Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 front-runner Dennis Olsen made a welcome return to the championship podium for Manor MP Motorsport at the Le Mans Bugatti Circuit on Sunday, 27th September, with a very competitive runner-up placing in round 15 of the season.
Actually taking the chequered flag in third position, and shadowed home by team-mate Ignazio D’Agosto in fourth, the duo ran as part of a very tightly bunched lead quartet for the majority of the contest in which any of the four competitors could have emerged victorious. Post-race, a penalty for Simon Gachet elevated Olsen into second position.
Olsen began the second of the weekend’s two races in sixth spot but a sensational start catapulted the Norwegian into the top three ahead of third placed qualifier D’Agosto, before the Italian hit back to regain his podium slot. Following a brief Safety Car period, Olsen made his move on lap four at the re-start to move back ahead and the pair ran in that order to the finish on lap 17.
Midway through the contest, little more than a second covered the lead four cars and on lap 10 Olsen was as close as he had been race-long to second placed Gachet. Piling on the pressure, the Manor MP driver couldn’t quite find the gap he needed and at the chequered flag he was right underneath Gachet’s gearbox with just 0.1 seconds separating them.
D’Agosto, meanwhile, managed to see off the chasing pack early on which enabled him to focus on sticking with, and trying to challenge, the three ahead. Running in the wheeltracks of Olsen for the duration, he was ultimately just 0.5 seconds shy of the podium.
Race one of the weekend on Saturday, 26th September, wasn’t quite as fruitful for the duo in terms of a podium bid with Olsen emerging on top in seventh place ahead of D’Agosto in eighth – only 0.1 seconds splitting them in the final classification. Notably, though, D’Agosto’s result came after a very spirited drive through from 14th on the grid.
“It really is fantastic to be back on the podium in Eurocup Formula Renault”, said Manor MP’s Sarah Shaw, “Dennis and Ignazio have both raced very strongly this weekend, hopefully they can take this forward to the final round at Jerez.”
Joining Olsen and D’Agosto this weekend at Le Mans were Manor MP Motorsport’s Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup (NEC) racer Christopher Anthony and Bruno Baptista, who debuted with the team during the previous event.
Brazilian driver Baptista started Saturday’s race from 17th position on the grid and after a fantastic first lap, he sliced through into 14th place. Running comfortably in the mid-pack throughout, his race came to an untimely conclusion on 16 after a tangle with Darius Oskoui – an incident which led to red flags being shown and which also ruled Baptista out of race two.
Anthony, meanwhile, came away from the weekend with a brace of top 20 finishes. Taking 19th spot in the opening contest, from 21st on the grid, the Australian youngster ran well inside the top 20 in race two and despite an excursion on lap 10 he still managed to complete the race in 20th position.
“This is one of the toughest one-make championships in the world so there’s a huge amount for Bruno and Christopher to learn”, added Shaw, “They both did a good job this weekend, though, and made some progress which is everything you can ask from inexperienced drivers at this level.”
Circuito de Jerez in Spain will host the grand finale of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season over the weekend 17th/18th October.
