While Magny-Cours was the venue for the first official test days of the Formula Renault FR-19 in March 2019, the home of the French Formula 1 Grand Prix between 1991 and 2008 hasn’t hosted a Formula Renault Eurocup race since 2010. From Wednesday, the drivers and teams will discover or rediscover the track in France’s Burgundy region.

Can Martins keep the momentum going ?

After an awesome weekend, with two pole positions, two wins and two fastest race laps at the Nürburgring, Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix) has established himself as the man to beat.

Propelled to the top of the general classification, the Frenchman returns this week to a circuit he knows like the back of his racing glove. After scoring two wins in the 2017 French F4 Junior Championship, he then set the reference time at the dawn of the FR-19 era, Victor Martins will look to use this advantage to widen the gap from his closest pursuers.

Despite his streak of 25 consecutive finishes in the points, Caio Collet (R-ace GP) is now five points adrift of the new leader. The Brazilian driver of the Renault Sport Academy will seek to reverse the trend here where he won twice during his victorious campaign in the 2018 French F4 Championship.

While they have a touch more experience, the two cannot, however, underestimate David Vidales (JD Motorsport) and Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport). Already winners on circuits they first discovered this year, they now hope to rely on the experience of their respective teams to ideally begin their weekends in France.

The pursuers sharpen their weapons

With four race winners from four different teams in six races, this 50th season of Formula Renault is constantly confirming that it will be one of the most competitive in history as everything seems possible this year !

William Alatalo (JD Motorsport) and Alex Quinn (Arden Motorsport), each of whom have already strode onto the podium, hope to reduce their deficits conceded to the top four at the Nürburgring to remain in the title fight.

The battles promise to be fascinating throughout the field. In the aftermath of their first podiums, Lorenzo Colombo (Bhaitech Racing), Grégoire Saucy (ART Grand Prix) and Paul Aron (ART Grand Prix) intend to harness every single opportunity within their grasp. The latter could very well create a surprise thanks to the experience of his mentor, Kevin Korius, who won in the Formula Renault Eurocup at Magny-Cours in 2010 !

Expected responses

Reigning French F4 Champion and Renault Sport Academy driver, Hadrien David (MP Motorsport) will also aim for a convincing result on a circuit that he knows well and where his team set the reference time in the early days of the FR-19.

The Frenchman will not be the only driver to attempt to rejoin the top ten in the general classification. Two other drivers who ran strong in the Renault-powered French F4 Championship single-seaters, Ugo de Wilde (Arden Motorsport) and Amaury Cordeel (FA Racing) from Belgium will also want to return to the level of performance they displayed in the rookie category last year at this very same track.

In parallel, Tijmen van der Helm (FA Racing), László Tóth (Bhaitech Racing) and Petr Ptáček (R-ace GP) will have to put all of their learning faculties to work to understand all of the track’s subtleties as quickly as possible in hope to make a strong impression.

Victorious at Magny-Cours in the 2018 French F4 Junior Championship, then in the 2019 French F4 Championship, Reshad De Gerus (Arden Motorsport) will use his knowledge of the track to try to score his first points of the season and really get his campaign going.

The field will once again be completed by Italy’s Vicky Piria (Bhaitech Racing), as a replacement for Nicola Marinangeli, who is still recovering from a road accident during the summer hiatus.

Both races will be broadcast live on the Renault Sport Series Facebook page and Renault Sport YouTube channel.

Timetable

Wednesday September 9
17h30–20h00 Pre-event collective tests

Thursday September 10
14h35–15h25 Collective tests 1
18h05 – 18h55 Collective tests 2

Friday September 11
17h15–17h35 Qualifying 1 (for race 2)

Saturday September 12
10h30–10h50 Qualifying 2 (for race 1)
17h15–17h55 Race 1

Sunday September 13
17h25–18h05 Race 2

Entry list