Jeddah Corniche Circuit

SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX

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March 28, 2020

 

Streetfighter Racing Systems take their maiden win as Sixta defies contact with Jannick Bock in the closing stages.
Fabio Sixta marked his return to the GPVWC Superleague with a thrilling victory at the Bahrain International Circuit.

The Streetfighter Racing Systems driver clinched the teams` first victory in Superleague, leading home from 2019 champion Jannick Bock.

The victory wasn`t without drama, as a collision between the top two with three laps to go denied a grandstand finish. The German did recover to fend off Fabrizio Gobbi, who took third in only his second Superleague start for Abruzzi Esports.

Race One winner Adam Maguire had put his Edonis Engineering on pole position in qualifying, but a 10-place grid penalty dropped him down to 11th.

That put Sixta onto pole alongside Holland Racing Team`s Laurent Keersmaekers on the front row. Keersmaekers` teammate Stephane Rouault and Bock both had good starts from row two and made it three wide into Turn One. Thought hampered, Bock managed to move past Rouault for third, whilst Keersmaekers had drafted ahead of Sixta to lead at Turn Four.

Maguire had managed to rise to eighth in the opening laps, whilst at the head of the pack, Sixta had reeled the HRT back in. A move down the inside gave the Austrian the lead - but that wasn?t Keersmaekers done. Bock tried to follow down into Turn Four, but a mistake allowed the Belgian back into second.

The respite didn?t last long, Bock made the move stick into Turn One on the following lap. When Rouault made his way through, Daniel Brewer saw an opportunity. A tangle dropped both Brewer and Keersmaekers to seventh and eighth.

Rouault had Gobbi crawling over the back of him at quarter distance. The Abruzzi flew past with DRS assistance, getting the move done before the Braking Zone into the first corner.

After the pit stops Sixta still had an advantage over Bock, but on Lap 23 the German made his way to the front, whilst behind, Maguire had leapt past Rouault.

Sixta`s teammate Florian Geier was in the wars. A late braking Matthew Williams damaged both the SRS and the Green Stripes car of Mirko Lucchini, with both pitting for repairs.

Germano Zappala was having a struggle. After running high in the points, a few mistakes had dropped the Cosmo YTF1 out of the top ten. The misfortune of the team continued when Zappala suffered technical issues and retired from 11th.

Bock was defending hard from Sixta, but a mistake for the pole-sitter looked to have put his chances of victory to bed. Sixta had other plans. After regaining DRS, the leaders went side-by-side on Lap 52. Bock defended the first onslaught well, but Sixta came back on the run to Turn Four. Ahead went the SRS on turn in but the Evolution dragged back ahead in the traction zone.

With three laps to go, drama struck. Towards Turn One Sixta was unfazed as Bock swung right to defend. They stayed side-by-side through Four and Five but collided at Six. Bock - on the inside of the sweeping right-hander - speared off to the right and lost six seconds, right back into the sights of Gobbi.

Maguire, Rouault and Brewer were line astern chasing Gobbi on the final lap. Brewer showed amazing skill to avoid a pile up when he suffered brake failure up the hill towards Turn Four.

Fabio Sixta shrugged off the late drama to take an impressive win to kick start his season, with Bock having to settle for second. Gobbi came home a superb third with Maguire and Rouault both picking up important points.

Rait Kilk followed Maguire through the top 10 for Sixth ahead of teammate Matthias Muuss, ahead of Brewer - who managed to nurse his car home - Jernej Simoncic and Keersmaekers.

Maciej Mlynek, Cristian Pasqual, Eros Masciulli, David Fidock and Alex Cooper rounded out the points scoring positions.

After Round Two, reigning champion Bock jumps above Maguire by two points, with Kilk sitting third. Race winner Sixta jumps straight to fourth after missing the first round.

Evolution Motorsports lead by only one point from Edonis Engineering. Red Archer VRT lie third nine points further back, whilst Holland Racing Team remain fourth in their first season.