The opening weekend of the Formula Renault Eurocup Championship took place at Monza, Italy. Drivers Daniel Ticktum, Zane Goddard and Ghislain Cordeel took the track for the first two practise sessions in preparation for qualifying.
A steady session for all drivers - mainly focussing on race pace and overall car balance saw them finish the opening session 20th, 15th and 25th respectively.
Session two took place in warmer conditions early afternoon, where Ticktum set the 9th fastest lap of the session in a tightly contested pack. Goddard set the 24th fastest time with Cordeel filing in just behind in 25th.
Qualifying was split into two sessions due to the large grid of cars. Goddard set the 9th fastest lap in session 1A and was the only driver in this session. Ticktum and Cordeel set the 6th and 11th fastest times in session 1B.
The drivers would line up as follows for Race one of the weekend: Ticktum - 11th, Goddard - 18th, Cordeel -21st
In the opening race of the season, Cordeel was an innocent victim when a rival span at the first Lesmo corner, taking him out of contention and bringing out the safety car.
The race resumed around almost eight minutes. On the restart Ticktum launched an attack for 9th position, but lost out to fellow Red Bull Junior Richard Verschoor dropping him to 11th position. Goddard had made steady progress up to 15th before another safety car was brought out due to a car stopped on track at Curva Grande.
When the race was restarted again with two minutes to go, it was red flagged soon after, due to a collision at Curva Grande taking out a further two cars, leading the organisers to red flag the race a lap earlier.
Ticktum finished 11th - narrowly missing out on a Rookie podium on his debut, whilst Goddard came home in 15th position and Cordeel was a non-finisher due to the lap one accident.
Ben Salter "It was a tough opening round of the championship, as expected being a new team to the championship but all drivers showed solid pace and we narrowily missed out on a Rookie Podium with Ticktum.
Tomorrow is the aim to continue moving forwards in Qualifying 2 and the same for Race 2 of the weekend."
Qualifying two will take place at 9:00am with the second race of the weekend scheduled to start at 12:40pm.
More post-race analysis to follow...