Second Home Victory for Chatin.

Paul-Loup Chatin backed up his Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Victory at Paul Ricard yesterday with his second victory of the weekend as he secured the honours in the first Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS race, his second Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS Victory of the season, after his victory at Hungaroring back in July.

The race started under the Safety Car due to rain which has made the circuit treacherous, and on the first racing lap, it was Chatin’s team-mate at Tech 1 Racing, Javier Tarancon who took the lead of the race but with just six minutes of the twenty five minutes remaining, Chatin moved back into the lead and then drove to the flag for his second victory of the weekend and his second Formula Renault ALPS Victory.

Tarancon secured second and the fastest lap of the race and has extended his Championship lead to ten points, ahead of Chatin who has jumped Yann Zimmer in the Championship. The Arta Engineering driver could only finish fourth, behind Italian Vittorio Ghirelli (One Racing) – this was his second podium finish of the season, following his third place finish in Hungary.

Rounding out the top five was Russiuan Roman Mavlanov in the Boetti Racing Team car. He led home Edolo Ghirelli (One Racing). Ghirelli had started on the fourth row but worked his way into the top six. He lost performance in the latter stages of the race as the track dried out.

Melville McKee and Kevin Gilardoni failed to make the start after contact between the two of them during the formation laps – both cars were out on the spot.

The second race of the weekend is due to get underway at 18.25, with Chatin lining up on pole with Vittorio Ghirelli lining up alongside him.

Stanaway Secures German Formula 3 Title.

GP3 Race Winner Richie Stanaway has been crowned Champion in the 2011 German ATS Formula 3 Cup during the penultimate race weekend of the season at the Dutch circuit of Assen.

Stanaway headed to Holland knowing he only needed to finish second during round fifteen to secure the second Volkswagen F3 title in as many weeks, after Brazilian Felipe Nasr’s success in the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series at Rockingham.

“’Well done’ to Richie Stanaway and the Van Amersfoort Racing team. They dominated the championship this year. Richie is the deserving champion of the ATS Formula 3 Cup,” says Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. “With his dominating title win he has shown that he ranks among the great talents in motorsport. At the same time, his dominance proves that in Formula 3 the whole package consisting of the driver, team, car and engine has to perfectly harmonise.”

Stanaway made his mark from the start of the season at Oschersleben, where, as a German F3 rookie, the young New Zealand racer secured a double victory and the early advantage in the Championship, and since Oschersleben, he had been extending his Championship lead event by event.

In the previous fifteen races, he has secured ten victories and a trio of second place finishes, and the Berlin based FIA supported driver has also secured the rookie classification as the best newcomer in the series.

“Of course I’m very happy about the title win; it’s been a very good season,” said a pleased Richie Stanaway. “Looking back, I’ve got to say that contesting the ATS Formula 3 Cup this year has been the best decision for me. I was able to learn a great deal. I’d always take this decision again.”

The 2010 campaign saw Stanaway, a fitness fan, secured the ADAC Formel Masters with twelve victories as he secured the title in dominant style.

Stanaway’s title success marks the third consecutive title success for Volkswagen in the ATS Formula 3 Cup, after Laurens Vanthoor (2009) and Tim Dillmann (2010) also won for Volkswagen – taking their race wins tally to 43 wins from 69 races and since Volkswagen returned to Formula 3 action in 2008, they have secured seven Championship wins as well as two victories out at Macau, in the legendary Macau Grand Prix.

In the coming season a new era will start for the ATS Formula 3 Cup as the universal Formula 3 engine from Volkswagen will make its debut. The 230-HP four-cylinder unit reduces engine costs by almost two thirds and uses an innovative push-to-pass system which boosts the power output by 20 HP by pushing a button. This principle has been very successfully used in the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup and is now bringing additional suspense into formula racing. The drivers can place overtaking manoeuvres in a much easier way, thus making the races even more exciting.

Chatin secures maiden Eurocup Formula Renault Victory.

Paul-Loup Chatin backed up his first Pole Position of the 2011 Eurocup Formula Renault season with his first victory at his home circuit of Paul Ricard – an experience he describes as perfect: “I had a difficult start to the season, but I’ve learned a lot and the teams also worked hard to reel the leaders in. To collect my first Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 win in France is just perfect, and my aim now is to get some more race wins this year and take the championship next season.”

