Cram Competition's Alessandro Kouzkin scored his second win today in round eight of the International Formula Master Series at the Brands Hatch circuit in England.

Leading the Series' 40th race from start to finish, after securing reverse pole by finishing yesterday's round in eighth place, Kouzkin kept first place, withstanding pressure from ISR's Alexander Rossi in the later stages of the race.

Rossi eventually finished second, despite losing out to team-mate Erik Janis at the start of the race. Rossi claimed the position on lap four, as Janis ran wide, which also benefited third-place finisher JD Motorsport's Sergey Afanasiev.

A great start from Afanasiev saw the Russian move from sixth on the grid to his third-place finish, the second this weekend, ahead of Janis who claimed fourth. JD Motorsport's Josef Kral secured fifth from a sixth-place start; a late surge saw the young Czech put pressure on compatriot Janis, however the race ended before a move could be made by Kral.

Jenzer Motorsport's Pål Varhaug claimed the last point-scoring position in sixth place, ahead of team-mate Fabio Leimer. Leimer maintained his lead in the Drivers' Classification however, by setting today's fastest lap, 1:18.603, which earned him a point.

IFM's 2009 season resumes next weekend at the Hungaroring in Hungary for rounds nine and ten, where the Series will partner its first FIA Formula 1 World Championship. Both races will be broadcasted on the pan-European channel Eurosport.

Alessandro Kouzkin, Cram Competition
"It was a good race, especially in the beginning. After that I had a few problems with oversteer in the middle of corners but it was ok in the end. I won, and it was a special day today, because it was my second win of the season after Pau."

Alexander Rossi, ISR
"I was expecting more grip on the left hand side of the grid than there was, so I got too much wheel-spin at the start. I was able to hold on to fourth and once I got behind Erik [Janis], Alessandro [Kouzkin] opened up a pretty good gap. I waited until Erik made a mistake and fortunately for me he did.

"As soon as I got clear, I saw that I was about four seconds behind the leader so I started to push. Doing that, you tend to use the tyres up fairly quickly so I got the gap down to three or four tenths but couldn't pass him. In fairness, he made no mistake and drove a great race."

Sergey Afanasiev, JD Motorsport
"It was a good way to make up on last year's result and on losing the start yesterday. This time I had a fairly good start, there was a little bit less grip than expected but I got away ok. After that I just took the race step by step without any problems. I was trying to find something special on the straight as I saw I was losing some time there but otherwise it was a straightforward race."

Kouzkin led the field at Brands Hatch today

International Formula Master - Brands Hatch
Round 08
1. Alessandro Kouzkin (RUS), Cram Competition (#47)
2. Alexander Rossi (USA), ISR (#16)
3. Sergey Afanasiev (RUS), JD Motorsport (#2)
4. Erik Janis (CZH), ISR (#20)
5. Josef Kral (CZH), JD Motorsport (#3)
6. Pål Varhaug (NOR), Jenzer Motorsport (#7)
7. Fabio Leimer (SUI), Jenzer Motorsport (#6)
8. Vladimir Arabadzhiev (BUL), JD Motorsport (#1)
9. Simon Trummer (SUI), Iris Project (#8)
10. Tiago Petiz (POR), Cram Competition (#4)
11. Patrick Reiterer (ITA), Iris Project (#9)
Not classified
Kelvin Snoeks (NED), AR Motorsport (#31)

IFM drivers' classification - top eight
1. Fabio Leimer (SUI), Jenzer Motorsport (#6), 51 points
2. Pål Varhaug (NOR), Jenzer Motorsport (#7), 35 points
3. Josef Kral (CZH), JD Motorsport (#3), 28 points
4. Vladimir Arabadzhiev (BUL), JD Motorsport (#1), 24 points
5. Sergey Afanasiev (RUS), JD Motorsport (#2), 23 points
6. Alexander Rossi (USA), Hitech Junior (#16), 21 points
7. Alessandro Kouzkin (RUS), Cram Competition (#47), 18 points
8. Erik Janis (CZH), ISR (#20), 14 points

IFM teams' classification
1. Jenzer Motorsport, 77 points
2. JD Motorsport, 69 points
3. ISR, 30 points
4. Cram Competition, 21 points
5. Hitech Junior, 18 points
6. AR Motorsport, 7 points
7. Iris Project, 7 points
8. Team JVA, 4 points
9. ADM Motorsport, 4 points
10. Trident Racing, 4 points

IFM rookies' classification
1. Pål Varhaug (NOR), Jenzer Motorsport (#7), 61 points
2. Alexander Rossi (USA), Hitech Junior (#16), 45 points
3. Alessandro Kouzkin (RUS), Cram Competition (#47), 35 points
4. Dennis Retera (NED), AR Motorsport (#32), 25 points
5. Patrick Reiterer (ITA), Iris Project (#9), 23 points
6. Kelvin Snoeks (NED), AR Motorsport (#31), 14 points
7. Tiago Petiz (POR), Cram Competition (#4), 7 points
8. Jonathan Kennard (GBR), Team JVA (#29), 6 points
9. Duncan Tappy (GBR), Team JVA (#30), 6 points
10. Matteo Davenia (ITA), Cram Competition (#12), 4 points

Lap-by-lap analysis
Lap 1: Janis moves from fourth to second at the start / Afanasiev moves from sixth to fourth
Lap 2: Rossi & Janis battling for second / Kral up to fifth place / Varhaug down to seventh / Trummer and Snoeks pass Petiz for 10th and 11th
Lap 3: Petiz passes Snoeks back for 11th
Lap 4: Reiterer spins at Turn 1, was in sixth place / Janis runs wide / Rossi & Afanasiev pass Janis for second and third place
Lap 6: Arabadzhiev under pressure from Leimer for seventh place / Snoeks pits - OUT / Reiterer rejoins the race
Lap 9: Leimer passes Arabadzhiev for seventh place
Lap 12: Leimer sets the fastest lap of the race: 1:18.603
Lap 14: Gap between Kouzkin and Rossi down to 0.285
Lap 21: Final lap / Close battle for fourth between Janis and Kral, gap is down to 0.388 / Kouzkin wins round eight