With only one month until the 2018 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season officially begin at the Paul Ricard Circuit, the series has held its first pre-season testing day in Hockenheim, Germany. 28 drivers, most of which are already confirmed to race during the entire season, went to the iconic German venue to get their first mileage of the year with the car with which they will race over the year.
The testing day began with a slightly humid track and very few drivers daring to go on track until the slick tyre compound could finally be put. On the morning session, Josef Kaufmann Racing’s driver Yifei Ye set the best lap time, a 1:37.829 with which he could beat the Russian driver from Arden Motorsport Alexander Vartanyan, who finished second, and the R-ace GP’s rookie Logan Sergeant.
The afternoon session was held with way better track conditions, but the drivers did not manage to improve the morning times until the last 20 minutes, when Oscar Piastri could. Following to that, Ye retook the lead, followed by his teammate Richard Verschoor. Rookie driver Victor Martins set the second best time at the very last minutes and avoided a 1-2 for JKR. Sergeant and Vartanyan remained on top places and completed the top 5.
With 80 laps through the day, AVF’s Colombian rookie Christian Muñoz, who finished in 23rd place, was the driver who completed more laps. As for the Spanish drivers, Eliseo Martínez was 18th with 59 laps and Xavier Lloveras finished 16th after completing 67 laps.
The 2018 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season will officially begin the 14th and 15th of April at the Paul Ricard Circuit in Le Castellet, France. The Hockenheim round, where the tests have been held today, is the ninth and penultimate and is scheduled for the 22nd and 23rd of September.
