Rodin Motorsport’s champion Alex Ninovic began his celebratory weekend in style at Autodromo Nazionale Monza with a lights to flag victory in the opening race of the weekend. Deagen Fairclough and Hillspeed debutant Maxim Rehm clinched victories on Sunday, while a fightback drive in race three was enough to secure the championship runner-up spot for Patrick Heuzenroeder.
Race one
Ninovic led the pack away at the start of race one, but the contest was red flagged after separate incidents at the first chicane and at the Curva Grande. Upon the restart, with the distance reduced to 10 laps or 20 minutes, Ninovic again led the pack away, while Heuzenroeder and Fairclough set about entering his slipstream.
Ninovic was unable to shake off Heuzenroeder but, despite that, he was able to break clear in the final two laps to win by 1.6 seconds, while behind, Gianmarco Pradel made a move for third on Fairclough around the entry of the Ascari chicane on the penultimate lap for third.
Race two
After a tricky campaign, a breakthrough victory was apparently never going to be straightforward for Fairclough, and he had to survive all sorts of drama to finally clinch a win in the day’s opener.
The first half of the race was punctuated by multiple safety car appearances, but he fought his way from fourth on the grid to feature at the front. He stamped his authority on the contest to move from third to first in the space of three corners and then hung on as Ninovic tried every which way to force a move past. Victory was secured by just 0.278s, with champion Ninovic settling for second and Pradel third.
Race three
Starting from reverse grid pole, it was a hard-fought victory for Rehm who only briefly conceded the lead. With the battle for the runner-up spot playing out behind him, Rehm kept his cool despite constant pressure behind from both Fairclough and Pradel, who swapped second place several times.
Rehm ultimately hung on to win by six tenths of a second, but aside from the lead battle, eyes were on the progress of runner-up chasers Fairclough, Heuzenroeder, and Pradel. Heuzenroeder entered the event with a margin of 13-points to Fairclough, with Pradel just a point further behind.
Fairclough looked poised to take the position, but after a challenging opening few laps, a fightback to fifth on the road (and sixth after a penalty) was all Heuzenroeder needed to claim the runner-up spot. Third place in the race went to Pradel, while BRDC SuperStar Abbi Pulling was fourth after one of her strongest race days of the year.
