Due to the global situation linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, the start of the Formula Renault Eurocup Championship has been delayed to July 9th in Italy. In the meantime, M2 Competition has made its e-sport debut entering the new Formula Renault Esport Series whose opening round took place last Friday on the iRacing platform.
For this new challenge, M2 Competition has joined forces with South-African driver Callan O’Keeffe who is no stranger to the team having raced with the Belgian squad in 2019 at Spa-Francorchamps. The team has also entered Turkish professional sim-racer Cem Bölükbaşı who also raced for M2 at Hockenheim last year. Former Formula Renault 3.5L driver and W Series runner-up Beitske Visser completed the inaugural line-up.
Race 1
After promising free-practice sessions, our raw speed was concretised with Cem Bölükbaşı qualifying on the front row, Beitske and Callan joining in the top 8. Despite an average start, Cem charged back to the lead of the race until an incident with a backmarker saw him fall back in the order. He finished P8, two spots behind Beitske while Callan retired after a collision.
Race 2
Willing to fight back, Cem set the fastest lap of all sessions during qualifying, securing our first e-pole position while Beitske and Callan qualified again in the first half of the grid. But another difficult start pushed Cem back in the mid-field. This race was marked by several incidents and collisions jeopardizing our pace. Beitske managed to finish P8 while both Cem and Callan eventually retired from the race.
Jonathan Moury, Team Owner: “Renault has implemented an attractive virtual package which proved its potential in the two races we’ve had. On our side, we are disappointed by the final results as we have shown our competitiveness throughout the whole event. Our drivers got caught up in accidents in a very unlucky manner. We will come back stronger for the next event.”
The next round of the Formula Renault Esport Series will take place on Friday 5th June on the Canadian circuit of Montréal.