The youngster fended off the attentions of Koiranen Motorsport duo Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz Jnr, and for the latter, he outscored his Championship rival Robin Frijns (Josef Kaufmann Racing) by three points, thus keeping his Championship hopes alive. Frijns heads into tomorrow’s race knowing he can leave France as the Champion as long as he maintains the advantage he has over Sainz – it is currently in excess of fifty points.

Chatin had held off a stern challenge from Kvyat, Frijns and Stoffel Vandoorne (KTR) in his qualifying group to secure Pole Position in front of his home fans, the Frenchman lined up ahead of Spaniard Sainz Jnr, with row two seeing Kvyat and Will Stevens (Fortec Motorsports), which left Championship leader Frijns in the unusual situation of lining up fifth.

At the start, Chatin held his nerve and he arrived at the first corner leading the race, while Sainz Jnr was resisting intense pressure from Kvyat to remain second while Stevens and Frijns rounded out the top five.

Chatin has to keep his wits about him as the formidable quartet of Sainz Jnr, Kvyat, Stevens and Frijns were bunched up behind, and it was Frijns who made the first move as he took fourth from Stevens and Kvyat instantly responded by moving ahead of Sainz Jnr for second.

Kvyat soon set off in pursuit of Chatin, which in turn left the battle for the final step on the podium to be decided between the two main Championship protagonists, Sainz Jnr and Frijns.

It wasn’t just the lead battles which kept the crowds entertained – the battle for sixth between Colombian Oscar Andres Tunjo (Josef Kaufmann Racing) and Belgian Vandoorne was just as intense and on lap six, Vandoorne had his move and left Tunjo in the hands of Norman Nato (R-Ace Grand Prix) and Timmy Hansen (Interwetten.com). Tunjo was soon down in ninth position, after Nato and Hansen made their moves in a matter of corners.

Up at the front, Kvyat and Frijns kept the pressure on Chatin and Sainz Jnr all the way to the flag, but the duo repelled any attacks which were made, and Chatin brought the Tech 1 Racing car home first, for his first Eurocup Victory on home soil – the fans cheering as they gave their approval. Sainz Jnr closed the gap between himself and Frijns by three points with his third place finish compared to Frijns fourth.

Kvyat said after the race:”My congratulations to Paul-Loup Chatin. He drove a great race and didn’t make any mistakes. I never had a real chance to get past him. I’m happy with the result all the same, though there’s still work to be done.”

Sainz Jnr hopes the team can find some additional speed to ensure his Championship Challenge doesn’t finish during the second race tomorrow: “It was a tough race and I didn’t have much pace out there. Daniil overtook me easily and my only aim after that was to hold on to my podium place. We’ll need to find a solution for tomorrow and make some progress to keep the championship alive.”

Chatin Celebrates Maiden Pole Position.

Paul-Loup Chatin has had the weekend to remember as it stands this weekend at Paul Ricard. The venue for the sixth round of the 2011 Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS season saw the young Frenchman back up his testing pace by securing his maiden pole position in the Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS, just after he had secured his first victory in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 series.

“I’m very confident about the two races of tomorrow,” declared Chatin. “Although this is my home track, I had previously raced only two days of testing. Regarding the situation in the championship, I see a beautiful final struggle.”

Second on the grid behind Chatin is his Tech 1 Racing team-mate and Championship leader, Javier Tarancon. He finished the session just 0.563s off Chatin but out qualified the other French driver in the series, Yann Zimmer (Arta Engineering).Zimmer finished qualifying fourth fastest.

Lining up on the second row is the best of the Italian drivers this weekend – Vittorio Ghirelli (One Racing) finished less than a tenth behind Tarancon, while fifth and sixth went the way of Mauro Calamia (Daltec Racing) and Roman Mavlanov (Boetti Racing Team).

Seventh on the grid is Federico Gibbin (Viola Formula Racing), ahead of Edolo Ghirelli (One Racing). After an accident in the Eurocup race, Kevin Gilardoni (Team Torini Motorsport) was only able to take part in qualifying at the last minute after a miracle effort from his team to repair his damaged back end of his car.

Lining up ahead of the Italian driver is Swiss racer Christof Von Grunigen (Daltec Racing) and Stefano Colombo (Epic Racing), while the fourth place driver in the Championship, Melville McKee lines up twelfth for the first race, which is due to start at 11.30 tomorrow, with the second race at 18.25.