Photos: Renault Sport/DPPI

Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 was as competitive as ever in 2015, with Jack Aitken triumphing in an eight-way title decider. David Gruz assesses the campaigns of the leading drivers.

Following a 2014 season that was dominated?by Nyck de Vries, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 enjoyed a?close title fight this year, similar to the 2012 duel of Stoffel Vandoorne and Daniil Kvyat, or Pierre Gasly and Oliver Rowland’s rivalry from a year later.

This time however, eight drivers were still in contention before the season finale, which shrunk to three after Saturday, when Jack Aitken passed long-time leader Louis Deletraz in the standings.

The Briton had a dramatic qualifying session on Sunday though which forced him to start from the back of the grid, giving Deletraz the chance to be the champion in case he wins the race.

He failed to do so, allowing Aitken to seal the crown, while the top six ended up separated by only 46 points.?Below, we analyse the top ten drivers in the standings.

1. Jack Aitken

United Kingdom, Koiranen GP, age 20

206 points, 5 wins, 6 podiums, 4 pole positions, 3 fastest laps

After ending his 2014 season on a high, Aitken switched from Fortec to defending champions Koiranen to go for the title.

His campaign didn’t start well though ? being torpedoed by Martin Kodric at a wet Aragon and contact with Ukyo Sasahara at Spa stripped him of two potential podium finishes and he completed the first two rounds with a best finish of seventh.

Although he managed to rebound by inheriting a Hungaroring victory from the jump-starting Louis Deletraz, he still seemed to be?a bit behind his rival on pace. Then he sustained a back injury in an Alps race, threatening to end his season.

Aitken recovered in a couple of weeks though and returned with improved form, winning on home soil at Silverstone from pole and then at the Nurburgring by passing Deletraz off the start.

He dominated the first two races of the Jerez triple-header to finally take the championship lead and managed to seal the title despite a disastrous final day.

Aitken has shown good pace with leading Formula 3.5 V8 teams Fortec, Arden and Strakka in testing and will do further tests in GP3 before choosing his 2016 programme. Season rating: 9/10

2. Louis Deletraz

Switzerland, Josef Kaufmann Racing, age 18

193 points, 3 wins, 5 podiums, 5 pole positions, 3 fastest laps

Deletraz graduated to Eurocup after two years in Formula Renault 2.0 NEC, continuing his collaboration with Josef Kaufmann?s team. He had shown massive improvement last year by developing from mediocre rookie into a title contender, and kicked off 2015 on an even higher level.

The season?s first seven races saw four lights-to-flag victories from Deletraz and although he lost one of them due to?a jump start, he had built a convincing lead in the championship.

He faced a difficult weekend at Silverstone but was seemingly back on track with a pole at the Nurburgring, only to lose five places at the start after being forced wide at the first turn.

His lead shrunk to a handful of points, which he maintained until the season finale at Jerez before losing out to Aitken and only narrowly salvaging the runner-up spot.

Having taken the NEC title and finished second in Eurocup, Deletraz was the class of FR2.0 2015 alongside Aitken. He has shown significant improvement over the past three years and, still only 18, he surely hasn?t reached his maximum potential yet.

Formula 3.5 V8 will almost certainly be his next step, having made his debut on an off-weekend for the Eurocup at Spielberg. 9/10

3. Kevin Jorg

Switzerland, Josef Kaufmann Racing, age 20

193 points, 1 win, 6 podiums, 1 pole positions, 2 fastest laps

Another driver to show improvement between his rookie and sophomore Eurocup seasons, Jorg returned for a third year as the second highest-placed returnee.

He was unable to keep up with Deletraz as they kicked off the season, but did twice complete a one-two for the team which gave him a strong position?in the standings.

Jorg turned things around after the summer break with a victory at Silverstone, a maiden Eurocup pole at Le Mans and further three second places, which put him in front of his team-mate before the final race of the year.

He needed to take a podium to claim the title but a low starting position forced him to gamble and started on wets,?expecting?rain that never came.

Two victories and one pole position in three years is not an outstanding set of statistics, but Jorg’s consistent performances earned him a respectable third place anyway.

He is one of four drivers in contention to become a Porsche junior driver for next year but, should he not win that opportunity, a step up in single-seaters would be deserved. 8/10

4. Ben Barnicoat

United Kingdom, Fortec Motorsports, age 18

174 points, 3 wins, 6 podiums, 2 pole positions, 1 fastest lap

Barnicoat was one of the most impressive karting graduates of 2014 by taking the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC title, mixing speed with maturity and consistency.

Had he possessed the same attributes this year, he might be celebrated as the 2015 Eurocup champion right now, but it?s not the case.

The Racing Steps Foundation-backed driver?s campaign was filled with bumps, coming to a head with a nightmare weekend at Silverstone. He was involved in the horror first-lap crashes of Fortec team-mates Jehan Daruvala and Ferdinand Habsburg in race one, then lost two potential podium finishes

The Briton produced a fine recovery from that point onwards though. Two faultless races earned him two victories, allowing him to stay in contention for the title until the final weekend, only to retire with an electrical issue there. He signed off the year with another win though to head a three-way fight for fourth.

The package of Barnicoat and Fortec was definitely one of the fastest of the year. Clearly ready to move on, he’s linked with replacing RSF stablemate Jake Dennis at top Formula 3 team Prema after early tests. 8/10

5. Anthoine Hubert

France, Tech 1 Racing, age 19

172 points, 2 wins, 7 podiums, 2 pole positions, 2 fastest laps

The 2013 French F4 champion and top FR2.0 rookie last year, Hubert was always going to be considered as a title contender in 2015.

