Ingezonden persbericht
NEC FR2.0 race report Assen
22 July 2007
Germans Hegewald, Kechele in control at Assen
Tobias Hegewald won the fifth season round of the Northern European Cup Formula Renault 2.0 at the famous TT-Circuit in the Dutch city of Assen. For the German, it was his maiden victory in the series while his compatriot and team-mate Frank Kechele only finished fifth, the worst result for the points' leader so far this year. One day later, Kechele restored the order and scored his fourth victory of the season with Hegewald in second place.
Race 1: As the lights turned out, Tobias Hegewald pipped pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas on the dash towards the first corner. A multi-car pile-up on the opening lap brought the safety-car out for five laps. Once racing resumed, Hegewald, Bottas and third-placed Frank Kechele easily pulled clear from the rest of the field, with Oliver Oakes taking over fourth place after a nice move on Italian, Fabio Onidi. There was a nice battle for second place between Bottas and Kechele. In the closing stages of the race, the German started an overtaking attempt, but Bottas defended his line and Kechele dropped down to fifth. Hegewald went on to win from Bottas and Oakes.
Tobias Hegewald: "I had a very good start and could overtake
Bottas right at the beginning. Then the safety car came out and once the
safety car pulled away, my restart was good as well. After that I could pull clear and I had a good gap from the rest of the field."
Valtteri Bottas: "Tobias Hegewald had a better start and after the restart he pulled away very quickly. Kechele pushed very much behind me. He wanted to overtake me but when he finally came alongside, luck was on my side. That was just one of those racing situations that worked for me. It was a good race, I enjoyed it!"
Oliver Oakes: "I like the circuit, it is fast and technical. I had more or less settled for fourth already, but then I inherited third place after Kechele made his move on Bottas and dropped to fifth."
Race 2: Changeable weather conditions prior to the race made the tyre choice a somewhat difficult affair for some of the drivers and teams. Before the start, there was some light rain, but soon it stopped and the black clouds moved away, albeit rather slowly. Slick tyres proved to be the way to go and most drivers got it right. The first four drivers had a rather uneventful race, with Kechele taking another victory to extend his points lead. Fellow-German Tobias Hegewald finished second after having overtaken his British team-mate Oliver Oakes at the start of the race. Later on, Oakes retired with gearbox problems. Adam Christodoulou came home in third place from Finn, Valtteri Bottas.
Frank Kechele: "I had a very good start. During the first couple of
laps you had to be very careful as in some spots it was it was still wet and
in some spots it was already dry. When the track dried out I could pull clear.
It was a good race, although not very exciting."
Tobias Hegewald: "I took my chance to overtake Oakes during the start of
the race and could, at the beginning, push Kechele, but due to the
conditions of the track I could not push as hard as I wanted."
Adam Christodoulou: "I had a good race and really enjoyed it. My start
was not so good (a little to much wheelspin) went from 6th to 8th place, but
could overtake some of the cars in front of me, even though I drove on some of
the wet lines. By the time the track was drying out I really had a good race
pace, my team AKA Cobra did a great job!"
Next races: August 3-5, Zolder (B)
Results:
Race 1: 1. Tobias Hegewald (Ger, Motorsport Arena), 26.32.451, 2. Valtteri Bottas (Fin, Koirainen Bros.), 2.400, 3.Oliver Oakes (GBr, Motopark Academy), 4.239, 4. Fabio Onidi (Ita, Motorsport Arena), 5.625, 5. Frank Kechele, (Ger, Motopark Academy), 5.860, 6. Adam Christodoulou (GBr, AKA Cobra Racing), 10.304, 7. Steffen Moeller (Den, Formula Sport), 11.599, 8. Alexander Haegermark (Swe, KEO Racing), 16.646, 9. Nathan Caratti (Aus, AKA Cobra Racing), 17.763, 10. Nicky Catsburg (Ned, MP Motorsport), 17.912.
Race 2: 1. Frank Kechele (Ger, Motopark Academy), 16 laps in 26.24.588 2. Tobias Hegewald (Ger, Motorsport Arena), 3.032, 3. Adam Christodoulou (GBr, AKA Cobra Racing), 6.195 4. Valtteri Bottas (Fin, Koiranen Bros), 7.371, 5. Fabio Onidi (Ita, Motorsport Arena), 10.484, 6. Nicky Catsburg (Ned, MP Motorsport), 26.658, 7. Alexander Haegermark (Swe, KEO Racing), 27.808, 8. Jakub Giermaziak (Pol, Motopark Academy), 34.160, 9. Stef Dusseldorp (Ned, Van Amersfoort Racing), 34.936, 10. Ryan Borthwick (GBr, AKA Cobra Racing), 35.440.
Points' standings after 6 rounds:
1. Frank Kechele 160; 2. Tobias Hegewald 135; 3. Valtteri Bottas 118; 4. Nicky Catsburg 80; 5 Steffen Moller 72; 6. Fabio Onidi 72; 7. Oliver Oakes 71; 8. Adam Christodoulou 65; 9.Alexander Haegermark 63; 10. Stef Dusseldorp 54.
Further information about the NEC Formula Renault 2.0 can be found on the series' official website, www.necup.com or contact Cara de Vlaming at cara@mdh.nl or during race weekends at +31 653 463 184
For photographs please go to:
http://ndedit.com/bankhd/schotanus/070528+NEC+Formule+Renault0332f220048d06ee