Home Z - Archive seriesFormula Renault 2.0FR2.0 NEC Defourny and Deletraz claim poles for Spa NEC races

Defourny and Deletraz claim poles for Spa NEC races

by Peter Allen
Max Defourny

Photo: Formula Renault 2.0 NEC

Max Defourny ended Josef Kaufmann Racing’s Formula Renault 2.0 NEC pole position streak in qualifying for race one at Spa-Francorchamps, but points leader Louis Deletraz will return to top spot for race two.

Defourny led the first of the 20-minute sessions from the off, and although other drivers took turns on top, the Belgian driver returned to the head of the order with three minutes remaining.

His effort of 2m18.820s remained good enough for a maiden FR2.0 pole on home soil, 0.149s ahead of Fortec’s Callan O’Keeffe.

JKR’s unbeaten qualifying record in the 2015 NEC was broken, with Kevin Jorg and Deletraz having to make do with third and fifth respectively.

They were split by Defourny’s ART Junior team-mate Ukyo Sasahara, a winner at Spa earlier this year in the Eurocup.

After taking pole in both Alps races at Misano last weekend, Force India protege Jehan Daruvala took sixth ahead of Darius Oskoui.

JKR drivers Dries Vanthoor and Nikita Mazepin made the top 10, either side of ninth-placed Ferdinand Habsburg.

Deletraz found his usual form in the second session, his time of 2m17.963s enough to out-pace Defourny by 0.367s and score his seventh pole from nine races.

After taking a quiet 12th on the grid for race one, Alex Gill was fourth for Fortec ahead of Sasahara. Daruvala and Oskoui matched their first session results, followed by O’Keeffe, Vanthoor and Habsburg.

FR2.0 debutant Dan Ticktum was 14th and 12th in the two sessions for Koiranen, whose four cars were absent from the top 10 on their NEC return.

Qualifying results
Qualifying 1 ? Qualifying 2
Pos Driver Team Time Pos Driver Team Time
1 Max Defourny ART Junior Team 2:18.820 1 Louis Deletraz Josef Kaufmann Racing 2:17.963
2 Callan O’Keeffe Fortec Motorsports 2:18.969 2 Max Defourny ART Junior Team 2:18.330
3 Kevin Jorg Josef Kaufmann Racing 2:18.987 3 Kevin Jorg Josef Kaufmann Racing 2:18.523
4 Ukyo Sasahara ART Junior Team 2:19.031 4 Alex Gill Fortec Motorsports 2:18.653
5 Louis Deletraz Josef Kaufmann Racing 2:19.156 5 Ukyo Sasahara ART Junior Team 2:18.662
6 Jehan Daruvala Fortec Motorsports 2:19.268 6 Jehan Daruvala Fortec Motorsports 2:18.695
7 Darius Oskoui ART Junior Team 2:19.269 7 Darius Oskoui ART Junior Team 2:18.789
8 Dries Vanthoor Josef Kaufmann Racing 2:19.391 8 Callan O’Keeffe Fortec Motorsports 2:18.816
9 Ferdinand Habsburg Fortec Motorsports 2:19.552 9 Dries Vanthoor Josef Kaufmann Racing 2:18.867
10 Nikita Mazepin Josef Kaufmann Racing 2:19.623 10 Ferdinand Habsburg Fortec Motorsports 2:18.951
11 Stefan Riener Koiranen GP 2:19.775 11 Nikita Mazepin Josef Kaufmann Racing 2:19.062
12 Alex Gill Fortec Motorsports 2:20.070 12 Daniel Ticktum Koiranen GP 2:19.233
13 Colin Noble MGR Motorsport 2:20.292 13 Colin Noble MGR Motorsport 2:19.368
14 Daniel Ticktum Koiranen GP 2:20.307 14 Stefan Riener Koiranen GP 2:19.379
15 Henrique Chaves AVF 2:20.736 15 Josef Zaruba AVF 2:19.780
16 Bruno Baptista Koiranen GP 2:20.787 16 Bruno Baptista Koiranen GP 2:19.838
17 Philip Hamprecht Koiranen GP 2:20.845 17 Philip Hamprecht Koiranen GP 2:19.917
18 Josef Zaruba AVF 2:20.969 18 Pontus Fredricsson Prizma Motorsport 2:20.181
19 Bartek Mirecki BM Racing 2:21.086 19 Henrique Chaves AVF 2:20.227
20 Pontus Fredricsson Prizma Motorsport 2:21.142 20 Kevin Kleveros Prizma Motorsport 2:20.485
21 Kevin Kleveros Prizma Motorsport 2:21.302 21 Bartek Mirecki BM Racing 2:21.204
22 Charlie Eastwood AVF 2:22.240 22 Inigo Bikuna AVF 2:22.462
23 David Richert Inter Europol Competition 2:22.680 23 Pietro Peccenini TS Corse 2:22.605
24 Pietro Peccenini TS Corse 2:23.342 24 Charlie Eastwood AVF 2:22.723
25 Inigo Bikuna AVF 2:26.043 25 David Richert Inter Europol Competition 2:22.902