Wickens wins first Silverstone race

Robert Wickens

After qualifying on pole, Carlin driver Robert Wickens went on to win the race and regain top spot in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series overall standings. Daniel Ricciardo finished second on his return to the circuit where he made his Formula One debut just a few weeks ago, after outfoxing Alexander Rossi (Fortec Motorsports) towards the end of the race. American Rossi completed the top three, which did not feature a single European driver.

It is fair to say that Robert Wickens left his opponents with little to be cheerful about in qualifying. The Canadian is something of a specialist when it comes to qualifying, and he duly scored his fifth pole of the season ahead of Alexander Rossi and the ISR pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Nathanael Berthon. The latter managed to record his best qualifying result of the season.

The first twist of the afternoon came as early as the formation lap, with Jean-Eric Vergne (Carlin) unable to get away in first gear. As a result, the Frenchman started the race from the pits at the back of the field, and could only watch on as Wickens made the perfect start. The Marussia Virgin Racing reserve led in the early stages ahead of Rossi, Ricciardo, Berthon, Albert Costa (Epic Racing) and debutant Nick Yelloly (Pons Racing).

Wickens, Rossi and Ricciardo wasted no time in establishing a lead over the rest of the field. Berthon headed up the chasing pack, with Costa, Yelloly and Sten Pentus (Epic Racing) ready to pounce on the slightest opportunity to overtake.

While Rossi piled the pressure on race leader Wickens, an equally intriguing battle for fourth place was shaping up between Berthon and Costa. The Spaniard chanced his luck several times, but was unable to find an opening. Jean-Eric Vergne was also still in the race after starting from the pits, and occupied 17th position with 30 minutes remaining.

With ten minutes to go, Ricciardo launched a surprise attack on Rossi and succeeded in snatching second place. He then set his sights on race leader Wickens, but the gap between the pair by this stage was too great. Ricciardo refused to give up and even managed to record the fastest lap of the race in the latter stages, but Wickens held his nerve to take the checkered flag. It was the Canadian’s third race victory of the season, and he came home in front of Ricciardo and Rossi. Despite Jean-Eric Vergne’s brave performance in climbing all the way up to 13th place, the Frenchman finished the race without a single point to his name. As a result, Wickens now sits atop the championship standings with a 21-point advantage over his French team-mate, and lead of 57 points over Rossi in third place.

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