Vainio on form, Tarancon impressive
Vainio on form, Tarancon impressive
It was down to business for the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 at Hockenheim today as Finland’s Aaro Vainio, driving for Tech 1 Racing, proved he was on the pace in collective testing. He was closely followed by an impressive Javier Tarancon, the new face at the Epsilon Euskadi team, who seemed perfectly at ease in a car he had not driven before today. The three main championship hopefuls, Korainen Bros Motorsport's Kevin Korjus, Tech 1 Racing's Arthur Pic and Interwetten.com's Luciano Bacheta made their intentions clear, finishing the session in 3rd, 4th and 5th place respectively.
It was back to school for the World Series by Renault at Hockenheim today, with the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 drivers opening the proceedings. The usual faces were joined by three wild-cards, SL Formula Racing’s Kevin Mirocha, Keo Racing's Ludwig Ghidi and Kochanski Motorsport Project's Jakub Smiechowski, while Javier Tarancon replaced Miguel Otegui at Epsilon Euskadi. At just 18 the Catalan driver, a member of the Gravity Academy and current fifth place in the Formula BMW Europe championship, made his Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 debut today in familiar surroundings.
The first session was both a chance to get to grips with the circuit as well as to stretch a few legs after the two-month summer break. As the flying laps began and the pace began to speed up, the action was interrupted when Cram Competition’s Alexander Negrao crashed out. At the restart, Tarancon, who had the advantage of knowing the terrain, Vainio, Ghidi and Bacheta entered into a tussle for first place. The Spaniard was the first driver to break the 1'40" barrier with a lap of 1'39"581, finishing the session ahead of Vainio and Kevin Korjus.
The information gleaned from the first session bore fruit immediately and it wasn't long before the Tarancon’s time had been beaten. With a 1’39”341 lap, the Spanish driver immediately got down to work bettering his own time to lead the start of the second session ahead of Aaro Vainio, Arthur Pic, MP Motorsport’s Karl Oscar and Epsilon Euskadi’s Genis Olivé. Their rapid progress was soon interrupted by a crash involving MP Motorsport’s Daniel de Jong, which caused the red flag to be flown. When the green flag was raised once more, Vainio, on new tyres, raised the stakes further still and, with a 1’38”861 lap, placed himself firmly in top spot. His adversaries tried their best to stage a comeback, but the session was interrupted definitively when Karl Oscar Liiv crashed out. With two cars damaged, MP Motorsport didn’t have the quite the start they were hoping for in the second half of the season!
Quote-Unquote:
Aaro Vainio : “We were able to drive here last winter, so we know the track quite well. I had a good vacation and I’ve come back in full form, ready for the last three meetings of the season. Today’s collective testing is a great start. I drove well in the first half of the season, but I made a few mistakes and I wasn’t consistently fast. My goal is to win at least one race before the end of the season. To do that, I need to drive cleanly and keep up my level of performance.”
Javier Tarancon : “This morning was my first drive in Formula Renault 2.0. I really like the car, there's much more grip than my usual drive and I can brake much later. It didn’t take long for me to get my confidence up. I drove one race here during the summer, which was a big help, because at least I won’t have to get to grips with the circuit too! I really wasn’t expecting to be setting the pace today. I'm under no pressure for tomorrow. I’m here to learn, but that’s motivation enough!”
Official Renault Sport Press Release