Course 1 – Canada benefits from an explosive race

Canada made a strong impression this morning during race 1 (known as Sprint) in South Africa. For the 7th round of the season, on the street circuit in Durban, Robert Wikens, starting from pole, managed to avoid problems and made the best of a chaotic race. France, for its part, finished 12th after starting from 17th place with Loic Duval.

Robert Wickens (Canada) took advantage of an incident at the first corner to stay alone at the front. He remained there until the end thanks to the collision between New Zealand and Great Britain, who were in 3rd and 4th positions, with Johnny Reid (NZ) hitting Oliver Jarvis (GB) at the first corner, forcing all the drivers behind to brake.

After 6 trouble-free laps, Brazilian Bruno Junqueira violently hit the wall, and his single-seater literally exploded. Canada, then with a 5-second lead over Great Britain, saw this gap vanish with the entry of the safety car, for only two laps.

At the restart, Canada maintained the advantage to finally secure its first victory in history, thanks to the interruption of the race, 3 laps before the normal number of laps, following a collision between Germany and the Netherlands.

In the end, Switzerland finishes on the podium and takes the provisional lead in the standings after this first race. China achieves the best position in its history as well with a 4th place, ahead of the Netherlands and Germany.

Australia, Portugal, Mexico, and Malaysia complete the top 10. France, with Loic Duval, finishes only 12th, but at 25 years old, Duval made a great comeback, gaining 5 positions in 8 laps…

In the championship, France and New Zealand were tied at the top. These two teams are not in the points this morning, with Switzerland taking the lead before race 2.

South Africa – Durban – Sprint Race #1