The Formula Renault Eurocup made its now regular support visit to the Monaco Grand Prix, where Round 4 of the championship takes place on the iconic streets of Monte-Carlo.
Qualifying was split into two groups, in order to reduce the risk of traffic disrupting driver’s hot laps.
The first session of the weekend saw Patrik Pasma set the 5th fastest time in Group A, with Sebastian Fernandez sadly having his best time deleted due to causing a full course yellow – meaning he was classified 10th in the group.
Frank Bird also fell victim to the harsh penalty of causing a full course yellow, meaning his time was also deleted – classifying him 10th overall in his group as well.
This meant Patrik would start from 9th on the grid for Race 1, with Sebastian and Frank having to unfortunately start from the back of the grid in 19th and 21st respectively.
Patrik made a good clean start, keeping out of trouble as the pack jostled for position up ahead and maintained his position inside the top ten. Frank also managed to avoid the commotion on the tight opening lap to move up the order, whilst teammate Sebastian was not so fortunate – forced to retire from the race before it really got going.
Patrik began to move up the field following incidents ahead, which saw Leonardo Lorandi and João Vieira drop out of the race due to incidents – elevating Patrik up the order to a solid 7th position, which he held to the chequered flag to back some important points, on the most challenging circuit on the calendar.
Frank made a very strong recovery from the back of the field. The Briton kept out of trouble and made clinical progress to gain 8 positions over the course of the race to finish a very respectable 13th, just outside the points paying positions.
Race 2 saw Patrik start from 10th position, Sebastian in 20th position, just ahead of Frank in 21st on the grid.
Patrik maintained position as the field race through the streets for the start of the 30-minute second race of the weekend, whilst Sebastian and Frank desperately attempted to make up ground, despite the circuit being notoriously difficult to overtake on.
Sebastian endured another race to forget, as his car stopped on track on the run up to Beau Rivage just after half distance, forcing him to retire for the second race in succession at Monaco. The Safety Car was deployed while his car was recovered.
Both Patrik and Frank maintained positions in 10th and 15th respectively at the chequered flag, with the former holding onto to score points once again for the team – despite overtaking opportunities being severely limited on the Monaco streets.
A quick turnaround will see the team head out to the Circuit Paul Ricard in just one week’s time on the 1-2 June, where Round 4 of the 2019 Formula Renault Eurocup will take place at Le Castellet.