Formula Renault 2.0
Championship-chasing Daniil Kvyat (Koiranen Motorsport) made the perfect start to a weekend in which he needs to score big by topping the timesheets in both of Friday’s Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 collective testing sessions. Stoffel Vandoorne (Josef Kaufman Racing), the leader in the standings, also impressed on a wet morning and dry afternoon, though both men will need to watch out for Oliver Rowland (Fortec Motorsports), who could well have a big hand in how the title duel pans out.
Some 40 single-seaters have been entered for this the season’s final Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 meeting, which will decide the destiny of the title. Figuring in the field are several racers from Formula Renault 2.0 NEC, among them 2012 champion Jake Dennis (Fortec Motorsports) and Josh Hill (Fortec Motorsports), the son of 1996 Formula One world champion Damon Hill.
In a rain-affected opening session Daniil Kvyat made light of a very damp track to put together a series of fastest laps and head the timesheets, while Paul-Loup Chatin (Tech 1 Racing) celebrated his 21st birthday in style by keeping pace with the Russian.
The session was momentarily held up late on after Hans Villemi (Atech Reid GP) went off, though the driver was unhurt. Daniil Kvyat’s time of 2:05.276 proved to be the morning’s fastest, with Paul-Loup Chatin and Oliver Rowland completing the top three and championship pacesetter Stoffel Vandoorne down in eighth.
The drivers began the afternoon on slicks, though there were still some damp patches on the drying track. Moving smoothly through the gears, Oliver Rowland set a fastest time of 1’48’’817 before the red flag came out when Josh Hill and Egor Orudzhev (Fortec Motorsports) went off at the same time.
On the restart Daniil Kvyat returned to the top with a lap completed in 1:46.761, a time that Stoffel Vandoorne quickly trimmed to 1:46.569. The Russian had the final say, however, with a lap of 1:46.311 to end the day first, with Oliver Rowland behind him in second. Third place fell to Stoffel Vandoorne, while Nyck de Vries (R-ace GP) and Steijn Schothorst (Manor MP Motorsport) filled out the top five.
What they said:
Daniil Kvyat: “It’s been a positive day because we’ve been competitive in the dry and the wet. The second session was really tricky because the track was still pretty damp when we put the slicks on. We’ve got a real chance this weekend. Obviously we’ll need to keep a close eye on Stoffel, but if we win both races that’s that. If we do that, then there won’t be any adding up to do.”
Stoffel Vandoorne: “We didn’t put any new tyres on in the wet this morning, unlike the others, and we found some good pace in the rain. It’s difficult to compare times when the track’s drying out like it did this afternoon, especially as we only had one set of new tyres. We need to look on this as just another weekend, though I’m obviously I’m going to be watching what Daniil’s doing all the time.”
Nyck de Vries: “We’ll really need to take the weather into account this weekend because it looks like we’re performing a bit better in the dry than in the wet. I had to run in my brakes this morning and it’s difficult to see where we are in relation to the others because the track conditions were better at the start. Things went better in the dry, though I think my tyres faded too quickly. We can definitely be up there with the leaders this weekend.”
Official Renault Sport Press Release.