Photo: Renault Sport Series
Victor Martins dominated a wet free Formula Renault Eurocup practice session on Thursday at Spa-Francorchamps.
The ART Grand Prix driver topped the times early in the session and continued to improve to stay out of reach of the rest of the field.
Martins ended practice more than a second quicker than the next best driver, lapping at 2m34.482s.
His team-mate Paul Aron and Arden’s Alex Quinn spent the session trading second place. Aron was in position in the closing stages, and despite Quinn improving on his final lap he couldn’t match the Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior.
MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto then JD Motorsport’s David Vidales both bettered Quinn’s fastest lap as they took the chequered flag, bumping Quinn down to fifth place.
Arden’s Ugo de Wilde and ART’s Gregorie Saucy took sixth and seventh ahead of Martins’ main title rival Caio Collet.
Renault junior Collet was one of a number of drivers to have lap times deleted as he exceeded track limits. The R-ace GP driver had two of his flying laps cancelled but improved on his last lap to put himself in eighth.
FA Racing’s Amaury Cordeel and Collet’s team-mate Petr Ptacek completed the top 10.
Free practice results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Victor Martins | ART Grand Prix | 2m34.482s | 16 | |
| 2 | Paul Aron | ART Grand Prix | 2m35.585s | +1.103s | 13 |
| 3 | David Vidales | JD Motorsport | 2m35.653s | +1.171s | 16 |
| 4 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | 2m35.757s | +1.275s | 15 |
| 5 | Alex Quinn | Arden | 2m36.159s | +1.677s | 17 |
| 6 | Ugo de Wilde | Arden | 2m36.290s | +1.808s | 17 |
| 7 | Gregoire Saucy | ART Grand Prix | 2m36.710s | +2.228s | 17 |
| 8 | Caio Collet | R-ace GP | 2m36.711s | +2.229s | 13 |
| 9 | Amaury Cordeel | FA Racing by Manor | 2m37.234s | +2.752s | 12 |
| 10 | Petr Ptacek | R-ace GP | 2m37.280s | +2.798s | 13 |
| 11 | William Alatalo | JD Motorsport | 2m37.350s | +2.868s | 14 |
| 12 | Tijmen van der Helm | FA Racing by Manor | 2m37.426s | +2.944s | 15 |
| 13 | Hadrien David | MP Motorsport | 2m37.426s | +2.944s | 14 |
| 14 | Kas Haverkort | MP Motorsport | 2m37.480s | +2.998s | 16 |
| 15 | Reshad de Gerus | Arden | 2m37.807s | +3.325s | 16 |
| 16 | Laszlo Toth | Bhaitech | 2m39.662s | +5.180s | 17 |
| 17 | Nicola Marinangeli | Bhaitech | 2m41.986s | +7.504s | 15 |