Andrea Pizzitola raced to his second podium of the 2014 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season at Moscow Raceway in Russia over the weekend, 28th/29th June – second position in round five of the campaign helping the Frenchman climb into the championship top five for Manor MP Motorsport.Qualifying third on the grid for the first race on Saturday, only missing out on pole by a few thousandths of a second, the 21-year-old made a great start to climb into second place and remained close behind the race leader during the early going, with less than a second splitting Pizzitola from rival Aurelien Panis.Pushing hard and getting the gap down to just 0.8 seconds by the end of the fourth tour, thereafter Panis was able to edge away and Pizzitola instead focused on maintaining a clear second position to the chequered flag on lap 18.Team-mate Steijn Schothorst didn’t have the most fruitful of qualifying sessions, beginning round five from a much lower than anticipated 24th on the grid, and after being caught-up on the opening lap he had to try and battle his way back through from 27th place. Working his way back up the lower order, the Dutchman made good progress and climbed into 22nd by the finish.For round six on Sunday, Pizzitola qualified sixth on the grid and, in a very uneventful contest for the Manor MP Motorsport driver, he remained there throughout the 18 laps. Just a couple of seconds shy of the podium, he was a mere 0.5 seconds adrift of fifth placed Dennis Olsen.Beginning the second race of the weekend from an improved 17th on the grid, team-mate Schothorst quickly gained a position on the first lap but was subsequently shuffled back to 18th before hitting back on the fourth tour to move into the top 16. Edged back to 17th place again on lap 10, Schothorst stayed there to the conclusion but was elevated into 16th post-race due to a penalty for a rival.“It’s great Andrea has been back on the podium this weekend, big points is what we need for the championship”, said Manor MP Motorsport’s Sander Dorsman, “He had good pace all weekend and if we’d have been able to get pole, I’m sure Andrea could have taken the win. Steijn raced well and did as much as anyone could have expected from where he began both races.”Germany’s Nurburgring will host rounds seven and eight of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season a fortnight from now on 12th/13th July. Next weekend, 5th/6th July, the team’s GP2 Series squad will be back in action at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit for rounds nine and 10 of its season.Provisional 2014 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Driver Standings (after Rd6):5th Andrea Pizzitola, 53pts; No score – Steijn SchothorstProvisional 2014 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Team Standings (after Rd6):6th Manor MP Motorsport, 53pts