World Series by Renault champion Betrand Baguette won both of the season-ending races at Motorland Aragon while Malaysia’s Fairuz Fauzy jumped from sixth in the standings to finish as runner up.
Both drivers have ambitions to make the transition directly into Formula One, with ex-A1GP driver Fauzy considered a possibility for the new Lotus squad which has strong Malaysian links. As WSR champion, Baguette will test with the Renault F1 team.
All three pre-weekend contenders for second in the championship, Jersey’s James Walker, F1 driver Jaime Alguersuari and the GP2 Asia-bound Charles Pic, struggled in qualifying and none of them managed better than Alguersuari’s eighth place in the first race.
This opened the door for Fauzy to overtake them all and for Oliver Turvey, who competed instead of joining the GP2 Asia test in Abu Dhabi, to move to fourth in the championship and win top rookie honours.
In race one Baguette started from fifth and had the lead off polesitter Turvey by the half-way point. Jon Lancaster also gained positions, reaching third before tyre wear forced him onto the defensive.
Daniil Move took fourth ahead of Superleague driver Esteban Guerrieri and Fauzy. Greg Mansell finished 10th on his return to the series and Walker was 18th.
In race two Fauzy led from pole but was taken by Baguette during the pit stops. Move held off Guerrieri to go one better than the previous race by taking third place for P1 Motorsport, the Norfolk team hit by a fire that destroyed its entire operation earlier in the season.
Turvey was fifth and P1’s Walker ninth, but Lancaster saw his hopes end with a puncture on the second lap while in pursuit of Fauzy. He ended up 20th, the final unlapped car. Mansell was 14th.
Baguette said: “I can’t help but be happy with my weekend, now that I’ve won the championship it’s a logical step to move to F1. We’re putting everything in place for that.”
And Fauzy added: “This race was the perfect end to my season, and I hope that by finishing second in the FR 3.5 Series it will allow me to get closer to my dream of driving in F1.”