Dan Ticktum showed great speed and determination around the Red Bull Ring this weekend, taking home valuable points to keep his Rookie Championship lead in the seventh round of the Formula Renault Eurocup.
The weekend got off to a good start with Dan setting some of the fastest laps in the collective tests on Friday. His good run continued into the afternoon and the next morning for the qualifying sessions, where he qualified a strong P3 in his group during both outings.
Dan started Race 1 from P5 on Saturday afternoon and held onto his position throughout the first corner melee. Determined to race for the podium, the Red Bull Junior Team driver took the battle to Will Palmer early on and overtook him in an inspiring move to take P4. Dan then fought hard to catch the front pack but was unable to make up the time, finishing the race in P4 which became P9 after he received a 10-second penalty for an ‘illegitimate move’.
Starting Race 2 from P5, Dan became involved in a fight for positions throughout the first few laps but despite dropping two places in the heat of the battle he fought his way back up the field, overtaking Max Defourny on lap 6. Although he had the speed to chase down more cars, a couple of safety cars prevented Dan from improving much more and he eventually finished P5. The British driver now goes into the summer break leading the Rookie Championship and a strong sixth in the general classification.
Dan Ticktum: “It was a shame about Race 1, I was defending, we didn’t make contact but they applied the rules and I got penalised. It was a good race apart from that and showed again that we are very competitive.
“Sometimes these things just don’t go your way and the weekend was like that really. The pace was there and it could easily have very much gone our way but we can be happy with what we did, still leading the Rookie Championship.
“There is every reason to expect more really good results in the next races.”
The next round of the Formula Renault Eurocup will take place at Pau Ricard from 25 – 27 August.
Download high resolution imagery here.