Race 31 was back to a standing start and it was a welcome sight to see the pack lined up under the red lights on Sunday morning. Sneha Sharma was on pole in her purple number 9, with the entire grid on slicks in damp conditions.
At the start Fred Peters got away well, moving to the outside of Nico while Lucca Allen went up the inside. The duo squeezed out the Chilean while Sohil Shah came across the track to dive up the inside of turn 1 and snatch second. Muizz had been blocking Elias out but now went around the outside to grab third at the same corner!
Sohil claimed first soon after, starting his attack at turn 4 and sealing the deal through 5 and 6. Muizz was hot on his heels while Lucca and Elias almost went four wide with the pack into T7. The duo decided against the manoeuvre, perhaps wisely, but it would have been spectacular to watch.
Sohil led the rest of the lap but locked up in the damp conditions at turn 1, gifting the lead to Muizz Musyaffa.
The Malaysian Rocket had his work cut out for him with Lucca and Elias charging hard behind. It looked like Elias had the better pace, but Lucca was holding him at bay and that gave Muizz a bit of breathing room.
Meanwhile Sohil Shah had rejoined in sixth and the battle for third position between himself, Nico and Fred was intensifying! The three had been fighting hard with each other all week and even though they are new to the championship they certainly know how to put on a good show!
Muizz had been trying to pull out a lead, but Elias and Lucca weren’t letting him get away. It wasn’t until an incident at T2, where Elias went hard over the rumble strip and his front right endplate seemed to collide with Allen’s rear left tyre, that things started to change.
The sizzling Irishman was now fully defensive, and Elias was all over the back of his main competition for the championship win! With Allen squirming under braking into turn 15, Elias took second and hit the gas in a bid to catch the race leader!
Allen retired on the next lap, with his rear left tyre disintegrating, indicating a slow puncture, seemingly a consequence of the earlier collision with Elias.
From there Muizz would go on to win the race ahead of Elias and Sohil. But a steward’s inquiry after the session found that Elias had gone off track during the incident between himself and Lucca at turn 2. Upon rejoining he collided with Lucca’s rear left tyre. Because that directly caused Allen to retire and citing article 15.1/5 & 15.3.9, the stewards took the decision to disqualify Elias from the race, making the final standings, Muizz, Sohil and Fred.
