Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup headed to Silverstone Circuit for Round 2 of the Championship, the home race for the team. With an additional test on the Thursday, the team went out on track in dry conditions. The test sessions split into four sessions, allowing the team to test various set ups and a mixture of programmes to work on the car behaviour and balance between the three drivers for qualifying and the races.
Friday’s Collective Tests were all under wet conditions, requiring plenty of wet running to get as much data as possible about the car in these conditions.
The qualifying session that followed became a bit of a lottery of timing to see who would finish where in the times as the rain intensity varied throughout the session. Ticktum would line up 14th on the grid, Goddard 17th and Cordeel 19th for the first race of the weekend.
In the opening race of the weekend, an early crash off the start line required an immediate safety car to be deployed whilst the accident involving the two collided cars was cleared from the side of the track.
After the restart, Ticktum made strong progress to move up to 10th where he finished the race. A little further behind, Goddard was having a strong race too as he climbed to finish 13th at the chequered flag. Cordeel was less fortunate, finishing 21st after being in race long battles in the tight pack.
Qualifying for race two took place in changeable conditions once again. Ticktum topped the timing sheets – only losing out on pole in the final moments of the session! A rival driver pipped him to pole with the final lap of the session to depose him on a continuously improving circuit.
Ticktum qualified a brilliant 2nd overall, Cordeel 5th overall and Goddard was unfortunate on his flying lap, lining up 20th on the grid for race 2.
As the lights went out, Ticktum got off to an impressive start and into the lead of the race before Shwartzman responded and a four-way battle ensued for the lead of the race.
Falling back into 4th, the safety car was deployed on the third lap due to a car in the gravel.
As the safety car came in, Ticktum was determined to reclaim the podium position. A bold move saw him movie up into 3rd position, holding off fellow-Brit Fewtrell to the chequered flag, taking the Rookie victory and an overall podium. Teammate Goddard make up seven positions in the race to finish a respectable 13th, whilst fellow teammate Cordeel finished the race in 19th position.
Dan Ticktum: "It was a really good day, it feels great to be on the podium in only my second race weekend in this series and with a new team. I got to the front early on in Race 2 I could have been a bit more aggressive defending that but I wanted to finish, wanted to get a good race in the bank. We really made progress with the car this weekend and I can’t wait to continue this momentum into Pau and Monaco, two street circuits that I’m really looking forward to driving, I feel that they could really suit my style.”
Zane Goddard: "It was a tough weekend due to the qualifying results not being what we hoped for. Despite that, we did learn a lot going into another two weekends of racing in which we will be undoubtedly stronger”
Ticktum moves to 9th in the Drivers’ Championship and is the 2nd highest placed Rookie in the standings.
The next round of the championship takes place at the historic Grand Prix du Pau, France circuit. A new challenge for both Team and drivers as they head into back-to-back street circuits with the Monaco Grand Prix following shortly after.