Photo: Renault Sport Series
Oscar Piastri took a comfortable first Formula Renault Eurocup win by 12.693s seconds at Silverstone, but only inherited the lead after R-ace GP team-mate Alexander Smolyar retired.
The Australian beat his team-mate to pole, and the pair ran side-by-side through most of the first lap. Smolyar eventually took the lead at Brooklands, with Piastri slotting in behind and hounding him for several laps.
After eight laps the gap had grown to a second, but Smolyar’s car started to slow and he pulled off at Club on the ninth lap of 16.
This handed Piastri the lead, by a handy seven seconds, which he extended through the remainder of the race.
M2 Competition’s Kush Maini started the race behind the R-ace GP pair, but had dropped to eighth by lap four and was then fighting for positions outside of the points. His race was summarised by an incident that required a front wing change, leaving him a distant 18th.
The battle for third, which then became second, was taken up by Bhaitech’s Petr Ptacek and JD Motorsport’s Joao Vieira, although it didn’t really heat up until the final few laps of the race. Vieira sat behind for lap after lap, and made his move stick at Turn 1 on lap 12 of 16.
Second place for the Brazilian was his first podium since Italian Formula 4 in 2016, while Ptacek took the debuting Bhaitech team’s first Eurocup podium of the current era.
After starring in free practice, Vieira’s team-mate Ugo de Wilde held off FA Racing by Drivex’s Callan O’Keefe to take fourth, only for the latter to be penalised for abusing track limits. This promoted the third R-ace GP car of Caio Collet to fifth, who had gone off at Maggotts on the first lap and lost several positions after starting from his finishing position.
O’Keefe’s penalty dropped him to eighth, behind Lorenzo Colombo (MP Motorsport) and Leonardo Lorandi (JD), while Patrik Pasma (Arden) and Victor Martins (MP) completed the top 10.
The MP drivers struggled throughout qualifying and the race, and the single point Martins earned in 10th means he’s dropped from the championship lead to third behind Piastri and de Wilde.
Race results (16 laps)
| Pos | Name | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oscar Piastri | R-ace GP | 32m00.654s |
| 2 | Joao Vieira | JD Motorsport | +12.693s |
| 3 | Petr Ptacek | Bhaitech | +15.130s |
| 4 | Ugo de Wilde | JD Motorsport | +16.322s |
| 5 | Caio Collet | R-ace GP | +16.849s |
| 6 | Lorenzo Colombo | MP Motorsport | +17.034s |
| 7 | Leonardo Lorandi | JD Motorsport | +18.236s |
| 8 | Callan O’Keeffe | FA Racing by Drivex | +25.999s |
| 9 | Patrik Pasma | Arden | +28.701s |
| 10 | Victor Martins | MP Motorsport | +31.901s |
| 11 | Yves Baltas | M2 Competition | +32.381s |
| 12 | Federico Malvestiti | Bhaitech | +36.467s |
| 13 | Amaury Cordeel | MP Motorsport | +37.062s |
| 14 | Patrick Schott | FA Racing by Drivex | +39.727s |
| 15 | Frank Bird | Arden | +40.711s |
| 16 | Lucas Alecco Roy | M2 Competition | +42.834s |
| 17 | Xavier Lloveras | Global Racing Service | +46.920s |
| 18 | Kush Maini | M2 Competition | +1m14.188s |
| 19 | Brad Benavides | FA Racing by Drivex | +1 lap |
| Ret | Alexander Smolyar | R-ace GP | |
| Fastest lap: Smolyar, 1m59.131s
Championship standings |
|||