A change in fortune may be on the cards for Jack Aitken following the third round of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championship at the Moscow Raceway. From a retirement in race one due to engine failure, to knocking on the door of the Top 10 in race two, a dramatic overnight change to his Fortec Motorsport car could be the answer the 18 year old was looking for.
Following his final ‘A’ Level examinations at school in London last week, Jack flew to Russia to join his Fortec team mates at the third World Series by Renault event to be held at the Moscow Raceway, one of the more recent tracks by German designer, Herman Tilke.
In front of an imposing 78,000 spectators over the entire weekend, the 28-car Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 field began its Russian campaign with two sessions of practice on Friday. Still harbouring pace issues experienced at the last round in Spa, Jack’s Fortec FR2.0/13 by Tatuus car was showing signs of problems in the latter stages of the final practice hour.
During Jack’s first qualifying session of the weekend, in Group B on Saturday morning, these problems appeared to grow. The engine was losing 0.5 second in pace along the straights and its ‘issue’ ultimately triggered a warning light toward the end of Jack’s running. Unable to muster the pace to take on his rivals over the session, Jack set a time to qualify in P25.
After investigating the warning, the team changed most of the electrics in Jack’s car ahead of race one on Saturday afternoon. Still down on straight line speed right from the start of the race, Jack’s car stopped out on track during lap four of the 18 scheduled laps – the engine coming to a complete and terminal halt.
An overnight engine change brought marked improvement for Jack in second qualifying on Sunday morning. Now able to extract a little more from his Fortec charger, Jack qualified in P14 and was able to make improvements to his car’s set-up to enable him to run much closer in speed to where he should have been. He finished the second race of the weekend in twelfth position, making up a satisfactory two places after such a major operation overnight.
Jack Aitken, #8 Fortec Motorsport:“My weekend really started in earnest on Sunday morning. I had very little running on Friday due to the engine issue and it finally gave up at the start of race one on Saturday. After the team changed the engine in my car overnight, the difference in its handling was instantaneous. I feel that finally I have a good platform to build on for the second half of the season and now that school is over, I can really focus on my career. As a team we have made a huge step forward, so I am now looking forward to the race weekends ahead.”
Jack is participating in the next round of Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS series, Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Italy on 5-6 July, as a Fortec Motorsport wild card entry.
The next round of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championship takes place at the Nürburgring, Germany, on 12- 13 July, 2014.
