Ben Hanley has broken his World Series by Renault victory duck in style at a wet and rainy Magny-Cours following a race of attrition that saw less than half the field even reach the finish line.
Although on paper it is Hanley's second World Series win having been gifted a victory at Misano last year several months down the line, it is the first time Hanley has had the honour of crossing the line first on the road – and he did it with a 18 second margin over his nearest competitor.
With just 14 drivers finishing – and only 11 of those on the same lap -, the race was an intense one, the wet weather conditions consistently catching drivers out over the course of the 24 lap duration. However, crucially for Hanley's title hopes, Alvaro Parente was not one of the victims, although with the Portuguese driver finishing sixth, his championship lead has been reduced to just eight points.
A sodden circuit greeted the drivers as they prepared for the start of the race, but despite the treacherous conditions, the start was relatively even with few dramas. Only Fortec's Esteban Guerrieri failed to make it round once after colliding with Filipe Albuquerque – although the Portuguese driver lasted just a lap longer before retiring himself.
Up at the front, Clivio Piccione made a good enough start to lead from pole position, closely followed by Hanley, Marco Bonanomi, Davide Valsecchi, Giedo van der Garde, Parente, Fairuz Fauzy and Milos Pavlovic.
Aided by a clear circuit ahead, Piccione began to pull away from the rest of the field, save for Hanley who was comfortable behind the RC Motorsport car and helping to build a gap back to Valsecchi in third. Piccione's lead however lasted just eight laps when he made a mistake and allowed Hanley through to take a lead he would not lose.
By this point though the retirements list was already bulging, with ten cars out by the 11th lap, most notably Salvador Duran who spun and was hit by Charlie Kimball.
![Davide Valsecchi - Epsilon Euskadi [pic credit: Renault Sport Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/299362.jpg)
