Zozo wins on debut after trading the Spain lead with Raptorr

Zozo won on his IMS debut by taking the lead from Raptorr twice. The second pass, on lap 26, finally settled a fight in which both Aston Martins had been ahead of the pole-sitter.

Capybara finished 4.479 seconds behind, with Raptorr another 0.532 back. Williams had the new winner Zopz had backed before the race, but Aston had brought both cars home near the front without Cloud.

Pos	Driver	Team	Grid	Gap	Race points
1	Zozo	Williams	1	—	31
2	Capybara	Aston Martin	6	+4.479s	23
3	Raptorr	Aston Martin	5	+5.011s	19
4	piastrigoat	Ferrari	2	+6.555s	15
5	Karl Verghese	Cadillac	3	+9.424s	13
6	alexuk6420	Audi	8	+18.945s	11
7	Sammy278	Ferrari	7	+19.815s	10
8	mjonr22	Mercedes	11	+21.065s	7
9	Leandro / LD26	Audi	13	+34.635s	5

Aston break up the Williams one-two

Zopz had trusted Zozo's practice pace in the Spain preview. A pole margin of four thousandths over piastrigoat gave that confidence its first reward. Demaiko then went from fourth to second on the opening lap, and Williams ran one-two through the first eight laps.

Capybara was the first to break through. From sixth on the grid, he was ahead of Demaiko by the end of lap nine and passed Zozo for the lead on lap 11. Both were still on their opening Mediums; the Aston had taken first before the stops could rearrange the order.

Those stops put Raptorr in front of both of them. He took Hards first, Zozo last, and the Williams dropped to sixth. Zozo passed Karl on lap 19 to continue his recovery, while Demaiko's race ended after what he described as slight contact with the Cadillac:

A Virtual Safety Car followed his retirement. Demaiko was left with another lost score after Singapore's pole had ended two laps down. Zozo was now Williams' only remaining car.

Zozo has to win the lead back twice

By the end of lap 21, Raptorr and Capybara were running one-two ahead of him. All three had made their only stop, leaving Zozo to beat both Astons on track with the Hards they would carry to the finish.

He cleared Capybara first and took the lead from Raptorr on lap 23. Raptorr reclaimed it early on the next lap, making Zozo do the work again. His second pass on lap 26 held, and this time he pulled clear.

As they exchanged the lead, Capybara slipped behind Karl and piastrigoat into fifth. He recovered both places and passed Raptorr for second on lap 29. It gave him his first podium on his seventh IMS start, improving on fourth in last season's Brazil finale.

Raptorr had been on his Hards longest and reported that his “tire wear was coooked”.

mjon's late sixth becomes eighth

mjon passed Leandro on lap 28 and Alex on the penultimate lap, then crossed the line sixth, 0.880 seconds ahead of the Audi. Three seconds added to his time put Alex and Sammy back in front, dropping the Mercedes to eighth.

Alex and Sammy had already been fighting earlier in the race, with Sammy getting ahead on lap 16. Alex called it a “fun battle” afterwards. The Ferrari driver had a different part of the afternoon on his mind:

Sammy had switched from a planned one-stop to two in the hope of helping piastrigoat keep Raptorr behind, then regretted not staying out. He set the fastest lap at 1:14.906 but finished seventh, with piastrigoat fourth.

Leandro takes his first points in D0

Leandro's first IMS evening had begun with sixteenth in D1. His first D0 appearance brought ninth from thirteenth, an L2 driver scoring against the top division after a one-stop race.

The Audi earned five race points and a separate five-point BOTT bonus:

Behind him, Maco took tenth back from Walter on the final lap and finished 0.864 seconds clear.

Aston extend their lead without Cloud

Our Singapore review had asked Raptorr to make Aston's score less dependent on Cloud winning. Here, with Cloud absent, Raptorr and Capybara supplied forty-two points to Williams' thirty-one. Aston lead the constructors 80–44 over Ferrari, with Williams on thirty-five despite Zozo's win.

Piastrigoat's fourth put him top of the drivers' standings on thirty-four. Zozo's debut win leaves him three points behind, level with the absent Cloud.