May 27, 2025

 

Maciej Mlynek drove a superb race on a three-stop strategy at the IMS to topple race-winners Granqvist and Teien in the final race before GPVWC has a spring break.
Moritz Kropp claimed his first ever Superleague pole for Fraser Tartan with a stunning late lap, narrowly edging out Loic Meunier and Szymon Frelik in one of the tightest qualifying sessions of the year. But the fairytale start was short-lived.

The Start
The race exploded into chaos within seconds. Meunier, attempting a lunge down the inside, lost rear traction and slid into Kropp. Both cars ran off with heavy damage. Kropp lost control two corners later, and span across the grass, clipping Tom Stevens, taking out the THR driver and triggering a chain reaction that eliminated Stevens, Carlos Martin, and Kropp himself. It was a crushing blow for the pole-sitter, whose lap in qualifying was almost perfection.

The contact left Meunier with a wounded car and ruined any hopes of a recovery drive. Stevens' engine spectacularly caught fire after the impact from Martin, ending what had been a consistent run of form that had got him into the championship fight. Tom will be missing the Canada round so at this stage, it looks like all championship aspirations might be over before the half-way point.

Strategy
Szymon Frelik emerged as the early leader, but it was Maciej Mlynek who ultimately took control of the race through calm execution and sharp strategy. The HRT driver survived the first-lap madness and steadily worked his way into the lead, running a well-timed three-stop strategy that allowed him to leapfrog his rivals in the pit sequence, and his tyre offset meant he caught up with race-leader Granqvist on the final straight, using the DRS to breeze past the Finnish driver on the run into turn 1 on the final lap.

Behind him, Jan Granqvist put in a strong recovery after two disappointing rounds, bringing home second place and keeping his championship hopes alive. Jarl Teien made up four places from seventh to finish on the podium, his first since Round 1, though he bemoaned a slight lack of pace that meant he couldn't challenge for the win.

While Frelik led early, a three-stop strategy left him fourth at the flag, his tyre-life not as good as Mlynek. He finished just ahead of the Valle duo of Fletcher and Maggio.

Behind them was Sven Schubert, with his best result in Superleague coming after he ran the final stint locked horns with Alex Maggio, but Maggio managed to get the better of the German, using all his push-to-pass to get by right at the end of the race.

Super Venturi also had another reason to smile, in their fight in the team's championship with THR: Jukkapekka Lalu stormed from 19th to 8th, one of the biggest climbs of the day, and his best result of the season.

Meunier recovered to finish 9th in the end after repairing his damage at the first pitstop, whilst behind him Tomasz Wach finished in 10th and Matthew Williams in 11th - a solid result for the Edonis driver, who recovered from 23rd on the grid. The final points paying positions were rounded out by Heigo Poom, Alex Lehoux, Dylan Fisher and Spark's Vincent Gutt, his second points finish of the season.

Championship Standings
Granqvist retakes the lead in the driver's standings, now 8 points ahead of Meuiner, with Stevens a further 11 points back. Teien's podium also keeps THR atop the team's championship.

We now have a 4 week break, with Canada next on the list.