Max Defourny and Sacha Fenestraz emerged from two closely-fought qualifying sessions with pole positions for this weekend’s Formula Renault Eurocup races at the Red Bull Ring.
Defourny, still chasing his first win of 2017, edged Fenestraz for race one pole in first qualifying on Friday evening, with the Belgian outpacing the Franco-Argentine by 0.089 seconds for top spot in the second group.
With a lap of 1m28.793s, he overcame the benchmark of 1m28.962s set in the first group by rookie Max Fewtrell, who beat both Will Palmer and Robert Shwartzman.
Championship leader Shwartzman, who heads Fenestraz by six points and Palmer by 10, will start both races from sixth on the grid alongside Dan Ticktum, with Palmer to start fourth both times.
In qualifying for race two on Saturday morning, Fenestraz turned the tables on Defourny to top the first group by 0.105s.
His effort of 1m28.429s would be matched to the thousandth of a second by the quickest driver from the second group, Gabriel Aubry, who this time upheld Tech 1 honour to outpace R-ace GP duo Palmer and Shwartzman.
As Fenestraz set his time first, he gets pole, with Aubry to join him on the front row and Defourny heading Palmer on the second.
When not on the front row, team-mates Aubry and Fewtrell will start from eighth, with AVF’s Thomas Randle alongside them both times.
For race one, Henrique Chaves beat Alex Peroni to claim ninth instead of 11th, but their positions are swapped for race two, with Yifei Ye to start 10th both times.
