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June 3, 2019

Top 5 Finish for Fernandez at Paul Ricard Formula Renault Eurocup

Sebastian Fernandez took 5th position in Race 2 at the Circuit Paul Ricard for Arden.
Press
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June 3, 2019

Top 5 Finish for Fernandez at Paul Ricard Formula Renault Eurocup

Sebastian Fernandez took 5th position in Race 2 at the Circuit Paul Ricard for Arden.

Sebastian Fernandez and Frank Bird scored points for Arden at Paul Ricard, with Sebastian scoring a 5th place finish in Race 2 to make it a double point scoring finish for the team at Round 4 of the 2019 Formula Renault Eurocup Championship.

Following on from last weeks race at Monte-Carlo, the Formula Renault Eurocup headed to Le Castellet, the Circuit Paul Ricard for Round 3 of the championship.

Qualifying 1 for the first race of the weekend saw Sebastian as the lead Arden with the 8th fastest time of the session. Teammates Patrik Pasma and Frank Bird set the 11th and 15th fastest times respectively around the 5.822km circuit.

The opening race of the weekend saw Sebastian get a steady launch, whilst Patrik made a good start to put two of the Arden’s nose-to-tail through the opening sequence of corners, with Frank also just behind.

Following the opening lap which saw many drivers taking to the run-off areas and the Safety Car being deployed, Frank had moved up to 9th position, with Sebastian and Patrik running in 11th and 16th. Patrik had suffered damaged on the opening lap, which caused him to pit for repairs – unfortunately he was forced to retire from the race.

The race restarted three laps later with Frank all over the back of the three-car battle for 7th position. Sebastian moved up a place to 10th, slotting in just behind his teammate.

Sebastian passed Frank with 19-minutes to go, before setting ahead to challenge for the top 8 positions. Frank was defending well from his rivals behind, which bunched up following the teammates swapping positions earlier in the lap.

At half distance, the Arden teammates were both in the points paying positions in 9th and 10th, making inroads on the pack ahead.

The Arden duo maintained their points finishes to the end of the race, scoring a 9th and 10th placed finish at the end of the first 30-minute race of the weekend.

Qualifying for Race 2 was a more difficult session for the team, with Sebastian being the head Arden driver with the 11th fastest time of the session. Frank and Patrik set the 13th and 15th quickest laps respectively – meaning the Arden trio would line-up behind each other on the grid for the second race of the weekend.

Sebastian and Frank made immediate progress at the start of the race, braving it out around the outside of the opening corner sequences to gain positions and both move into the top ten. Patrik however was again luckless in the start of this race, where he was again punted out of contention early on and knocked down to 21st at the start of the race.

The early stages saw Sebastian running in 7th, with Frank just behind him in 8th position as the race began to take shape. Patrik by now had caught the pack and was also gaining positions as he began his race recovery.

Sebastian took 6th position with 20 minutes to go, setting himself up for a challenge on the top 5 as Frank held his own in 8th and Patrik was now up to 17th position.

At half distance, Sebastian had latched onto the back of 5th position, whilst Frank survived an off-track moment to still hold onto his points scoring position in 10th.

Sebastian’s race was made easier, when the car infront suffered front wing damage, elevating him up to 5th position.

He held this position to the finish, scoring an excellent top 5 finish and a double point score for the team.

Frank just missed out on a second points finish of the weekend in 12th, following late drama in the race. Patrik managed a very solid recovery to bring himself back up to 14th at the chequered flag after a torridly unlucky weekend for the Finn.

The next round of the Formula Renault Eurocup heads to Spa-Francorchamps on the 27-28 July for Round 5 and Races 9-10 of the 2019 championship.

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