field, meaning plenty of drivers sustained damage and some ended their running in the race early.
Simoncic didn’t hold second place for long as Mascuilli overtook him on the third lap to make it an Edonis Engineering 1-2.
Defending champion Jannick Bock also passed Simoncic early in the race and became the highest-placed driver who would go on to enact a two-stop strategy.
Both Simoncic and Bock pitted for medium tyres, while the top two went with the hards in an effort to only stop once.
On the medium tyres it was Simoncic who had the superior pace and overtook Bock for third place over 20 laps after he first lost the position. Simoncic then went on to reclaim second place as he passed Masciulli into the first corner, but he was still 10 seconds behind race leader Maguire.
However, Simoncic and Bock both couldn’t stretch the medium compound tyres to the end so stopped a second time, while both Edonis Engineering drivers stayed out on the hards.
Simoncic exited the pits in eighth place, with Bock in ninth, and both didn’t quite recover all the places they lost from their second stop. Simoncic ultimately took third, but Bock was only sixth, losing out to one-stoppers Daniel Brewer and Maciej Mlynek.
Despite how easy it looked, Maguire claimed his victory came as a surprise to him.
“Not too bad after damage limitation in Bahrain, but I wasn’t expecting to win today but I’m absolutely chuffed,” he said.
“I went to Turn 1 and I could see there was a bit of a mishap behind me so I just tried to pull a two-second gap, clear DRS [range] and tried to pull away.
“After seeing how the last three races have gone I’m definitely thinking about going for the title fight.”
Someone who was particularly happy was Edonis Engineering team manager Menno Klont.
Team managers in GPVWC have the unique aspect of managing car upgrades throughout a season, as well as other elements of the team.
“I’m really, really happy and surprised but it worked out and I’m really proud of both my drivers.” Klont said.
“We had a very, very good car in comparison to the rest – that was what we aimed for with upgrades was to do something different but to actually do it, get the points and the maximum result is brilliant.”
