Photo: Chris Schotanus
Esteban Ocon and Jake Dennis lived up to pre-season expectations in the opening day of 2013 Formula Renault 2.0 NEC season by topping the first and second practice sessons at Hockenheim respectively.
Ocon, a member of the Lotus F1 junior programme, carried over his spectacular testing pace to the first racing weekend of the year, taking first in session one and second into session two, where he narrowly lost out to current champion Dennis.
Caterham junior Matt Parry beat Andrea Pizzitola to second in the opening session, while Norwegian kart graduate Dennis Olsen was fourth ahead of Jack Aitken. Tanart Sathienthirakul and Gustav Malja were sixth and seventh respectively, while series regulars Shahaan Engineer and Steijn Schothorst finished narrowly ahead of Oliver Rowland.
Title holder Dennis confrmed his status in the second sesion, narrowly besting Ocon and compatriot teammates Aitken and Parry. Rowland took sixth ahead of Mikko Pakari and Pizzitola, while Engineer repeated his result from session one, beating Ed Jones and Victor Sendin.
Combined practice results
| Pos | Driver | Team | P1 | P2 | PB Pos |
| 1 | Jake Dennis | Fortec Motorsports | 1’39.242 | 1’37.677 | 1 |
| 2 | Esteban Ocon | ART Junior Team | 1’38.558 | 1’37.784 | 1 |
| 3 | Jack Aitken | Fortec Motorsports | 1’39.009 | 1’37.868 | 3 |
| 4 | Matt Parry | Fortec Motorsports | 1’38.723 | 1’37.987 | 2 |
| 5 | Oliver Rowland | Manor MP Motorsport | 1’39.231 | 1’38.130 | 5 |
| 6 | Mikko Pakari | Fortec Motorsports | 1’39.715 | 1’38.309 | 6 |
| 7 | Andrea Pizzitola | ART Junior Team | 1’38.804 | 1’38.359 | 3 |
| 8 | Shahaan Engineer | Fortec Motorsports | 1’39.181 | 1’38.426 | 8 |
| 9 | Ed Jones | Fortec Motorsports | 1’40.006 | 1’38.450 | 9 |
| 10 | Victor Sendin | AV Formula | 1’39.373 | 1’38.510 | 10 |
| 11 | Kuba Dalewski | JD Motorsport | 1’39.744 | 1’38.599 | 11 |
| 12 | Alfonso Celis | Fortec Competition | 1’39.484 | 1’38.601 | 12 |
| 13 | Alex Baron | ART Junior Team | 1’39.568 | 1’38.612 | 13 |
| 14 | Alexander Albon | KTR | 1’41.364 | 1’38.627 | 14 |
| 15 | Gustav Malja | Josef Kaufmann Racing | 1’39.175 | 1’38.682 | 7 |
| 16 | Tanart Sathienthirakul | ART Junior Team | 1’39.173 | 1’38.764 | 6 |
| 17 | Raoul Owens | Mark Burdett Racing | 1’39.372 | 1’38.780 | 14 |
| 18 | Steijn Schothorst | Josef Kaufmann Racing | 1’39.191 | 1’38.828 | 9 |
| 19 | Dennis Olsen | Josef Kaufmann Racing | 1’38.851 | 1’39.138 | 4 |
| 20 | Louis Deletraz | Josef Kaufmann Racing | 1’39.267 | 1’39.072 | 12 |
| 21 | Ryan Tveter | Fortec Competition | 1’39.452 | 1’39.129 | 16 |
| 22 | Fran Rueda | AV Formula | 1’39.785 | 1’39.198 | 21 |
| 23 | Aurelien Panis | RC Formula | 1’40.454 | 1’39.276 | 22 |
| 24 | Erik Johansson | KEO Racing | 1’39.354 | 1’39.322 | 13 |
| 25 | Roman Beregech | Fortec Competition | 1’40.798 | 1’39.397 | 24 |
| 26 | Roman Mavlanov | RC Formula | 1’40.750 | 1’39.426 | 25 |
| 27 | Julio Moreno | JTR Racing | 1’41.020 | 1’39.763 | 26 |
| 28 | Patric Armand | Fortec Motorsports | 1’41.215 | 1’39.818 | 27 |
| 29 | Nicolas Jamin | ART Junior Team | 1’39.847 | 1’43.567 | 22 |
| 30 | Juan Branger | JD Motorsport | 1’40.765 | 1’40.043 | 29 |
| 31 | Cedric Freiburghaus | SL Formula | 1’40.383 | 1’40.061 | 25 |
| 32 | Andres Mendez | Mark Burdett Racing | 1’42.429 | 1’40.094 | 31 |
| 33 | Yu Kanamaru | KTR | 1’40.370 | 1’40.260 | 24 |
| 34 | Javier Merlo | Manor MP Motorsport | 1’41.120 | 1’40.265 | 33 |
| 35 | Simon Stoller | SL Formula | 1’41.395 | 1’40.303 | 34 |
| 36 | Ignazio D’Agosto | KTR | 1’40.563 | 1’41.639 | 27 |
| 37 | Jakub Smiechowski | EuroInterpol | 1’41.298 | 1’40.834 | 34 |
| 38 | Miika Laiho | PositiOne | 1’41.962 | 1’41.008 | 36 |
Bold denotes fastest personal time.
Italics denote fastest time in session.
PB Pos ? personal best position in session results.