Podiums for Promising Fortec Team in FR2.0 NEC in Budapest

After stepping on to the world renown F1 podium in Monte Carlo to claim his, and Fortec Motorsports team’s, first trophy of the 2016 Eurocup season last month, Austrian Ferdinand Habsburg and team-mates Vasily Romanov, Nikita Troitskiy (RUS) and Bruno Baptista (BRA) made their way to another iconic race track, the Hungaroring in Budapest, for the third round of the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup (NEC).Habsburg led the #TeamFortec charge in the first one-and-a-half-hour practice session last Saturday morning, finding a competitive set-up in his FR2.0/13 by Tatuus charger to set the second fastest lap time. Things were much closer between the Fortec drivers in the second test outing, with Romanov, Baptista and Habsburg taking the 9th, 10th and 11th time slots respectively, with series rookie Troitskiy following in sixteenth.Qualifying in the afternoon brought a very strong performance by the Daventry based Fortec squad. Setting the grid positions for race one, Troitskiy set a superb lap time of 1:42.718 min to sit in third on the time sheet as the second fastest rookie. Habsburg stopped the clock a mere hundredth of a second behind him, with Romanov taking the final top five position with a 1:42.844 min quick lap. Baptista set a solid qualifying lap to put him on the 8th row of the grid for the start of race one on Sunday.Following a quick visit to the pits, the final qualifying session got underway. On this occasion the Fortec quartet were more evenly spread throughout the field; Habsburg took P4, Troitskiy P7, Romanov P14 and Baptista P16 for the starting grid of race two.Both races at the Hungarian Grand Prix venue took place under sunny and hot conditions on Sunday. In race one, Troitskiy was penalised for a jump start which meant that he took the chequered flag in P14 from a promising second row start position. This opened the door to team-mates Romanov and Habsburg who maintained position behind race leader Lando Norris (JFR) to celebrate their first podium finishes in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup. Baptista narrowly missed out on a top ten position, crossing the finish line in a respectable P11.Race two saw another display of Habsburg’s ever improving race craft as he clinched a further third placed trophy. From their mid pack grid positions, Troitskiy kept out of trouble throughout the 14 laps competition to take the chequered flag in P13, however a coming together between Romanov and Baptista saw the Brazilian retire on the penultimate lap whilst Romanov ended the last round of the weekend in P14.Martin Young, team manager Fortec Motorsports Formula Renault 2.0 NEC:“The team’s pace throughout the whole weekend was very strong. Three podiums and three drivers in the top five in qualy showed our true pace and overall was a great result for Fortec Motorsports. It was unfortunate for Troitskiy, jumping the start but both he and Baptista has a solid weekend and we now look forward to Monza for round three of the Eurocup.”Ferdinand Habsburg, #62 Fortec Motorsports“I am so happy to get another double podium with Fortec Motorsport and at one of my home races too! I started both races in 4th, finished both on the podium and was the team’s top points scorer of the weekend. I can’t wait for Monza!”Vasily Romanov, #5 Fortec Motorsports“It feels good to be back fighting in the front; we are getting stronger every weekend! Massive thanks to the team for a great car!”The Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup now takes a summer break and returns with rounds seven and eight supporting the ‘Total 24 Hours of Spa’ (Blancpain Endurance) at Spa-Francorchamps, 26-31st July 2016.In the meantime, Fortec Motorsports heads to Monza, Italy, on 2-3 July 2016, for round three of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 series.


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