Collective Testing – Paul Ricard HTTT
The day of reckoning draws near! At the Paul Ricard HTTT, it was again the same group of drivers who came to the fore. This time it was the Spaniard Roberto Mehri (Epsilon Euskadi) who was quickest ahead of Valterri Bottas (Motorpark Arena), Andrea Caldarelli (SG Formula), Tobias Hegewald (Motorpark Arena) and Daniel Ricciardo (SG Formula). The competition is definitely looking like it will be tight this season! Over the last two days, the Paul Ricard HTTT has been hosting the penultimate session of Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 collective testing before the 2008 season gets underway at Spa-Francorchamps on the first weekend in May.
On Sunday morning, the conditions were perfect, allowing everyone to go about their business calmly. The drivers took their chance to get plenty of laps under their belt, with the keenest out there being Mathieu Arzeno (Epsilon Sport) who completed no less than 52 laps. As is often the case though, it all came down to what happened at the end of the session. The Finn Valtteri Bottas (Motorpark Arena) distinguished himself by setting the fastest time, ahead of his teammate Tobias Hegewald. The two Motorpark Arena drivers placed ahead of three men who are definitely becoming regulars at the top of the standings: Andrea Caldarelli (SG Formula), Daniel Ricciardo (SG Formula) and Roberto Mehri (Epsilon Euskadi).
In the afternoon the Paul Ricard HTTT was drenched by a downpour the likes of which you are only ever likely to see in Provence. The conditions were so extreme that is was impossible or near-impossible to have any idea what was going on on track. The session was halted at 4pm, with the track wallowing in water. Despite all this, Daniel Zampieri (BVM Minardi Team) still managed to set the fastest time of the session, with only seven laps to his name, ahead of Richard Singleton (Hitech Junior Team) and Albert Costa (Epsilon Euskadi).
On Monday morning, the fine weather was back. Though the track was still slightly damp as the session got underway, the whole field very quickly opted to move onto slick tyres. Performances just kept on getting better as a result. The time to beat of 2'07''691, set by Bottas on Sunday morning, was soon improved upon. It was none other than his teammate Tobias Hegewald who was leading the charge. Bottas quickly regained the upper hand, confirming his excellent current form. Everything then hotted up just before the break. Roberto Mehri took control with a lap in 2'06''403. This left Bottas in second, ahead of Singleton and Hegewald. In the closing minutes, Daniel Ricciardo managed to slot into third ahead of these last two.
Once again, everyone made the most of the afternoon session to get in as much track time as possible. Bottas and Hegewald were once again monopolizing the two lead positions. Initially, the German Tobias Hegewald was spearheading proceedings with Bottas having suffered a broken suspension at the start of the session. But once his car had been repaired, Bottas reasserted his supremacy. At the end of the day the fresh rubber was brought out to go after the fastest time set in the morning by Roberto Mehri.
Valtteri Bottas was the first to better this time, with a lap in 2'06''105. The Finn must have thought he'd accomplished a master stroke but Roberto Mehri was not giving up so easily. He put in a perfect lap to regain the fastest time. With a lap in 2'05''961, Mehri thus posted the best performance of these two days of testing, ahead of Bottas, Caldarelli, Hegewald, Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne (SG Formula).
«Even if we're not going to be racing at this circuit, it's a great morale booster to set the fastest time here» commented a delighted Mehri. «Now I'm really keen to get to Spa and build on this performance. The same group of drivers have been out front since the start of the season. Things are going to be very tight at the top.»
POS DRIVER NAT TEAM LAPS TIME 1 Roberto Merhi ESP Epsilon Euskadi 2 29 02:05.961 2 Valtteri Bottas FIN Motopark Academy 32 02:06.105 3 Andrea Caldarelli ITA SG Formula 24 02:06.805 4 Tobias Hegewald GER Motopark Academy 14 02:06.863 5 Daniel Ricciardo AUS SG Formula 29 02:06.931 6 Jean Eric Vergne FRA SG Drivers Project 27 02:06.948 7 Juan Pablo Garcia MEX Motorsport Arena 32 02:07.002 8 Pal Varhaug NOR Jenzer Motorsport 29 02:07.035 9 Dean Smith GBR Fortec Motorsport 39 02:07.091 10 A Quaife-Hobbs GBR BVM Minardi Team 34 02:07.095 11 Richard Singleton GBR Hitech Junior Team 26 02:07.112 12 Michele Faccin ITA Jenzer Motorsport 25 02:07.206 13 Albert Costa ESP Epsilon Euskadi 2 30 02:07.385 14 Daniel Zampieri ITA BVM Minardi Team 26 02:07.427 15 Carlos Munoz COL Prema PowerTeam 35 02:07.437 16 Kuba Giermaziak POL Motorsport Arena 42 02:07.502 17 Miki Monras ESP Hitech Junior Team 40 02:07.525 18 Mathieu Arzeno FRA Epsilon Sport 22 02:07.547 19 Luciano Bacheta GBR Hitech Junior Racing 39 02:07.661 20 Cesar Ramos BRA BVM Minardi Team 33 02:07.672 21 Nathanael Berthon FRA Boutsen Energy Racing 46 02:07.684 22 Nelson Lukes FRA SG Formula 25 02:07.708 23 Stephane Richelmi MON Epsilon Sport 30 02:07.857 24 Richard Campollo DOM Epsilon Euskadi 1 34 02:07.958 25 Siso Cunill ESP Jenzer Motorsport 20 02:07.961 26 Gabriel Dias BRA Fortec Competition 26 02:08.068 27 Alex Morgan GBR Fortec Competition 30 02:08.119 28 Pablo Montilla ESP Epsilon Euskadi 1 34 02:08.128 29 Ramez Azzam CAN SG Drivers Project 29 02:08.155 30 Juan Jacobo COL Hitech Junior Racing 35 02:08.157 31 Anton Nebilitskyi RUS SG Drivers Project 35 02:08.220 32 Himar Acosta ESP Iquick 23 02:08.252 33 Jake Rosenzweig USA Epsilon Euskadi 1 23 02:08.262 34 Tristan Vautier FRA Epsilon Sport 33 02:08.330 35 Patrick Reiterer ITA Prema PowerTeam 38 02:08.439 36 V Kazimieras LIT Prema PowerTeam 34 02:08.481 37 Daniel McKenzie GBR Fortec Motorsport 37 02:08.554 38 Miguel Otegui ESP Iquick 49 02:08.876 39 Marcelo Conchado ESP Amiter Galuppo Sport 36 02:08.899 40 Nicolas Marroc FRA TCS Racing 32 02:09.572 41 Dino Butorac COL RB Racing Team 38 02:12.014
