30 drivers entered in the Formula Renault Eurocup had two three-hour sessions at Magny-Cours for the opening collective test of pre-season. It was an important introduction to the series for Arden Motorsport on their testing debut.
The collective test ran well, despite the expected few reliability and sensor issues - all drivers quickly acclimatised well to the car and the circuit, setting competitive times and long run stints right from the off in an encouraging start for the team.
Despite losing a majority of running in the morning, Red Bull Junior Ticktum hit back well by setting the pace in the afternoon of day two. Teammates Ghislain Cordeel and Zane Goddard also faired well, getting used to their new team and equipement to set the 19th and 22nd fastest times overall across the two days as the team focussed more on long runs and reliabilty than overall qualifying pace.
Daniel Ticktum “It was a positive first day to be honest. We were on pace. It is a good point for a team coming into a new category. I have a lot of testing experience with the Formula Renault 2.0, but I haven’t driven since last November. Despite a
programme shortened in the afternoon due to an electrical problem, the main thing was to see that we’re right on pace, hitting the ground running. This makes it possible to start the season with an open mind.”
Ben Salter, Team Manager “We are really pleased with our first morning in the Formula Renault Eurocup. A lot of work went
into getting here and the performance of Daniel encourages us to continue in this direction. Zane and Ghislain also had a solid day.
We have to now continue in this direction. We are still discovering each subtlety of the category, hence our problem on Dan’s car this afternoon, but this first day was very productive.”
The Formula Renault Eurocup squad will continue pre-season testing at Circuit Paul Ricard 23-24 March for the second collective pre-season test.