FORMULA RENAULT

VICTOR MARTINS STRIKES FIRST AT MONACO

Newcomer to the streets of the Principality, Victor Martins (R-ace GP) led the way in the sole collective tests for the Formula Renault Eurocup. With a lap of 1:31.524s, the French rookie of the Renault Sport Academy led from Max Defourny (MP Motorsport), who finished on the Monaco podium in 2016 and 2017, and Logan Sargeant (R-ace GP).

At 8am in the morning, the Formula Renault Eurocup had the honour of kicking off the race meeting with a 45-minute free practice session. On a track surface with limited grip, the drivers tried to gather a maximum amount of information for qualifying. Max Fewtrell (R-ace GP) set the first benchmark time, but the pace quickly picked up thanks to the rubber laid down on each lap.

Raúl Guzmán (Fortec Motorsports), Axel Matus (AVF by Adrián Vallés) and Yifei Ye (Josef Kaufmann Racing) took short turns atop the time sheet before Max Fewtrell and the MP Motorsport trio of Alex Peroni, Max Defourny and Christian Lundgaard answered in kind.
Max Fewtrell retook the advantage at the mid-way point of the session before the field made set-ups changes and switched to new Michelin tyres.

With 11 minutes remaining on the clock, Lorenzo Colombo (JD Motorsport) and Neil Verhagen (Tech 1 Racing) got the final sprint underway. Christian Lundgaard, Max Fewtrell and Max Defourny each took their turn at the top of the timing screen, but Max Fewtrell kissed the Armco at Piscine while Alex Peroni made contact with the barrier at Sainte-Devote. The red flag came out three minutes from the conclusion of the session. The drivers went back out to put in practice starts.

Thanks to his lap of 1:31.524s, Victor Martins finished at the sharp end of the order ahead of, Max Fewtrell, whose best time was not counted for not using the escape lane after making contact.
Max Defourny. Logan Sargeant (R-ace GP), Yifei Ye and Alex Peroni completed the top five, followed by Red Bull Junior Team driver Neil Verhagen, Max Fewtrell, Oscar Piastri (Arden Motorsport), Richard Verschoor (Josef Kaufmann Racing) and Charles Milesi (R-ace GP).