Andrea Pizzitola climbed into the top three of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 driver standings at the Hungaroring near Budapest over the weekend, 13th/14th September, after securing Manor MP Motorsport’s second race victory of the season.

 

Consolidating third in the championship with a ninth place finish – eighth of the eligible points scorers – during the second of the weekend’s races at the Hungarian track, the rapid Frenchman is now just 14 points shy of the Vice-Champion’s position.

 

Team-mate Steijn Schothorst, who is dovetailing his Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 campaign with participation in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup, chalked-up his first points finish of the Eurocup season with a top 10 result behind Pizzitola in race two on Sunday.

 

Heading the damp round nine qualifying session on Saturday morning by 0.2 seconds to secure a vital pole position for the opening contest, Pizzitola went into the dry race in the box seat and made a good getaway to retain the advantage at the front from Charles Leclerc.

 

With just a few tenths of a second separating the duo over the opening laps, on the third tour a moment for Leclerc enabled Pizzitola to increase his lead to over two seconds and the Manor MP Motorsport driver remained well clear for the next few laps.

 

From the sixth tour, Leclerc began to close back in but Pizzitola had everything in control and reeled off faultless laps. Setting the quickest time on the 11th tour, which was ultimately bettered by third placed Nyck De Vries, Frenchman Pizzitola went on to take a superb victory on lap 16 by 0.8 seconds.

 

“It’s obviously fantastic for Andrea and everyone at Manor MP Motorsport to be back on the top step of the Eurocup podium”, said Manor MP’s Sarah Shaw, “Overtaking is very difficult at the Hungaroring in these cars, so getting pole position was so important. After Andrea made a good start, we knew he could control things at the front. He did a fantastic job – it’s a great win.”

 

Schothorst was always going to have a tough first race from 19th on the grid and finished the encounter in 21st position. Holding station on the opening lap, the Dutchman remained inside the top 20 on lap two but was then elbowed back to 22nd place. Staying there to the penultimate tour, the Manor MP Motorsport driver moved back into 21st spot when Jake Hughes failed to finish.

 

In the wet round 10 qualifying session on Sunday morning, Schothorst was the star performer from the team with the second fastest time in his group while Pizzitola had to settle for ninth. With the other group ultimately faster, though, it equated to fourth on the grid for Schothorst and 18th on the grid for Pizzitola.

 

Although Schothorst slipped a couple of places to sixth, Pizzitola put together an outstanding first lap and surged to the cusp of the top 10. Schothorst was shuffled back to eighth prior to the appearance of the Safety Car on lap three, with Pizzitola breaking into 10th place, and after the re-start the latter continued his charge through the order by moving ahead of his team-mate into eighth position.

 

On lap 11, the Frenchman was nudged back to ninth position and he remained there to the flag on lap 15 – finishing just 0.5 seconds behind Dennis Olsen. Notably, Pizzitola’s best lap of the race, 1m43.824 seconds (151.9 km/h), was quicker than anything managed by the top three finishers.

 

Schothorst was edged back to 10th place shortly after mid-distance but managed to keep enough of a gap to Kevin Jorg to ensure a trouble-free run to the flag to secure his first points of the season. With second placed finisher Leclerc ineligible to score, Pizzitola and Schothorst were effectively eighth and ninth in the final classification.

 

Rounds 11 and 12 of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season will take place on 27th/28th September at Paul Ricard HTTT in southern France.

 

Provisional 2014 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Driver Standings (after Rd10):
3rd Andrea Pizzitola, 94pts; 21st Steijn Schothorst, 2pts

 

Provisional 2014 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Team Standings (after Rd10):
5th Manor MP Motorsport, 96pts