Will Stevens is poised to take his Formula Renault Eurocup 2.0 championship battle to France as the penultimate series rounds are staged at the picturesque Paul Ricard HTTT circuit on 16-18 September.
Stevens, from Oxshott, heads to Castellet on the Côte d’Azur lying fourth in the fiercely competitive European single-seater formula after scoring his fourth series podium and eighth points scoring finish of the season at Silverstone last month.
Cementing his consistent 2011 season form, the 20 year-old’s most recent impressive performances on home ground helped to close the gap to third in the title table. Stevens stands on 94 points with championship leader Robin Frijns on 186 points, Carlos Sainz second on 131 points and Daniil Kvyat 13 points ahead of Stevens in third.
With 100 points still available across the four remaining rounds, Stevens still has a mathematical chance of taking the title. But as the championship battle intensifies, the Fortec Motorsport star is ready to rise to the challenge of racing at the infamous Paul Ricard circuit for the first time with more realistic sights set on moving up to second in the title fight.
A race winner in the opening round at Motorland Aragón, the former international karting champion is fully focused on climbing up the order by way of returning to the top step of the podium in the penultimate double-header race weekend.
Stevens commented; “As we head into the most crucial part of the season I naturally want to finish my debut Eurocup Formula Renault year on a high, and I go to Paul Ricard with the same winning mindset. We’ve shown we have the pace and I’m feeling confident.
“Although I’ve not raced at Paul Ricard before we had a solid two-day test at the start of the year in mixed weather, so we’re ready for any kind of conditions. We know where we’re going to start with the car set-up so we’re well prepared to enable us to attack from the outset and get some good points.
“Paul Ricard is quite a challenging circuit as it isn’t your standard race track. For that reason I think it could throw up a few surprises and we could see some different front-runners. I like that because it adds another element to the championship fight.
“We saw at Silverstone how important it was to pay attention to the amount of rubber going down during the World Series races. The nature of Paul Ricard, with lots of medium to high speed corners requiring a lot of entry speed, will mean that’s a major factor once again.
“Although we’ve been consistent we’ve had our share of bad luck this season. We were leading the first race at Motorland Aragón when a fuel pressure problem put us out of the race and my clutch broke on the start line at the Nürburgring. But that’s racing.
“I still have a mathematical chance of winning the title, but realistically I’m aiming for second place. Regardless, any changes to normal racing conditions could be a good thing for us and I’m ready to maximise any opportunity.”
Stevens will start his Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 weekend at Paul Ricard HTTT with official practice on Friday afternoon. The first qualifying session will take place at 09:00 on Saturday followed by the first race of the weekend at 15:30. Sunday morning’s qualifying session at 09:00 precedes the second 25-lap race at 15:40.
