30 May 2014
Levin Amweg leads practice at Spa
Levin Amweg (ART Junior Team) went quickest in the collective practice session for the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0. The Swiss driver set a best time of 2:17.996 on Friday at Spa-Francorchamps ahead of Alexander Albon (KTR). The Lotus F1 Junior Team driver dominated the morning session. Overall leader in the general classification, Nyck de Vries (Koiranen GP) was third fastest on the day.
The 42 drivers entered in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 headed out on to the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit under cloudy skies. Nyck de Vries was first to set a reference time and traded the top spot with Alexander Albon, Steijn Schothorst (Manor MP Motorsport) and Raoul Owens (Mark Burdett Motorsport). Bruno Bonifacio (Prema Powerteam) led the way before Matt Parry (Fortec Motorsports) provoked a red flag stoppage.
When the session went back to green, the Brazilian driver held on to the top spot before Dario Capitanio (BVM Racing) lowered the best time. With six minutes remaining, Alexander Albon clocked a session best lap of 2:18.735 ahead of Nyck de Vries and Louis Delétraz (AVF). Matevos Isaakyan (JD Motorsport) and Raoul Owens completed the top five.
The skies cleared for the afternoon session and Bruno Bonifacio soon lead the way and improved his lap times on several occasions during the session. With 12-minutes to go, the Prema Powerteam driver picked up the pace, becoming the first to go quicker than Alexander Albon’s morning session best time.
The Thai driver from the Lotus F1 Junior Team answered back, but Levin Amweg (ART Junior Team) jumped to the top of the order in the final three minutes of the session. His time of 2:17.996 was not to be beaten in a session cut short to evacuate the car of Anthoine Hubert (Tech 1 Racing). Levin Amweg led the way from Alexander Albon, Nyck de Vries and the two Prema Powerteam entries; Dennis Olsen and Bruno Bonifacio, less than 2/10ths of a second separated the top five.
Quotes
Levin Amweg: ”This morning, we had to begin by learning the circuit and find the right set-ups. We did a good job with the used tyres before taking another step forward this afternoon. The pace was good and we hope it will continue in qualifying. I hope I can keep this momentum going that began last week with my first win in NEC.”
Alex Albon: ”Today was our strongest Friday of the year. The times are incredibly close, especially on such a long track! Right away we find a good balance, which let us focus on other areas. We still have some minor adjustments to make for qualifying because it is going to be a matter of a few thousands of a second. The tow will be important because the gain in speed is really impressive.”
Nyck de Vries: ”I am really surprised how small the gaps are on a track like Spa-Francorchamps. The tow plays a huge role in sectors 1 and 3. Looking at out two runs on new tyres, we should be right up there in qualifying. We are satisfied, but for sure there are things to improve.”
