The city of Pau has been hosting what is one of the most celebrated events in motorsport since 1931, with the greatest names in motor racing having shown their prowess on Le Virage de la Gare, Le Pont Oscar and L’Epingle du Lycee, to name but three of the points on the famous course.

Through the years, famous international names such as Tazio Nuvolari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Alberto Ascari, Jim Clark, Jochen Rindt, Juan Pablo Montoya and Lewis Hamilton have all won in the city where Henri IV was born, while French drivers Jean Behra, Maurice Trintignant, Francois Cevert, Patrick Depaillier, Rene Arnoux, Jean Alesi and, more recently, Romain Grosjean have also tasted victory there.

This year 17 Formula Renault 2.0s will be on the grid for a one-off race staged as part of the 72nd Grand Prix de Pau meeting. With no pressure on them to score championship points, the drivers will have just one aim in mind: to add their names to the illustrious list of winners.

The competitors will be split into two groups for qualifying practice, with the drivers recording the fastest laps in each group occupying the front row for the qualifying race, which will take place late this Sunday afternoon. The remaining drivers in their groups will line up behind them to form two rows on either side of the grid.

The start grid for the Formula Renault 2.0 Pau Trophy will be decided by the order in which the cars finish the qualifying race. And come the end of Monday afternoon, a new name will be appearing on the Grand Prix de Pau honours board.

The field contains a clutch of drivers who have already impressed in Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, among them Matthieu Vaxiviere (Tech 1 Racing), who will start as favourite after scoring a notable double in the opening meeting of the season at Motorland Aragon. Pierre Gasly, Egor Orudzhev (both Tech 1 Racing), Jake Dennis, Ed Jones (both Fortec Motorsports) and Oliver Rowland (Manor MP Motorsport) will also fancy their chances of success.

Others such as Italy’s Antonio Fuoco (Prema Powerteam), who currently leads the Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS standings, and Mexico’s Alfonso Celis (Fortec Motorsports), a member of the Formula Renault 2.0 North European Cup field, will be relishing the opportunity to pit their wits against new opponents on a legendary track.
Italian stable Prema Powerteam will also be sending out Luca Ghiotto and Bruno Bonifacio, while French outfit Formula Motorsport will be lining up with Nicolas Pironneau and Marc Cattaneo.

Meanwhile, Tristan Papavoine (AV Formula) will hope to put his previous experience in the Formula Renault 2.0 to good use, though he has yet to drive the aerodynamically improved 2013 version, which delivers much more in the way of performance than its predecessor.

The top five drivers in the Formula Renault 2.0 Pau Trophy will receive cash prizes ranging from €20,000 to €2,000.

Entrants
1 Jake Dennis (Fortec Motorsports)
2 Ed Jones (Fortec Motorsports)
3 Alfonso Celis (Fortec Motorsports)
4 TBA (Tech 1 Racing)
5 Pierre Gasly (Tech 1 Racing)
6 Egor Oruzhev (Tech 1 Racing)
7 Matthieu Vaxivière (Tech 1 Racing)
8 Oliver Rowland (Manor MP Motorsport)
9 TBA (Manor MP Motorsport)
10 Luca Ghiotto (Prema Powerteam)
11 Bruno Bonifacio (Prema Powerteam)
12 Antonio Fuoco (Prema Powerteam)
14 Tristan Papavoine (AV Formula)
15 TBA (AV Formula)
16 Nicolas Pironneau (Formula Motorsport)
17 Marc Cattaneo (Formula Motorsport)
18 TBA (Formula Motorsport)

Schedule
Saturday 18 May
12.10: Free practice 1 (45 minutes)
18.15: Free practice 2 (45 minutes)

Sunday 19 May
11.50: Qualifying practice (35 minutes)
14.00: Autograph session (30 minutes)
18.05: Qualifying race (25 minutes + one lap)

Monday 20 May
11.30: Autograph session (30 minutes)
14.55: 72nd Grand Prix de Pau (25 minutes + one lap)