14 September 2014
First win for Jack Aitken at Budapest
On this Sunday, Jack Aitken (Fortec Motorsports) claimed his first pole position and victory in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0. At the Hungaroring, the Englishman resisted the pressure from team mate Charles Leclerc (Fortec Motorsports) and Ignazio D’Agosto (Koiranen GP). With a seventh place result, Nyck de Vries (Koiranen GP) increased his lead in the championship to 46 points from Dennis Olsen (Prema Powerteam), who finished eighth.
On a still damp track surface following overnight showers, Jack Aitken recorded his maiden pole position in the category. The British driver lined up on the grid ahead of Gustav Malja (Josef Kaufmann Racing), Charles Leclerc, Steijn Schothorst (Manor MP Motorsports) and Nyck de Vries.
The leading trio remained unchanged at the end of the opening lap, while Matthew Graham (Strakka Racing), Bruno Bonifacio (Prema Powerteam) and Nick Cassidy (Koiranen GP) retired early. Behind the front-runners, Ignazio D’Agosto and Matt Parry (Fortec Motorsports) each moved up two spots to complete the top five ahead of Steijn Schothorst and Nyck de Vries. The Dutch driver then picked up two positions on the following lap to take over fifth place.
In the action-packed field, Martin Rump (Fortec Motorsports) called it a day on lap three. His car was immobilized on the track, which resulted in a safety car intervention. At the re-start, Jack Aitken maintained his lead, while Charles Leclerc and Ignazio D’Agosto surprised Gustav Malja and the minor contact with Nyck de Vries rekindled the fight for the top positons.
Despite the pressure, Jack Aitken took the chequered flag ahead of Charles Leclerc and Ignazio D’Agosto. Gustav Malja was next in fourth place ahead of Matt Parry and Alexander Albon, who started 15th. Nyck de Vries finished seventh, followed by championship rival Dennis Olsen (Prema Powerteam) and Andrea Pizzitola (Manor MP Motorsport). Steijn Schothorst and Kevin Jörg (Josef Kaufmann Racing) were the final point scorers.
Quotes
Jack Aitken: ”We had a poor start of the season, but since a couple of rounds, everything has been much better. I was on the podium in Germany and I took my first win here. I hope we will be able to keep on for the rest of the season.”
Charles Leclerc: ”It has been quite a good weekend. I am a bit bored of P2; this is third time in a row. All the same, I am happy because this is my first season in single-seaters and the Eurocup is a really good championship. Thanks to the team for their fantastic and we will do all we can do to win in the final meeting of the ALPS because this meeting in Hungary was my last wild-card in the Eurocup.”
Ignazio D’Agosto: ”After the first three meetings, I had just four points. I was a bit angry with the situation, but we kept at it. Sixth on Saturday, third on Sunday, it’s exactly the same weekend we had at the Nurburgring and I have moved up to sixth place in the championship. We will be aiming for the podium in the final rounds to continue to move up in the general classification.”
Provisional General Classification * : 1. N. de Vries – 154 points, 2. D. Olsen – 108, 3. A. Pizzitola – 94, 4. A. Albon – 78, 5. B. Bonifacio – 76, …
*Subject to confirmation of the results following the technical and sporting verifications
