Formula Renault Eurocup headed to the team’s home race at Silverstone for Round 2 and Races 3-4 of the championship. Frank Bird and Patrik Pasma were in action for team around the 5.9km Grand Prix Circuit.
Qualifying saw the two drivers next to each other in the classification, setting the 16th and 17th fastest times respectively in a tricky session, leaving them with work to do in the first of the two races this weekend.
Both drivers made good starts, avoiding the commotion through Maggots and Becketts – with Patrik making up a lot of ground to move into a brilliant 10th position at the end of the opening lap and into the point scoring positions. Frank had a more difficult start but was also battling through the field on his hunt for points.
By half distance, Patrik was running strong in 9th position following a brace of clinical overtakes, as Frank also kept making up ground, as he had moved into 15th position.
Both drivers held these positions to the chequered flag, with Patrik banking points for the team in 9th and Frank crossing the line in 15th position.
Qualifying for the second race of the weekend was another difficult one for the Arden duo, with Frank setting the 18th fastest time and Patrik just behind in 19th.
The start for the second race saw Patrik bog down at the start, but Frank made some daring moves around the outside of Becketts to move himself up the order.
After the race settled down in the early stages, Patrik began to claw his way up the grid and into 15th position after five minutes of race running, with Frank in 18th position.
Despite the long straights, the race began to settle down with opportunities for overtaking becoming few and far between over the course of the remaining laps.
Patrik and Frank were in 16th and 17th positions in the closing stages with a couple of minutes on the clock, however Frank suffered misfortune with a lap to go – meaning he was classified a lap down in 20th position, while Patrik crossed the line in 16th after a difficult second race of the weekend for the team.
Attention now turns to the next round of the championship at Monte-Carlo on the 24-26 May. This round will be a support race to the prestigious Formula One Monaco Grand Prix.