M2 Competition fight back for vital Formula Renault Eurocup points in Hungary

M2 Competition showed all the resilience that has made them a multiple championship-winning team as they bounced back from a disastrous start at the Hungaroring to secure two strong results in the Formula Renault Eurocup.
 
Having seen all three of their cars fail to score a point on Saturday, the Brussels-based team’s trio of Kush Maini, Lucas Alecco Roy and Patrick Schott delivered excellent performances on Sunday with a pair of points finishes the deserved result.
 
An encouraging pair of practice sessions on Friday gave the trio confidence of a strong weekend, but overnight rain meant a damp circuit greeted their three drivers on Saturday morning.
 
It was here that their fate was sealed; not that they knew it at the time. Kush had his best lap deleted for speeding in the pitlane, meaning sixth on the grid became 18th, while a late red flag and heavy traffic prevented him from setting a representative back-up time.
 
Lucas, returning to the Eurocup after a three-month absence, was M2’s best-placed driver in 15th, but the German had encountered difficulties in adapting back to the Tatuus car in such unfamiliar conditions.
 
Swiss racer Patrick, who was still suffering from the hand injury sustained at the Nurburgring last weekend, did not complete a lap on wet tyres and made contact with the barrier on his first flying lap on slicks, which restricted him to 20th.
 
Heavy rain one hour before the start of the race forced a safety-car start, and with conditions not improving, race officials decided to red-flag the race and declare a result at just one-third distance.
 
With no overtaking or racing of any kind allowed under safety-car conditions; Lucas, Kush and Patrick were classified 12th, 15th and 17th; all three benefiting from three cars having crashed on the lap from the pits to the grid.

Sunday qualifying was virtually identical to that of 24 hours earlier, but with most drivers – including Kush and Lucas – opting to start the session on slick tyres after gaining experience with both wet and dry rubber the previous day.
 
That experience paid off with the pair improving their times throughout the 20 minutes and winding up seventh and 12th.
 
Patrick started on wets and held a magnificent third place midway through the session, but a relatively late switch did not give him sufficient time to warm up his slicks for a hot lap, leaving him 20th on the grid.
 
All three drivers started a dry and sunny second race magnificently and gained a total of 18 places between them by the end of the first lap.
 
Kush finished a strong fifth – and second-best rookie – while Lucas marked his series return with a career-best ninth and his first Eurocup points.
 
Patrick ran 10th early on, but was hit at Turn 2 by a rival and spun off the track. He recovered with a damaged car to finish 15th – still his best result since joining M2 Competition.
 
The weekend results solidified Kush’s sixth place in the overall points and second in the rookie standings, while Lucas – who will return for the season finale at Yas Marina – is 20th. M2 are fifth in the Teams’ Championship.
 
The next event; the eighth of this year’s 10 rounds, takes place at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona in Spain on September 27-28.
 
Kush Maini said: “After being comfortably in the top five in practice, we were confident of qualifying at the sharp end too, but I made a mistake in Q1 and sped in the pitlane, so my best lap was taken away. That’s my fault and it cost me sixth on the grid – which would have been fourth in the race because two of the guys at the front crashed going to the grid. On Sunday the car was good, I made a strong start and I was challenging for the podium until I lost fourth at a safety-car restart. But I’m still sixth in the points and second in the rookie order, so we’re doing okay. We just need to find a tiny bit more pace to be regularly challenging for the podium, but M2 are a terrific team and we’ll all keep pushing for that.”
 
Lucas Alecco Roy said: “I’m pretty happy with my pace this weekend and to end it by scoring my first points is very satisfying. I haven’t driven this car for a few months and I’ve done a lot of F4 races since, so it took most of practice to re-adapt to the Renault, and I felt confident of building on that for qualifying. Unfortunately both qualifying sessions were damp and I had to use what little experience I have in the car in those conditions, but the speed was ok. Race One wasn’t really a race, but Race Two went very well. I focused on getting into a good rhythm early on, managed the tyres to make sure I had performance across the race distance and felt good all the way. Abu Dhabi will be my next time in the car and I’m looking forward to it already.”
 
Patrick Schott said: “Points were possible in Race Two, and that’s a big encouragement. We had good speed in Sunday qualifying on the wet tyre, but we changed to slicks too late and couldn’t get enough temperature into the rubber before the end of the session to make a real attack. Twentieth to ninth was a great first two corners, but [Xavier] Lloveras hit me at Turn 2, bent my car and also hurt my hand when the steering wheel hit it – just like at the Nurburgring. It was a struggle to finish. On Saturday I misjudged the level of grip at Turn 2 on slicks and crashed, so I started last, but if we’d had normal weather for the race – even a regular level of rain – I could have moved up. Next is Barcelona, a circuit I know, so I think we can make another step in performance.”
 
Elise Moury, Team Manager, said: “We’ve ended the weekend on a real high compared to where we were on Saturday, which is thanks to an absolutely awesome job by the team. Lucas did a fantastic job on Sunday in qualifying and the race. The Formula Renault car is very different in its characteristics to the F4 that he’s been racing for the past few months, so to come in and have his strongest weekend yet – despite the very difficult conditions in qualifying – is very good. Patrick should have been in the points too, but he got hit by another driver, so his result does not reflect his speed. Kush did exactly what we’d hoped for and forgot about Saturday to get a strong top-five finish. There were some mistakes in Saturday qualifying and we were lower than we expected, but in a dry, damp, or even normal wet race, I’m sure we could have made progress. Unfortunately the weather was so bad that the officials had to make a tough decision.”