Third in the 2014 Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS, Matevos Isaakyan (JD Motorsport) put in the best run of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 collective tests at Motorland Aragón. On the circuit that will host the opening round of the World Series by Renault, the Russian, supported by SMP Racing, established a new record in the category with a time of 1:54.728, breaking the track record set by Will Stevens in 2011. He was followed by Anthoine Hubert (Tech 1 Racing) and Jack Aitken (Koiranen GP). Fourth on the day, Louis Delétraz (Josef Kaufmann Racing) was quickest in the final session at Alcañiz.
29 drivers were in action on day two of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 at Motorland Aragón, with the return of Darius Oskoui (ART Junior Team), who was ill yesterday, Jake Hughes (Koiranen GP), Jack Aitken and James Allen (ARTA Engineering), who have a testing cap due to their duel programmes. This also explained the absence of Dennis Olsen (Manor MP Motorsport) this Friday.
Isaakyan seizes the record
For the first time this year, the day began on a dry track. The first leaders, the AVF drivers were then relegated by Anthoine Hubert and Anton De Pasquale (Koiranen GP). Louis Delétraz, Kevin Jörg (Josef Kaufmann Racing) and Matevos Isaakyan then took over. Before the mid-way point in the session, Louis Deletraz lowered the track record held by Will Stevens, but Anthoine Hubert and Matevos Isaakyan then went quicker. The Russian driver finished the session with the best time of 1:54.728, ahead of Anthoine Hubert, Jack Aitken, Louis Delétraz and Simon Gachet (Tech 1 Racing).
Delétraz dominates the afternoon
While Josef Zaruba (AVF) was the first to set a reference time, Louis Delétraz went on to take command of the session. The son of the former F1 driver repeatedly improved in the first hour and his lap of 1:55.136 remained the benchmark time of the afternoon. His closest rival at the end of the session was Anthoine Hubert, second once again, while Jake Hughes, Matevos Isaakyan and Thiago Vivacqua (JD Motorsport) completed the top five.
Quotes
Matevos Isaakyan: “It was a positive day because we only used one set of tyres in order to save some for the start of the season. Everything went well this morning, although I could have gone a tenth of a second faster. The time was all the same a good one. It is good to break an old record. I hope it will last for a few years too! In the afternoon I was 4/10ths of a second from Delétraz who was on new tyres, which is good because they are worth a full second. This year, I want to win the title, but the top 3 is my ‘realistic’ objective.”
Anthoine Hubert: “Another good day! This morning, I was quite far behind Matevos but the different tyre strategy can explain the difference. Then, we concentrated on the set-ups, which wasn’t ideal for trying to keep up with Delétraz. The team is making good progress. It is positive and we need to continue like this at Jerez in order to be ready for the season.”
Jack Aitken: “There isn’t much to do, but it was extremely boring yesterday to watch the others. Today, the morning started well, we were quickly up to speed and we finished third. The track was a little strange this afternoon. We struggled to get the new tyres up to temperature and make them work. Overall, considering we only ran for one day, it went quite well.”
Louis Delétraz: “Once again it was a very good day. We started on used tyres and we went straight to the top. Our pace with this rubber is really amazing and we held on to it all day. It was also the case on fresh rubber, but we would have liked to have found another couple of tenths of a second. We’ve worked all winter to improve our weak points and it is paying off. Now we have to see how the first race goes!”