Linus endured a rough first race of the weekend in St. Petersburg to eventually finish ninth, in an encounter that featured contact with a rival driver and two visits to pitlane…
From sixth on the grid, Linus initially kept position as the race settled in.
After running wide at Turn 1 and allowing Alex Peroni past, however, the duo came to heads on the subsequent lap as Linus tried to reclaim the lost position.
The pair made contact in Turn 1, with Linus launched over the side of Peroni’s Carlin machine.
Called into the pits to check for damage, Linus lost in the range of 40 seconds before being able to rejoin, albeit still – crucially – on the lead lap.
He was thrown a life line when Devlin DeFrancesco crashed out from second place late in the race, triggering a safety car that bunched up the field. Already at the back with nothing to lose, GRG/HMD used the opportunity to pit Linus for a fresher set to tyres.
It came to some effect as Linus muscled past the other Carlin of Christian Bogle after the restart, and then picked up another place when team-mate Benjamin Pedersen spun, but P9 was still less than had been hoped for.
Kyle Kirkwood converted pole position into victory, but Linus remains the championship leader despite today’s outcome.
The weekend concludes on Sunday with Race 2 at 🇺🇸10:00 am / 🇸🇪16.00. Linus will line up in P7.
All sessions are live-streamed here at www.linuslundqvistracing.se.
