Photo: Dutch Photo Agency
R-ace GP’s Caio Collet was fastest on the second day of Formula Renault Eurocup’s pre-season test at Valencia Ricardo Tormo on Thursday.
The Renault Formula 1 junior was fastest as soon as he hit the track, although he faced continuous competition from M2 Competition’s Mikhael Belov and the trio of ART Grand Prix drivers.
ART’s Paul Aron was the first to topple Collet from the top in the morning, and was followed by his team-mates. Belov then bettered Aron late in the first morning session, and it ended up being his best laptime of the day.
In the second session it was Victor Martins who led the ART charge, until late laps from R-ace GP duo Collet and Petr Ptacek dropped him to third. Collet’s time beat Belov’s earlier benchmark by 0.279 seconds, and Martins’ best lap from the first day of the test by 0.216s.
Collet was fastest again in the third session, but almost a second off his earlier pace, and then did battle with Martins once more in the final session. The latter prevailed, and also set a lap good enough to end the day third fastest ahead of Aron.
The this ART car of Gregoire Saucy was eighth, behind new Bhaitech signing Lorenzo Colombo and R-ace GP pair Kush Maini and Ptacek.
M2’s Reece Ushijima set more laps than anybody, and he had an extra team-mate for the day in W Series racer Fabienne Wohlwend.
The second Eurocup test is due to start on Saturday at Barcelona, and is believed to be going ahead despite the spread of Wuhan novel coronavirus cancelling many events.
Test results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Caio Collet | R-ace GP | 1m29.063s | 78 | |
| 2 | Mikhael Belov | M2 Competition | 1m29.342s | +0.279s | 66 |
| 3 | Victor Martins | ART Grand Prix | 1m29.371s | +0.308s | 57 |
| 4 | Paul Aron | ART Grand Prix | 1m29.487s | +0.424s | 57 |
| 5 | Lorenzo Colombo | Bhaitech | 1m29.517s | +0.454s | 62 |
| 6 | Kush Maini | R-ace GP | 1m29.678s | +0.615s | 56 |
| 7 | Petr Ptacek | R-ace GP | 1m29.772s | +0.709s | 80 |
| 8 | Gregoire Saucy | ART Grand Prix | 1m29.789s | +0.726s | 61 |
| 9 | Ugo de Wilde | Arden | 1m29.986s | +0.923s | 70 |
| 10 | Xavier Lloveras | Global Racing Service | 1m30.108s | +1.045s | 62 |
| 11 | Jackson Walls | Arden | 1m30.239s | +1.176s | 67 |
| 12 | William Alatalo | JD Motorsport | 1m30.255s | +1.192s | 63 |
| 13 | Laszlo Toth | Bhaitech | 1m30.403s | +1.340s | 59 |
| 14 | Amaury Cordeel | FA Racing by Manor | 1m30.586s | +1.523s | 13 |
| 15 | Nicola Marinangeli | Bhaitech | 1m30.602s | +1.539s | 74 |
| 16 | Alessandro Ghiretti | MP Motorsport | 1m30.619s | +1.556s | 29 |
| 17 | Tommy Smith | JD Motorsport | 1m30.688s | +1.704s | 64 |
| 18 | Hadrien David | MP Motorsport | 1m30.811s | +1.748s | 26 |
| 19 | Tijmen van der Helm | FA Racing by Manor | 1m30.823s | +1.760s | 54 |
| 20 | Marta Garcia | FA Racing by Manor | 1m30.861s | +1.798s | 44 |
| 21 | Reece Ushijima | M2 Competition | 1m30.973s | +1.910s | 82 |
| 22 | Belen Garcia | Global Racing Service | 1m30.984s | +1.921s | 74 |
| 23 | Reshad de Gerus | Arden | 1m31.011s | +1.948s | 66 |
| 24 | Alex Quinn | MP Motorsport | 1m31.113s | +2.050s | 28 |
| 25 | Fabienne Wohlwend | M2 Competition | 1m31.760s | +2.697s | 76 |