Victor Martins took his maiden Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Series pole position on Friday afternoon, with the Renault Sport Academy star setting the pace in Group B of the Qualifying session at the Red Bull Ring that decided the grid for race two.
As is the normal in the Eurocup series, the large field was divided into two groups, and it was Lorenzo Colombo who was pacesetter in the first group, the JD Motorsport setting a time of 1:29.335s, which was 0.032 seconds clear of R-ace GP’s Max Fewtrell.
The second group was marginally quicker, with Martins setting a time of 1:29.288s to take the pole for R-ace GP, with his time ensuring his group took the odd numbered grid slots, while Group A take the evens.
This means Martins and Colombo will share the front row for race one, with MP Motorsport’s Christian Lundgaard third on the grid ahead of Fewtrell, meaning three Renault-backed drivers fill the first four places.
Richard Verschoor will lead an all Josef Kaufmann Racing third row ahead of current championship leader Yifei Ye, while MP Motorsport’s Alex Peroni and R-ace GP’s Charles Milesi, both race winners last time out in Monaco, will start seventh and eighth ahead of Tech 1 Racing’s Alexander Smolyar and Arden Motorsport’s Oscar Piastri.
There are two notable changes to the driver line-up this weekend, with Max Defourny bringing his campaign to a close in favour of a drive in the BRDC British F3 championship at Spa-Francorchamps, with his place being taken by former Renault-backed Dutchman Jarno Opmeer, while Aleksandr Vartanyan is absent from the Arden Motorsport line-up, his position being taken by his fellow Russian Nikita Volegov.
Earlier in the day, Ye had topped the first free practice session at the Austrian track with a time of 1:29.921s ahead of Lundgaard and Fewtrell, while Martins showed what was to come by topping the seconds session with a time of 1:29.359s ahead of Ye and Colombo.
Red Bull Ring Race 2 Qualifying Result
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