Photo: Chris Schotanus
Steijn Schothorst was the man of the moment in race one of Formula Renault 2.0 NEC at Assen, taking a dominant lights-to-flag victory, his third in the category.
Schothorst enjoyed a rather lonely drive as his main rivals were seemingly more busy with the fight for second. Championship leader Matt Parry found himself stuck behind second-placed Dennis Olsen early on and struggled to get around the Norwegian karting graduate. Eventually, he lost a fair bit of time trying to overtake, allowing teammate Jack Aitken to go through. While Olsen defended well, Aitken managed to snatch second, but could not match the lightning pace of the Dutchman up front.
Olsen had to defend third until the very last lap, but did manage to hold on, scoring his second podium in Formula Renault NEC. Parry finished just 0.2s later, picking up fourth, while Mikko Pakari held off Andrea Pizzitola for fifth.
Pizzitola’s teammate Nicolas Jamin took seventh, while Raoul Owens had to do with eigth, impeded by the removal of his quickest time in qualifying. ART drivers Tanart Sathienthirakul and Alberto di Folco rounded out the top ten.
Race results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Steijn Schothorst | Josef Kaufmann Racing | 16 laps in 26:11.566 |
| 2 | Jack Aitken | Fortec Motorsports | +4.746 |
| 3 | Dennis Olsen | Josef Kaufmann Racing | +6.371 |
| 4 | Matt Parry | Fortec Motorsports | +6.650 |
| 5 | Mikko Pakari | Fortec Motorsports | +14.531 |
| 6 | Andrea Pizzitola | ART Junior Team | +14.961 |
| 7 | Nicolas Jamin | ART Junior Team | +15.572 |
| 8 | Raoul Owens | Mark Burdett Racing | +22.036 |
| 9 | Tanart Sathienthirakul | ART Junior Team | +28.744 |
| 10 | Alberto di Folco | ART Junior Team | +41.083 |
| 11 | Louis Deletraz | Josef Kaufmann Racing | +41.956 |
| 12 | Alfonso Celis | Fortec Competition | +43.250 |
| 13 | Samuel MacLeod | Fortec Motorsports | +47.126 |
| 14 | Yu Kanamaru | KTR | +50.534 |
| 15 | Fran Rueda | AV Formula | +1:02.129 |
| 16 | Ryan Tveter | Fortec Competition | +1:02.604 |
| 17 | Julio Moreno | JTR Racing | +1:02.959 |
| 18 | Cedric Freiburghaus | SL Formula | +1:04.625 |
| 19 | Kevin Kleveros | KEO Racing | +1:18.333 |
| 20 | Andres Mendez | Mark Burdett Racing | +1:23.799 |
| 21 | Patric Armand | Fortec Motorsports | +1:24.029 |
| 22 | Corinna Kamper | Fortec Competition | +1:24.370 |
| 23 | Alex Bosak | AV Formula | +1:25.070 |
| 24 | Jakub Smiechowski | Euro Interpol | +1:26.213 |
| 25 | Juan Branger | JD Motorsport | +1:32.004 |
| Not classifed | |||
| Kuba Dalewski | JD Motorsport | +15 laps | |
| Roman Beregech | Fortec Competition | +15 laps | |