Le Mans 2006 - Maldonado spoils French party.

Sunday, 1st October 2006

Pastor Maldonado put the disappointment of retiring in the first race behind him with an important victory in round 15 of the World Series by Renault at Le Mans, the Venezuelan becoming the latest driver to move within striking distance of the championship lead.

Previous Page

In the championship standings, there have been big changes following the decision to scrap the results from the first race of the season at Zolder as a result of protests made by Eurointernational and Draco Multiracing, something
that has shaken up the leading championship order up significantly.

As a result, Soucek remains in the lead, three points
ahead of Maldonado, while Danielsson and Garcia are the biggest losers from the late change, dropping eight and twelve points respectively to be tied third overall, nine points off the lead.

Parente continues to hold fifth, having suffered his second double DNF in a row, a result that puts him 18 points adrift with two races remaining and 34 points up for grabs.

The series now heads of Barcelona, the home circuit of Soucek, the Spaniard no doubt determined to put a disappointing Le Mans weekend behind him and take a
surprise championship win in a year that has seen him win just once but finish out of the points only three times out of 15 races. Will unflappable consistency see him take victory in his rookie season?