One week after Pau, the pressure will increase for those drivers who want to standout in front of motor racing’s elite!
From 1973 to 1977, the Formula Renault Eurocup was part of the Monaco festivities, with Alain Couderc, Didier Pironi and Dany Snobeck taking the honours. Last year, Sacha Fenestraz followed in their wheel tracks. In 2017, the contenders for the win will have two races to display their talents and to get noticed in this fantastic opportunity offered by Renault Sport Racing.
The Monaco weekend will bring an end to a frentic month of May, which featured three consecutive meetings, with the last two held on street circuits. For this unique rendez-vous, there will be a slight change to the format with one qualifying session that will allow each driver the chance to compete in at least one race in Monaco!
Three-way battle for the lead
The only driver to have won at each of the three race weekends so far this season, Robert Shwartzman (R-ace GP) comes to Monaco full of confidence. With four podium results on the bounce, the Russian will be able to make the most of his experience with the Monaco circuit to continue the momentum that has taken him to the top of the general classification.
Will Palmer (R-ace GP) and Sacha Fenestraz (Josef Kaufmann Racing) will also be in the hunt for the win. With two fourth place finishes at Pau, the Briton will aim to return to the podium, while the Frenchman is still looking to take his first victory of 2017. Both also raced at Monaco last year, with Sacha Fenestraz taking his first success in the category!
A test for the F1 Juniors
This season, the six drivers who are members of F1 young driver programmes will be on track in front of their bosses.
The Renault Sport Academy will be represented by Max Fewtrell (Tech 1 Racing), Jarno Opmeer (MP Motorsport) and Sun Yue Yang (JD Motorsport). After consolidating his place as the top rookie with two more wins in the rookie category at Pau, Max Fewtrell will aim to get his first podium, while Jarno Opmeer and Sun Yue Yang will try to score their first points of the season.
Taking them on will be Red Bull Junior Team drivers Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport), Daniel Ticktum (Arden Motorsport) and Neil Verhagen (MP Motorsport). Dr. Helmut Marko’s three protégés scored points last weekend and will endeavor to make an impression at Monaco as well as move up the order in the general classification.
They will want to shine
Coming off his win in the category at Pau, Alex Peroni (Fortec Motorsports) will look to; once again, show his adaptation skills in repeating at Monaco. While the circuit will be a new experience for the Australian, Max Defourny (R-ace GP) returns to familiar settings after this third place last year.
Henrique Chaves (AVF by Adrián Vallés), Rodrigo Pflucker (AVF by Adrián Vallés) and Alexey Korneev (Fortec Motorsports), all of whom left Pau empty-handed, also have knowledge of the track. Gabriel Aubry (Tech 1 Racing) will try to do better than he did in 2016. The Frenchman will be able to rely, like his team mates, Max Fewtrell, Thomas Maxwell and Thomas Neubauer, on the results of his team at Monaco, victorious four times in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series and Formula Renault Eurocup.
Point scorers in their first street races in Formula Renault, Yifei Ye (Josef Kaufmann Racing) and Raúl Guzmán (R-ace GP) will strive to take their game to the next level. Conversely, Luis Leeds (Josef Kaufmann Racing), Alexander Vartanyan (JD Motorsport) and Presley Martono (Mark Burdett Motorsport) aspire to return to the top ten this weekend.
The rest of the field will be composed of Axel Matus (AVF by Adrián Vallés), Grégoire Saucy (AVF by Adrián Vallés), Zane Goddard (Arden Motorsport), Julia Pankiewicz (Mark Burdett Motorsport), Frank Bird (Fortec Motorsports), Ghislain Cordeel (Arden Motorsport), Najiy Abdul bin Abd Razak (Fortec Motorsports) and Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer (JD Motorsport). All want to score their first points of the season.
Programme
Thursday May 25, 2017
8:15 – 9:00 Collective tests
Friday May 26 2017
7:55 – 8:25 Qualifying (Group A)
8:33 – 9:03 Qualifying (Group B)
Saturday May 27 2017
9:10 – 9:40 Race 1
Sunday May 28 2017
11:10 – 11:40 Race 2