AVF went back to the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 podium in the second round of the series at Silverstone. With rain becoming once again a feature of the weekend, Henrique Chaves showed he could be competitive right from the start with a top-3 pace in practice. In qualifying, the Portuguese racer set the second fastest lap of his group before cruising to his first podium finish of the year on Saturday. The difficult weather conditions and a red flag hampered the Spanish squad on Sunday, then Chaves was hit by another car early and forced to retire.
ìThe potential put on-track was positive for the other drivers too. Alex Matus scored the fourth fastest laptime in qualifying, the second among rookies. A mistake in race 1 saw him lose positions but in race 2 he made a brilliant recovery from the 22nd place on the grid up to the 11th place at the finish
ìRodrigo Pflucker delivered a good weekend with a 18th and a 19th place as he continues his exponential growth in the series. He confirmed the progress shown in the previous Eurocup meeting at Monza and he is now looking forward to the upcoming rounds at Pau and Monaco.
Henrique Chaves
“Friday was really good! On wet conditions we had the pace to be in the top-3. On Saturday we were on pole but due to track limits my lap was deleted so I ended up third. The race was exciting! I was following Palmer but after an issue with the gearbox I lost some time and I had to defend till the end, but second place was very important for the championship. On Sunday, everything went wrong. In qualifying I had bad luck with a red flag that prevented me from improving my laptime. In the race I was then crashed out by the same driver who put me out in Monza.”
Axel Matus
“It was a positive weekend. In the first qualifying session I set the 4th fastest lap time, and the second among rookies. Unfortunately in the race I was too much aggressive on a kerb and damaged the car. From that point on it was almost undriveable so I managed to arrive the chequered flag but I had no chance to score any points. On Sunday we went for a too much optimistic strategy with wet/dry track. We waited too much to put new tyres and a red flag then gave us no chance so I just completed one lap and had to start 22nd. The race was amazing as well as the pace, I had the 6th fastest lap and recovered to finish in 11th place”.
Rodrigo Pflucker
“We struggled a little bit on Friday with the rain which disrupted our work plans. It was a positive experience anyway because I could increase my confidence in rainy conditions which so far had been a rare occurrence for me. The chemistry with the car was good throughout the whole weekend although the long neutralizations during the races deprived us of some of the show. The feeling improved at every session even though in the opening lap of race 2 a contact compromised the car’s handling”.