Cenobite Motorsports driver takes commanding victory in Superleague Lights opener
Liam de Waal made light work taking the chequered flag in Round One of the 2020 Superleague Lights season.
De Waal led from lights-to-flag to take a seven-second victory from CM-Tech?s Dino Paolini.
Douwe Tapper drove his way onto the podium in his Zedderick Racing Machine in what was an attritional race.
The field mainly got away from the grid well and kept it clean on the run to Turn one. On the exit however, carnage.
Michael Francesconi had a spin in fourth place, triggering a 12 car pile-up which effectively wiped out half the field.
By Lap 18 Tapper and Giuseppe Saracino had decided to be the first to pit. At the end of the cycle, the strategy had payed off with both leaping up one place.
Tapper was now all over the back of Paolini for second. The inside seemed to be on into Turn three, but Paolini resisted.
Saracino?s strategy had projected him to fifth, but the TTF BBR car dropped it at Turn four and the clever strategy work was undone.
The youngest driver in the race was eager to impress. Collin Spork was riding high up in seventh, but under pressure from Lewis Bickers. The Mayor Downard Racing car went past on Lap 30, but Spork wasn?t lying down.
Bickers closed the door at Turn 11, Spork didn?t care though, the sister Cenobite machine muscling down the inside.
Bickers? teammate Jack Mayor was trying to advance his position. A sublime move with DRS round the outside of Terence Grech moved him up to ninth.
No one was going to catch Liam de Waal though, the seven second gap never looked like being bridged.
Paolini and Tapper drove great races for the podium, with Pedro Moura and Sebastian Kosmala completing the top five.
Sandeep Singh came home sixth ahead of Spork, Bickers, Mayor and Grech.
Adrian Faber, Mike Kwint, Ben Horrill, Matthew Clipp and Jason Muscat all picked up points at the season opener.
Cenobite Motorsports lead by 14 points ahead of CM-Tech Racing. STAX Racing lie third.
