Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Robert Wickens on Formula Renault 3.5 pole at Barcelona after chaotic session

Carlin's Robert Wickens took an early advantage in the Formula Renault 3.5 title showdown at Barcelona, recording a seventh pole position of the season in a session interrupted by two lengthy stoppages

Championship rival and team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne will start from ninth position for this afternoon's race. The Frenchman has reduced a 34-point deficit to Wickens in August down to just two points entering the meeting.

Auto GP racer Adrien Tambay, deputising for the sickly Andre Negrao at Draco, caused the first red flag following a substantial accident. In only his second Formula Renault 3.5 meeting of the season, following a race with Pons in Monaco in May, Tambay locked up his left-front wheel on the approach to the downhill, left-hand, SEAT corner. Having skated over the gravel trap, the Frenchman was travelling with considerable velocity when he made a nose-first impact with the tyre-barriers.

Although Tambay exited the car unaided, he was later stretchered to a waiting ambulance.

"Tambay is okay, he has been sent to hospital in Granollers for a scan," said Draco team manager Nadia Morini. "If the hospital say it's okay, I can ask the race director to allow him to start from the back."

The second red flag occurred when Brendon Hartley's Gravity-Charouz car hit a kerb with sufficient force to punch a hole in the chassis and take out his sump. Oil was deposited on the entry to the fast Campsa corner. Hartley pulled over to the inside of the track on the exit of Campsa, but the oil caught out a number of drivers, including Fortec's Cesar Ramos, who pirouetted spectacularly.

Wickens was fastest at the time of the stoppage on a time of 1m32.564s. Friday's collective test pacesetter Albert Costa (Epic) was next up, the Spaniard the only other driver to dip below 1m33s. Costa's lap secured second spot at the chequered flag, ahead of Ramos' Fortec team-mate Alexander Rossi.

"I am much happier with third than where I was the lap before, in seventh with a sloppy lap," said Rossi. "Albert Costa and I have our own private battle, like Robert and JEV, for third in the championship. I am leading him right now, so as long as I stay there in terms of positioning it should be good."

A strong run to fourth by Jake Rosenzweig helped lift the spirits of the Mofaz team, which is closing its Formula Renault 3.5 operation after this meeting. But as third to sixth was covered by 0.1s, the American felt that a better result had been within reach.

Russian Daniil Move continued his competitive practice pace to take fifth for P1 Motorsport, ahead of Hungaroring polesitter Sergio Canamasas (BVM Target).

Pons Racing's Nick Yelloly will head team-mate Oliver Webb on the fourth row of the grid, the GP3 driver ruing a small mistake which he felt cost him third place.

Yelloly's fellow Briton and GP3 rival Lewis Williamson had a troubled second outing with ISR. Deputising for the Czech team's regular driver Daniel Ricciardo, who is competing in this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, Williamson will start from 24th position after encountering gearbox dramas.

"The car wouldn't upshift," said Williamson. "We had to do a bodge just to get me out, so it was pretty tricky. We were in at the deep-end, but I have to just grasp the opportunity. We had to start with the car in-gear, getting a push out of the box. I don't think it was a problem inside the gearbox, I think it was electrical."

Pos  Driver             Team             Time       Gap
 1.  Robert Wickens     Carlin           1m32.564s
 2.  Albert Costa       Epic             1m32.854s  + 0.290s
 3.  Alexander Rossi    Fortec           1m33.048s  + 0.484s
 4.  Jake Rosenzweig    Mofaz            1m33.065s  + 0.501s
 5.  Daniil Move        P1               1m33.097s  + 0.533s
 6.  Sergio Canamasas   BVM Target       1m33.123s  + 0.559s
 7.  Nick Yelloly       Pons             1m33.167s  + 0.603s
 8.  Oliver Webb        Pons             1m33.246s  + 0.682s
 9.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Carlin           1m33.368s  + 0.804s
10.  Nelson Panciatici  KMP              1m33.404s  + 0.840s
11.  Kevin Korjus       Tech 1           1m33.426s  + 0.862s
12.  Nathanael Berthon  ISR              1m33.437s  + 0.873s
13.  Anton Nebylitskiy  KMP              1m33.556s  + 0.992s
14.  Arthur Pic         Tech 1           1m33.613s  + 1.049s
15.  Stephane Richelmi  Draco            1m33.640s  + 1.076s
16.  Daniel Zampieri    BVM Target       1m33.781s  + 1.217s
17.  Sten Pentus        Epic             1m33.873s  + 1.309s
18.  Walter Grubmuller  P1               1m34.035s  + 1.471s
19.  Brendon Hartley    Gravity-Charouz  1m34.058s  + 1.494s
20.  Cesar Ramos        Fortec           1m34.238s  + 1.674s
21.  Daniel de Jong     Comtec           1m34.416s  + 1.852s
22.  Fairuz Fauzy       Mofaz            1m34.676s  + 2.112s
23.  Jan Charouz        Gravity-Charouz  1m34.771s  + 2.207s
24.  Lewis Williamson   ISR              1m34.809s  + 2.245s
25.  Daniel McKenzie    Comtec           1m35.610s  + 3.046s
26.  Adrien Tambay      Draco

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article GP3 champion Valtteri Bottas leads list of newcomers set for Formula Renault 3.5 test
Next article Robert Wickens still wary of Jean-Eric Vergne despite big qualifying gap at decider

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe