Arden Motorsport were on the podium for the second event in succession courtesy of Alex Quinn after a hard-fought Formula Renault Eurocup double header at Imola.
Europe’s premier single-seater series resumed back in Italy around the iconic 3-mile circuit in Emilia-Romagna, with the Banbury-based team arriving on a high after taking pole position and silverware in the curtain-raiser at Monza earlier this month.
The team’s trio – Quinn, Ugo de Wilde and Reshad De Gerus – impressed once again in Qualifying 1, with all three cars inside the top ten in fifth, sixth and eighth respectively.
On a circuit where overtaking is notoriously difficult, Quinn did well to maintain fifth in a safety car-interrupted opening race, with de Wilde eighth to add to the team’s points tally.
De Gerus did exceptionally well to fight back after a start line stall, the Reunionese racer climbing back through the midfield to finish a credible 13th.
Sunday morning brought perfect conditions once again, and it was clear skies for Quinn in a weekend-best fourth in Qualifying 2.
He made a superb start to jump championship leader Caio Collett for third into the Tamburello chicane on the opening lap, and defended well in the closing stages from multiple race winner Victor Martins to add another podium to his CV.
De Wilde once again battled hard to eighth; the Belgian looked on for a top-six in the early laps but was forced wide at Tamburello and across the gravel, losing him ground.
Nevertheless, he leaves Imola with a brace of points finishes to build upon next time out.
De Gerus once again showed good pace and overtaking prowess, moving up a position to 15th at the chequered flag.
The efforts of all three drivers combined means Arden retain fourth in the Teams’ Championship, with Quinn now in the same position in the Drivers’ stakes.
The 2020 Formula Renault Eurocup season resumes once again at Nurburgring, Germany, over the weekend of 05-06 September.
Ben Salter, Arden Formula Renault Team Manager said:
“It’s been another solid weekend for us at Imola, and a good chance to build upon the promise we showed at Monza last time out.
“Congratulations to Alex on taking another podium finish, it’s very well deserved. I’d like to thank him for all his hard work and effort over the last few weeks; equally, I’m delighted that we’ll soon have Jackson back with us.
“Ugo and Reshad performed well this weekend. You only have to look to qualifying to see both had the pace to be at the front, but a mixture of battles on track and sheer bad luck held them back a little this time.
“We’ve got just over a month now to head back to base, regroup, work on a few things and then we’ll be back out fighting at Nurburgring in September. Thanks to the whole team for their hard work, as always.”
Alex Quinn (#20) said:
“I’m really pleased to end the weekend on a high with a podium.
“The pace was great, we just struggled with a bit of tyre wear towards the end of the race.
“A huge thanks to everyone at Arden Motorsport for their hard work over the past two events!”
Reshad De Gerus (#21) said:
“The weekend had started well with a good pace in qualifying but things didn't go as planned afterwards.
“In any case, there are a lot of positive points to take from this meeting. Now I have to focus on the next race and we'll work hard with the team to be on top.”
Ugo de Wilde (#27) said:
“The team did a great job, and we showed a good pace and even more potential.
“Now I need to work in order to deliver more in the qualifying session as we know that it’s really important in this championship.
“I’ve been involved in incidents in both races and I think I couldn’t do a lot better that how I did. Let’s move forward and focus on Nurburgring. Our time will come!”