First front row for Hitech Junior

Hitech Junior secured its first front row start with Briton Richard Singleton posting the second quickest time in the Superpole session in Estoril on Saturday. A staggering 54 cars lined up for the two qualifying sessions for the latest rounds of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Championship, leaving the Silverstone-based team delighted with the performance of its young charges. In his group, the reigning Formula Renault Winterseries Champion comfortably qualified through to the Superpole session and made great use of the Portuguese track to immediately be on the pace, topping the times with eight minutes remaining.  However a red flag situation resulting from Albert Costa crashing into the safety barriers thwarted his chance of taking his first pole spot.

At the restart with just a few minutes remaining, championship leader Daniel Ricciardo took up the number one spot from Valtteri Bottas and Jean Eric Vergne but Singleton finished right on their tail in fourth and posted the second fastest lap to give him a front row start for Sunday’s race.

“This is a great performance for us,” said Richard. “We’ve made a big step forward this weekend with the car set-up but also me with my approach to the weekend. I’ve tried to relax a bit and be more confident and that has made a massive difference. In the session, we opted to get out on track early on and it has paid dividends for us.  This is a reward for all the great work Hitech has done all season.  If I can get a good start from the front row and get cleanly into turn one I think we have a chance of victory.”


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