Home win for Renault
Long awaited first season win for Tim Engberink, snatching 1st place from Mane Goddard with a nice pass in the final lap. The Minardi driver had to settle for 2nd, while Engberink's teammate Márk Lintner secured 3rd and thus a double podium for Renault at their home GP.
At the start Engberink defended 1st against Kederer, who jumped past Brugman at the start. The usual traffic jam at Adelaide hairpin saw the Ferrari driver lose another 2 places to Goddard and Laad. Sigoulakis, Buurlage and Hunsley all had some off track excursion at turn 3 during the first laps, which dropped them to the end of the field. Noack wasn't as lucky and ended up in the wall when he ran off at the very same place. The top 4 were pulling away at the front, while Brugman struggled with a heavy fueled car. Spinning off twice in turn 12 put him to the end of the field as well. Black retired in lap 12 when his engine blew up. Utzer gained a spot, but spun off only one lap later dropping him to the back end. Rinneaho the next one with a driving mistake, as for Noack before it also meant the end for his race. While Engberink and Kederer were increasing the gap to Goddard, Sigoulakis was setting a couple of fastest laps, trying to catch back up to the field.
Being on a one stopper Goddard took the lead when the others around him pitted. Engberink and Kederer got back out in 2nd and 3rd, some 15s behind the leader. Mishra was in 4th but yet to pit, Laad, Brugman, Diehl and Lintner followed behind him. Goddard came back out in 4th after his stop, while Mishra had an extremely long stop and dropped out of the points. Brugman was in 9th despite his two early mistakes. Lintner had got past Diehl and was in 5th, Keranen and Said were around 10s behind the Sauber.
The final stops allowed Goddard to retake the lead, Engberink was back in 2nd still ahead of Kederer. Laad followed in 4th, behind him Lintner, Brugman, Diehl, Keranen, Said and Buurlage. Keranen was closing the gap to Diehl, but lost his chance on points when he spun off and dropped to last. Laad made a small mistake what allowed Lintner to get past. At the front the gap between 1st and 3rd was around 2 seconds. Positions looked settled when the drivers entered the final lap. Engberink used the slipstream and managed to get the lead on the run to Adelaide. Shortly after Kederer's Jordan suddenly rolled out, his gearbox had failed. Lintner was promoted to 3rd, and Diehl now had the last point for 6th.
FIA Press Conference
@Timmieturner12: The long awaited win, describe the pass in the final lap.
@Mane Goddard: So close, what were your thoughts when you realized Tim had gone past?
@Márk Lintner: Great performance today, will we now see you in the points more often?
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