R-ace GP’s Oscar Piastri on Formula Renault Eurocup pole again at Silverstone

Photo: Renault Sport Series

Oscar Piastri topped Formula Renault Eurocup qualifying again at Silverstone, taking his second pole position by 0.595 seconds.

After struggling through much of the weekend, MP Motorsport’s Victor Martins looked like he could threaten R-ace GP pair Piastri and Alexander Smolyar for pole, and was fastest early on in the session.

The Frenchman was on top when the first runs were completed, but when cars returned to track with 15 minutes to go he was quickly brought back into a battle with Piastri and Smolyar. Martins’ team-mate Lorenzo Colombo also briefly went fastest, suggesting MP had overcome the problem that held it back through Satrday’s running.

Race one winner Piastri moved to the top with just under five minutes to go, and there were no more improvements until the very end of the session. With a already sizeable advantage, Piastri improved on his last lap to set a 1m57.022s, while Smolyar hooked together three personal best sectors to go second.

Martins had been occupying that position, but a weak final effort left him 0.808s behind and in third place, just ahead of his team-mate.

The third R-ace GP car of Caio Collet was fifth fastest, with JD Motorsport’s Ugo de Wilde next to him on the third row of the grid.

Seventh to 12th was covered by less than two tenths, with M2 Competition’s Yves Baltas and Kush Maini leading FA Racing by Drivex’s Callan O’Keeffe and Bhaitech’s Petr Ptacek, who was sandwiched by JD pair Joao Vieira and Leonardo Lorandi.

Qualifying results