A tough weekend for Dan Ticktum who was looking to build on last weekend’s podium result in Silverstone with more strong results in the third round of the Formula Renault Eurocup season in Pau, but unfortunately didn’t achieve the points he was after.
Dan’s pace was very good at the beginning of the weekend and despite wet testing sessions on Friday, he kept setting some of the fastest laps.
Unfortunately his pace didn’t carry into Saturday’s Qualifying session and although he tried to improve throughout the session he couldn’t push hard enough, consequently only qualifying P5 within his group and P10 overall.
Dan had a good start in Race 1, holding off the competition and maintaining his P10 start. With overtaking difficult through Pau’s narrow streets, it became a rather uneventful race but Dan pushed hard to overtake Raúl Guzmán throughout. He came close within the final laps but eventually had to settle for a P10 finish.
Sunday’s Qualifying was a difficult one as Dan had the right pace and could’ve taken P1 in his group. Running in P5, he was half a second up on his previous lap but made a mistake whilst pushing too hard and caused a red flag with his crash. He lost his fastest time because of this and was only accredited P10 in his group, giving him a disappointing P20 start on the grid for Race 2.
Dan was ready to fight his way back up the field through the narrow streets of Pau, but starting so far down the field he was held up behind a slower driver for a long time. When he eventually got past him, he really went for it but didn’t give himself time to adjust to the new conditions so made a mistake, resulting in an unfortunate DNF.
Dan Ticktum: “In a way it was a bit like Silverstone, not pushing hard enough in Qualifying on Saturday and then on Sunday the pace was there but this place doesn’t let you get away with the smallest mistake.
“I have to concentrate on the fact that the pace is there and it is just lack of experience, it’s taking me longer than I wanted to settle in and get the results. That’s what I will be concentrating on in Monaco next weekend.”
The next round of the Formula Renault Eurocup will take place in Monaco from 25 – 28 May.
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