M2 Competition and Cem Bölükbaşı win inaugural Formula Renault Esport Series title

Thanks to two new podiums at Suzuka, including one win, Cem Bölükbaşı clenched the Formula Renault Esport Series title for M2 Competition.

Starting the final round of the Formula Renault Esport Series, Cem Bölükbaşı was leading the championship by 7 points ahead of Victor Martins. The Turkish driver was joined by French Formula 4 driver, Isack Hadjar who had shown promising pace in the previous round at Austin.

Race 1

In Austin, the battle for pole position had been intense, but it went one way in Suzuka with Cem regularly lapping half a second quicker than the rest of the field. He claimed a 6^th pole position in a row while Isack qualified 6^th.

Cem lost a couple of places at the start but managed to come back in 2^nd place at the end of lap 1 when Isack moved up to 4^th. The battle for the lead went on until Cem was sent spinning by Fabrizio Donoso’s net code. The Turk managed to come back to cross the line in 2^nd place just ahead of Isack, both drivers setting M2 Competition’s first double podium in the series.

Race 2

With Cem and Victor Martins tied on points, qualifying was crucial with Cem claiming a 7^th pole position in 8 sessions. Isack improved from race 1, starting 3^rd. Despite another average start from Cem, the battle for the title was cut short by Martins’ mistake in the first lap, putting him out of contention for the win. Cem then only had to take measured risks, which did not prevent him from passing Donoso for the lead on the outside of the first corner. Isack was involved in an early crash and had to retire.

Thanks to a 4^th win in the series, winning 50% of the races, Cem Bölükbaşı claimed the first Formula Renault Esport Series title.

Cem Bölükbaşı, 2020 Formula Renault Esport Series Champion: “I am very happy. Obviously, Victor’s spin helped me in a way but it was still stressful. I was sweating. I did not need to win the race to get the championship, but I still wanted to have a go. I think we did a great job with M2 Competition, practising for this series. Our goal was to win that championship and they helped me a lot with telemetry work and laps.”

Jonathan Moury, Team Principal: “We are very happy about winning our second title of the year after the Toyota Racing Series. Cem did a fantastic job in qualifying throughout the season and despite the difficulties he had at the starts he is an incredible racer and twice snatched the win on the last lap. We would love to see him in our car in the near future and we will work towards that already this year.

It was a real pleasure to have Isack on our team for this event who really impressed us and scored a podium on his first race with M2. We aim to help him as much as possible this year to help him progress as he has a lot of talent. We now need to see what the future brings us.”

Thanks to Cem Bölükbaşı, Callan O’Keeffe, Beitske Visser and Isack Hadjar, M2 Competition scored 4 wins, 7 podiums and 7 pole positions in the Series.