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Moscow FR3.5: McLaren junior Vandoorne takes points lead with win

Stoffel Vandoorne moved into a slender Formula Renault 3.5 points lead with a dominant second victory of the weekend at Moscow Raceway

The Fortec racer, who becomes the first four-time winner of the season, finished a comfortable 11.7 seconds ahead of fellow McLaren junior driver Kevin Magnussen.

Dane Magnussen jumped ahead of slow-starting front-row man Will Stevens away from the lights, and maintained second position to the flag.

After his double dose of penalties following Saturday's qualifying, and a non-score in race one, Magnussen's result keeps him in touch with Vandoorne in the points battle.

Stevens completed the podium in third. The Briton made a much-needed qualifying set-up breakthrough as he recovering from a gearbox issue at the start of Sunday's qualifying session to grab his best starting position of the year in second.

Monaco winner Nico Muller claimed fourth, while former champion, and local star, Mikhail Aleshin charged from ninth on the grid to fifth - his highest finish of the season.

Early pitter Aleshin demonstrated some strong-arm tactics against compatriot Sergey Sirotkin. After passing the ISR driver into the last corner, the favoured overtaking location at Moscow Raceway, Aleshin squeezed Sirotkin slightly towards the pitwall to ensure he was not passed into Turn 1.

Andre Negrao repeated his race one position of sixth place for Draco.

Antonio Felix da Costa's pre-race hopes of bridging a significant points deficit to Magnussen and Vandoorne in the standings came to nought after posting a retirement.

The Red Bull junior driver slowed on lap three following first-lap contact. After pitting for a change of nose, da Costa returned to the track, only to call it quits 10 laps later.

In a race featuring little overtaking, Daniil Move stole seventh on the road from Vandoorne's Fortec team-mate Oliver Webb four laps from home.

However, the pass counted for little, as the Russian was set to land a 10-second penalty for a jump start.

Norman Nato opted for a last lap, final corner lunge on Jazeman Jaafar for the final point. The manoeuvre ended in contact and British Formula 3 runner-up Jaafar was punted into a spin. Nato limped across the finish in 10th.

Results - 33 laps:

Pos  Driver                   Team              Time/Gap
 1.  Stoffel Vandoorne         Fortec          45m43.611s
 2.  Kevin Magnussen           DAMS              +11.788s
 3.  Will Stevens              P1/Strakka        +14.008s
 4.  Nico Muller               Draco             +22.011s
 5.  Mikhail Aleshin           Tech 1            +33.657s
 6.  Andre Negrao              Draco             +35.285s
 7.  Oliver Webb               Fortec            +43.195s
 8.  Pietro Fantin             Arden Caterham    +44.007s
 9.  Daniil Move               SMP/Comtec        +48.236s
10.  Norman Nato               DAMS              +49.851s
11.  Sergey Sirotkin           ISR               +50.407s
12.  Marlon Stockinger         Lotus             +51.487s
13.  Jazeman Jaafar            Carlin            +54.239s
14.  Nikolay Martsenko         Pons            +1m02.894s
15.  Nigel Melker              Tech 1          +1m03.271s
16.  Arthur Pic                AV              +1m03.921s
17.  Marco Sorensen            Lotus           +1m04.360s
18.  Mihai Marinescu           Zeta            +1m05.384s
19.  Carlos Huertas            Carlin          +1m07.904s
20.  Will Buller               Zeta            +1m10.417s
21.  Matias Laine              P1/Strakka      +1m11.772s
22.  Zoel Amberg               Pons            +1m13.724s
23.  Christopher Zanella       ISR             +1m31.017s

Retirements:

     Antonio Felix da Costa    Arden Caterham     13 laps
     Yann Cunha                AV                  3 laps

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