Kederer wins in Austria
The Jordan driver won his 2nd race this year. Donald Brugman scored a third consecutive 2nd place, and Tapio Rinneaho got his first points since the opening round.
At the start Engberink kept the lead ahead of Laad, while Diehl dropped to 4th behind Kederer. Ancevski got up 2 spots, right behind his teammate, while Goddard on the other hand lost 2 places, dropping to 7th. He lost another 2 places the next laps, before getting back to 7th after passing Hunsley and gaining one spot due to Diehl retiring with a gearbox failure. A few laps later he was back in the points after passing Brugman. Mishra dropped to last after a chain reaction saw him being pushed in the gravel trap at turn 2. Reed lost some positions when he spun off in the penultimate corner. At the front the battle for 1st was going on, with the top 4 being within 2 seconds. Engberink managed to keep Laad behind, until a puncture ended his race just before the first round of stops began.
Laad inherited the lead, but lost it to Kederer when he pitted. Ancevski took 1st when the Jordan driver pitted as well, a few seconds behind him Goddard and Laad were swapping places a few times while fighting for 2nd. Foro was running in 4th, followed by Brugman and Kederer. When Ancevski and Goddard came in for their 2nd stops Laad retook the lead. Foro was right behind him, Brugman and Kederer followed with a gap of a few seconds. Behind them were Rinneaho, Laskey, Martins and Buurlage. The Dutchman showed great performance so far, having started from last. In lap 41 Foro and Kederer could overtake Laad and Brugman respectively.
Laad was the first one to make his final stop, which allowed Kederer to get past thanks to a few more laps on low fuel. Foro remained ahead of both of them, but he had to pit again only 4 laps later, dropping him out of the points positions. Ancevski and Goddard led for a short time, before they too had to make their final stops. Running order after that was Kederer leading, followed by Laad, Brugman, Rinneaho, Laskey, Martins, Buurlage, Ancevski, Sigoulakis and Goddard. That wasn't the end to it though, with 10 laps to go Laad's gearbox failed, marking his 6th consecutive retirement. Sigoulakis lost 8th in the penultimate lap when his engine blew up.
FIA Press Conference
@TTupsi: Happy that you could end your run of rather unlucky performances?
@The_Laskinator: First points in your young career, did you expect them this early already?
@Rui F. Martins @Lesley Buurlage: Did you have some good fun passing the other cars on your way to the points?
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