Oscar Piastri takes maiden Eurocup pole at Silverstone

Photo: Renault Sport Series

Oscar Piastri took his maiden Formula Renault Eurocup pole at Silverstone, in a session decided in the closing moments.

Overnight rain meant wet tyres were used at the start of qualifying, with just JD Motorsport and M2 Competition heading onto the track. Halfway through the 30-minute session the rest of the field started to appear, with the top spot changing multiple times as the track dried.

It wasn’t just the weather mixing up the leaderboard, as numerous drivers were caught out by track limits at Turn 5. FA Racing by Drivex’s Callan O’Keeffe was a repeat offender, and each time he moved to the top he was swiftly pushed back down the order.

R-ace GP driver Piastri, who had set the pace in free practice, seized the initiative and moved to the top with seven minutes to go. He improved twice on his best time to ensure he kept the position, and his last lap put him 0.220 seconds clear of team-mate Alexander Smolyar.

M2 Competition’s Kush Maini looked like a pole threat, and had topped the Thursday test, but was shuffled down to third at the end of qualifying.

O’Keeffe was fourth, 0.444s back, and narrowly ahead of Caio Collet (R-ace) and Petr Ptacek (Bhaitech).

Early pacesetter Joao Vieira was the top JD Motorsport car in seventh, beating team-mate Ugo de Wilde and MP Motorsport pair Victor Martins and Lorenzo Colombo at the bottom of the top 10. Championship leader Martins struggled, and was almost six tenths behind fellow second-year driver Piastri.

The single British entrant was Frank Bird, who qualified 16th for Arden.

Qualifying results