Dan Ticktum turned a difficult weekend around to take home a Top Rookie trophy and valuable points at Paul Ricard in the eighth round of the Formula Renault Eurocup racing for Arden.
Coming into the weekend, Dan knew that it was going to be one of the team’s weaker circuits after a slow pre-season test earlier in the year. Although Friday’s first collective test proved to be just as challenging as expected, by the afternoon, ahead of qualifying, Dan was looking much faster.
In his qualifying group, Dan showed that he was ready to take the fight to the other drivers, finishing P5 for Race 1 – despite an electrical problem on his first fast laps with brand new tyres – and P3 for Race 2.
Starting Race 1 from P10 on the grid, Dan was on a mission for points and got off to a good start, passing several cars and quickly moving up to P7. However, an ambitious move on Gabriel Aubry at Turn 16 led to an unfortunate DNF and a two-place grid penalty for Race 2.
Consequently, Dan began Race 2 from P7 but he didn’t stay there for long, swiftly fighting his way to P6. From there, it became an intense battle in which Dan had to extract everything he could from his car to hold off a chasing Max Fewtrell. He eventually won that defensive battle and finished Top Rookie at the end of a demanding weekend.
Dan Ticktum: “We struggled a lot this weekend to find the pace we wanted so our aim was to extricate the maximum from our package. I think we managed this, especially in an intense Race 2 where I had to be 100% from the start to the finish against Max Fewtrell, who was running less aero than I was.
“We thought coming here that it could be our worst event as the test hadn’t gone well early in the year. Considering that I think we did pretty well, not bad at all. Apart from the move on Aubry, I am happy with the way I drove this weekend and think I got the best result I could.”
Dan will be racing in the GP3 Series at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Italy this coming weekend, 01 – 03 September.
The next round of the Formula Renault Eurocup will take place at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium from 22 – 24 September.
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