De Vries Fastest as Paul Ricard Eurocup Weekend Begins

Current Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Series championship leader Nyck de Vries was fastest during the collective test sessions ahead of this weekends races at the Paul Ricard circuit in the south of France.

The Koiranen GP driver set a best lap time of 2:04.116s in the afternoon’s second session to beat KTR driver Alexander Albon by 0.150s.

Albon had been fastest in the morning session, setting a best time of 2:04.732s as blue skies greeted the World Series by Renault competitors. Josef Kaufmann Racing duo Kevin Jorg and Ryan Tveter were second and third, with Dennis Olsen, who needs to reduce de Vries’ championship lead to under 50 points this weekend to have any hope of taking the title himself, fourth for Prema Powerteam.

Matt Parry was fifth for Fortec Motorsports ahead of his team-mate Jack Aitken, who won his first race of the season last time out in Hungary. Andrea Pizzitola, who also won at the Hungaroring was seventh for Manor MP Motorsport, ahead of Prema Powerteam’s Hans Villemi, whilst Tech 1 Racing duo Egor Orudzhev and Anthoine Hubert rounded out the top ten.

De Vries was the man to beat in the second session, beating Albon and Jorg, while Bruno Bonifacio of Prema Powerteam was fourth. Gustav Malja was fifth for Josef Kaufmann Racing ahead of Hubert, Villemi, Olsen and Tveter, whilst ART Junior Team driver Aurelien Panis completed the top ten this time around.

Qualifying for race one takes place Saturday morning ahead of the race later that afternoon, with qualifying for race two on Sunday morning.

Paul Ricard Collective Test 1 Results

Paul Ricard Collective Test 2 Results