Photo: Chris Schotanus
Eurocup championship leader Oliver Rowland was quickest overall during the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC Thursday testing at Most, which saw the running of four pre-weekend practice sessions.
Caterham junior Matt Parry, who leads the NEC points standings with two rounds to go and could seal the title at Most, topped the timesheets in the first session with an early effort. Lotus juniors Esteban Ocon and Oscar Tunjo were second and third respectively, with Ocon’s late lap being just 0.013s off of Parry’s benchmark. Another Fortec driver and NEC regular Jack Aitken took fourth, with Steijn Schothorst rounding out the top five.
Frenchman Ocon was quickest in the second session, with 0.7s separating him and second-placed Raoul Owens. Rowland was third, with Schothorst in fourth, this time ahead of Aitken.
In session three, Schothorst took the early lead, but was soon demoted by both Aitken, who took the top spot in the session, and fellow Briton Rowland. Championship leader Parry and fellow NEC regular Dennis Olsen made up the remaining spots in the top five.
Finally, in what ended up the quickest test run of the day, it was Rowland who came out on top, with a benchmark time of 1:31.040, clearing nearest rivals Alex Albon and Ocon by 0.8s. Josef Kaufmann Racing’s Gustav Malja slotted into fourth, with Schothorst again taking fifth.