Prior to the event the stewards issued stark warnings to drivers for using too much of the sandy extremes of the circuit, whether they are adhered to we will see but it's almost certain that some drivers will ultimately leave with less points than they believed.
The pole battle went down to the wire with Ronny Nunez narrowly shading Grant Riddall by a little over a tenth, the pair being over half a second quicker than Rouke and Jef Vannijlen.
With no pace lap employed in the rFactor series' this year, the field headed down to T1 for the first time with slightly colder tyres and much colder brakes than normal.
Ronny and Grant both got through T1 cleanly, with Grant taking the lead. Further back, however, Paul mistook his clutch for the brake and cannoned into Angelo, the pair losing several places in the ensuing moment through the gravel.
Over the course of the first lap the field spread out nicely with some minor bumping as drivers jossled for position. A minor off near the end of the lap cost Ronny two places and removed the most likely pressure from Grant.
The final action of the first lap took place on the exit of the last turn as the delayed Paul Langford, suffering with a damaged car, lost control - spun across the track and smashed into John Wallace. Wallace's car bounced into the pitlane so the damage done was comparatively light, he did a quick pitstop to repair and rejoined near the back of the fieldLangford continued and in doing so his race turned into a near disaster. His car was ill handling and as a result he had several collisions, spins and incidents on his way to a struggling 15th place.
24 cars started the race and, as is often the case some benefitted at the start, Salvatore Tallini was one such driver, leaping 11 places on the first lap to finish it in sixth. Sadly for him a poor race saw him fade to a disapointing 15th over all.
Mitch Simon also made up a good number of early laps, finding himself in 7th by lap five from 16th on the grid. He battle hard, had minimal problems to bring his car home solidly in 8th after Deutsch passed him a few laps from home during a recovery drive which dropped him to 12th on lap 2.
Riddall, aided by Ronny's first lap off, cruised to a comparatively easy win ahead of Ronny who recovered well to second. Jed and Rouke took the next two places ahead of Jos Swarthoff and defending champion Ralph Maiph.
Race two and Riddall made a similarly good start and once again Nunez was not given the chance to pressure him as again he had an incident on lap 1. This time, however, he wasn't at fault as Jef rear ended the Ferrari turning it around and causing Nunez to drop to 16th place.
Dale Ballwag made the best start, jumping to 10th from 16th on the grid but by lap 7 he was out as the field started to thin out. In a replica of the lap 1 accident, one of those drivers to retire was the frustrated Ronny who was collected when Deutsch lost it in the same way as Langford. Both retired on the spot on lap 10 signalling the end of a disapointing race for someone who obviously has the pace to challenge for the championship.
Further up Rouke soon worked his way into second but there was no way he could hold onto the race leader as Riddall streaked away for an impressive second win. Behind Jef and Jos were embroiled in one of several battles through the field, Vannijlen finally coming out on top with an impressive third place.
The biggest battle, however, centered around the race for 10th place. At times 5 or 6 cars were battling nose to tail, with some slightly desperate lines being taken as drivers including Angelo, David Pym, Ralph Maiph and John Wallace fought hard for places.
The final pass in this monumental battle fell to Wallace as he passed the fading Mitch Simon for 13th with just 5 laps to go.
Overall two intensely entertaining races kicked off what is likely to be an exciting season of racing.
Drive of the day must go to Grant Riddall for two immaculate drives, although in race one, Mitch Simon undoubtedly put in a better drive. Simon's race two wasn't quite so good so Riddall takes driver of the day by a whisker.
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