The in-form Sacha Fenestraz secured a pole hat trick at Spa-Francorchamps, with the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Championship leader looking to extend his advantage at the top the standings this weekend.
The Josef Kaufmann Racing driver has a twenty-three point lead over Will Palmer heading into this weekend’s penultimate round of the season at the Belgian track, and Fenestraz started the weekend in the best possible fashion in the first qualifying session.
With thirty-four cars competing this weekend, thanks to the arrival of the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup contingent, both qualifying sessions were split into two, and Fenestraz stole a march on his rivals by setting the best time of 2:17.317s to deny Robert Shwartzman of R-ace GP pole position by 0.253 seconds.
Yifei Ye finished second fastest behind team-mate Fenestraz in his group and as a result will start third on the grid, whilst Max Defourny will start fourth for R-ace GP, ahead of Tech 1 Racing duo Max Fewtrell and Gabriel Aubry, who were third fastest in their respective groups.
Red Bull-backed MP Motorsport duo Richard Verschoor and Neil Verhagen will start from seventh and eighth respectively, while Palmer of R-ace GP and Henrique Chaves of AVF by Adrian Vallés complete the top ten.
The grid for race two was set by the second fastest times of the session, and it was Fenestraz’s 2:17.554s that took top spot, with Aubry this time joining him on the front row, with Ye and Shwartzman on row two ahead of Fewtrell and Defourny.
Thomas Randle will start race two from seventh on the grid for AVF by Adrian Vallés ahead of Verhagen and Palmer, while R-ace GP’s Gilles Magnus will start tenth, the leading of the NEC stars, as he will be in race one when he starts fourteenth.
The cars took to the track again for a second qualifying session, but no one could deny Fenestraz a triple pole position, with his 2:17.407s easily enough to take top spot, with Shwartzman more than four-tenths of a second slower in his group.
Palmer and Aubry will share the second row ahead of Fewtrell and Defourny, with Verschoor and Verhagen again on the fourth row ahead of Ye and Magnus, who again was well clear of the other NEC competitors.
Race 1 gets underway on Saturday morning.
Spa-Francorchamps Race 1 Qualifying Result
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Spa-Francorchamps Race 2 Qualifying Result
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Spa-Francorchamps Race 3 Qualifying Result
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