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Torrente made no mistake at the restart and took off
and opened up an early lead, but for the majority of
the race was unable to shake off the challenge of a very
persistent Stromoy who would not let him get away,
but the Abu Dhabi driver was faultless, absorbed the
pressure from behind and maintained his relentless
pace to complete the 44 laps and win by 2.17s to
record his seventh-career victory and leapfrog his two
teammates to hit the front in title race. “Marit did a
wonderful job. She pushed so hard and I knew she
would,” said Torrente. “I made two great starts and
it was all about managing the race. For me it’s about
winning the championship not just races. The goal is
to be in this position after Sharjah. Our home race is
next so we hope we can keep it going.”
Stromoy’s drive to second sandwiched between the
Abu Dhabi pair for the full race distance was immense
and received high praise from both her rivals and was
by far her best outing this year, keeping Torrente in
her sights and fending off a relentless challenge from
Stark. “I tried and pushed as hard as I could till the
bitter end but it was a great race for me,” Stromoy said.
“I had a bad start and was a bit lucky with the yellow
flag but I could see Shaun was controlling things at the
front and I also had to keep my eye on Erik.”
Despite all his efforts and a near coming together with
Stromoy, Stark was unable to get passed. “I was a little
unlucky with the yellow because for once I made a
really good start,” Stark said. “After the restart I got up
beside her but she held on and after that I pushed as
hard as I could but it was not enough. The podium is
great but the points’ tally after Sharjah is what matters
and we have two races to go.”
Behind the front three it was a race of attrition with
eight of the 18 starters failing to go the distance;
Benavente out on lap 1 after the coming together with
Chiappe, his teammate Grant Trask going out on lap
13, Al Qemzi seeing his championship lead disappear
with his retirement on lap 5. Bartek Marszalek was
running a strong race in eighth until engine issues
ended his afternoon on lap 23, Cedric Deguisne’s race
ending on lap 27.
Andersson was looking strong in fourth before his exit
with Morin taking over the slot and running a solitary
race to the chequered flag and some consolation
for the CTIC China Team, with Francesco Cantando
picking up his best result of the year bringing his Blaze
home in fifth.
F1H2O
n° 5 DECEMBER | 2018
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