11 October 2020
Victor Martins dominates again at Barcelona
Following a pair of hat tricks last year at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix) did it again this year, leading all the sessions of round six of the 2020 Formula Renault Eurocup season. The Frenchman was once again in a league of his own this Sunday, taking the win ahead of his closest title rivals ahead of the final stretch run.
As was the case yesterday, Victor Martins was quickest in qualifying with a lap of 1:42.636s to score his seventh pole of the season ahead of Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport), Paul Aron (ART Grand Prix) and Caio Collet (R-ace GP) in a field where less than nine-tenths of a second covered second to fifteenth in the order.
Contrary to the showers the previous day, bright skies welcomed the drivers for the start. A second formation lap was needed after a problem for Petr Ptáček (R-ace GP) a few metres from his starting slot on the grid.
When the lights went out, Victor Martins managed to just barely hold on to the lead ahead of Caio Collet, who closed right up from fourth on the grid, while Paul Aron and Alex Quinn (Arden Motorsport) made contact. Franco Colapinto ran third ahead of David Vidales (JD Motorsport) and Lorenzo Colombo (Bhaitech Racing), who picked up ten positions in the opening lap.
While Victor Martins immediately created a gap of more than five seconds, the action was heating up between those behind him. On lap 12, Lorenzo Colombo went wide in his battle with Kas Haverkort (MP Motorsport) and Hadrien David (MP Motorsport). The Italian then ceded position to Tijmen van der Helm (FA Racing) and William Alatalo (JD Motorsport) while Ugo de Wilde (Arden Motorsport) and Amaury Cordeel (FA Racing) caught up to him before they made contact at turn one.
The incident brought out the safety car, which returned to the pits for the final lap of the race. Victor Martins kept a cool head to conclude his perfect weekend with the win ahead of Caio Collet, who was under threat from Franco Colapinto in the very last corners.
Fourth overall, David Vidales was best among the rookies on his home track to claim his eighth Hankook Trophy of the season just ahead of wild-card entry and leader of the Spanish Formula 4 Championship Kas Haverkort. Hadrien David finished sixth ahead of Tijmen van der Helm, William Alatalo and Lorenzo Colombo. Initially in the top ten, Paul Aron and Amaury Cordeel were penalised after the race for their involvement in the incidents during the race. László Tóth (Bhaitech Racing) and Reshad De Gerus (Arden Motorsport) moved up the order to pick up the final points on offer.
Qualifying 2 - Starting grid - Race 2 - Drivers classification - Teams classification
The Formula Renault Eurocup will now prepare for the final sprint with four consecutive meetings beginning at Spa-Francorchamps (October 21-24)!
Quotes
Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix): "I love Barcelona! This my sixth victory of the season and it’s just amazing. Once again, the car was perfect and I just had to focus on my driving lap after lap. We are getting stronger and stronger every weekend and we don’t want to leave anything to anyone else!"
Caio Collet (R-ace GP): "We struggled a bit in the dry this weekend. Even if we didn’t have the pace to match Victor, we are leaving Barcelona with two second places and a lot of points for the championship but it is never nice to see Victor win everything so we have to keep working hard for Spa-Francorchamps!"
Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport): "I am happy to be on the podium again. My start wasn’t ideal as I lost a position, but I think that we had the race pace to fight for second place. I was faster than Caio late in the race, but I lacked a few laps to overtake him. Maybe without the safety car... But I would like to thank the team with whom I will be aiming for more podiums at Spa! "
David Vidales (JD Motorsport): "Fourth place was the best result we could get today, so I am very happy about that. It’s all the more positive as we won top rookie honours and good points in the championship, but we are already looking to Spa where we will have to do better! "
Drivers | Points |
1. Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix) | 226 |
2. Caio Collet (R-ace GP) | 210 |
3. David Vidales (JD Motorsport) | 142 |
4. Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport) | 114 |
5. Alex Quinn (Arden Motorsport) | 75 |
... | ... |
*Results subject to confirmation following technical and sporting checks.