His consistent form in the first three rounds confirmed that status. It included three podiums, but he couldn?t do better than third on merit – his second place at Aragon was aided by chaos around him.

His Silverstone triple-header was a weekend with ups-and-downs – a dreadful first qualifying ruined race one and race two before a pole was converted into a maiden win on Sunday.

He managed to step on the podium once in every round from that point on, including another victory on home soil at Le Mans. He went into the final round with a realistic shot at the title and with great form, but luck was against him.

Despite being the driver with the most podiums, he was often not being able to bring the best out of himself.

While it would be good to seem him alongside his rivals in F3.5V8, a recent run-out in an LMP3 Ligier means he could have a future with the newly-established ELMS team Panis-Barthez Competition, which runs in collaboration with Tech 1. 8/10

6. Jake Hughes

United Kingdom, Koiranen GP, age 21

160 points, 1 win, 5 podiums, 1 pole position

Despite a relatively quiet debut in Formula Renault 2.0 NEC last year, the 2013 BRDC F4 champion?s move to Koiranen promised a season with lots of success for the Briton.

Indeed, Hughes started the first Spa-Francorchamps race from pole and, despite losing out to Ukyo Sasahara, he claimed his maiden victory on Sunday, completing a near-perfect weekend in the second round of the championship.

He was never able to finish a race in the top two afterwards but, with three further podium finishes in the next four races he was very much in the title fight.

Things started the go wrong at the Nurburgring ? he limped his way home to fifth after damage at the start in race one and could only do seventh in the second one. He was slowed over the final two rounds by an issue with the chassis that went unresolved, and he had to settle for sixth in the standings.

Hughes completed a season with few mistakes and for most of it he was able to match or even beat the pace of his more experienced teammate Aitken, proving his great potential.

His performances in post-season F3.5V8 testing are promising, suggesting he is more than ready for a step up. 8/10

7. Ukyo Sasahara

Japan, ART Junior Team, age 19

116 points, 1 win, 4 podiums, 1 pole position

After a year in Alps and another in NEC, Sasahara graduated to the premier FR2.0 championship and continued to deliver the good results as he had done previously.

While he lost some points through his aggressive style, the same thing allowed him to score a maiden pole and victory at Spa-Francorchamps.

The protege of Taki Inoue came back from the summer break with fourth and third places at Silverstone and second at the Nurburgring, which was followed by consistent top 10 presence in qualifying and races for the rest of the season.

Although he couldn?t do better than fifth afterwards, Sasahara did enough to be the top driver outside the six title contenders.

While his season suggests he could be fighting for the title next year, a driver spending more than three years in FR2.0 happens very rarely and it would probably be the best for Sasahara to move up the ladder. 7/10

8. Dennis Olsen

Norway, Manor MP Motorsport, age 19

101 points, 1 win, 3 podiums, 1 pole position

Following his first two racing seasons, which ended with a second place in the Eurocup, Olsen looked to be as similarly talented an FR2.0 graduate as champion Nyck de Vries, who went on to take third in FR3.5 this year.

Yet having failed to secure a seat in a higher championship, the Norwegian had to return for another year in the Eurocup, switching from Prema to Manor MP.

The goal was obviously the title and he kicked off his season accordingly, with a third place and a win in the chaotic third Aragon race. But while he was dominant at Spa last year, it was all frustration this time around as Olsen left Belgium with a single point and he couldn?t finish higher than 13th at the Hungaroring.

He somewhat recovered from that disastrous form by taking sixth twice at Silverstone and after another unsuccessful weekend at Nurburgring he was back on the podium at Le Mans.

It was a disappointing season but that doesn’t undo his previous results, and his talent has been recognised by Porsche as a candidate alongside Jorg for junior status in 2016. He also made his F3 debut in the Zandvoort Masters with T-Sport, setting up a potential switch to the category. 6/10

9. Ignazio D’Agosto

Italy, Manor MP Motorsport, age 21

94 points, 3 podiums, 1 fastest lap

D?Agosto was a late addition to Manor MP?s FR2.0 roster, joining Olsen and Sorensen at the team.

Having only missed two rounds from the previous three Eurocup seasons, the Italian continued where he left off last year and he nearly made it to the podium at Aragon if not for Kodric?s safety car incident.

Having started third, the first Hungaroring race saw him again lose out on a potential podium place due to contact with another car and he had further three retirements in the next five races.

His bad form did not last until the end of the season though, and D?Agosto took fourth at Le Mans before a hat-trick of podium positions at Jerez.

The fact he ended the year often beating 2014 runner-up Olsen and falling only seven points short in the standings makes his season a successful one?but D?Agosto is still yet to finish higher than eighth and, with four years under his belt, he has surely reached his limit.? 6/10

10. Matevos Isaakyan

Russia, JD Motorsport, age 17

87 points, 2 podiums, 2 fastest laps

One of the most promising FR2.0 newcomers of 2014, Isaakyan graduated to the Eurocup and continued with JD Motorsport.

The Russian, backed by SMP, was a close rival to F3 star Charles Leclerc last year but he couldn?t quite fulfil the high expectations this year.

The beginning was fine ? twice fourth at Aragon and then a podium at Spa from eighth on the grid was enough to put him fifth in the standings.

He lacked the pace to be a regular point-scorer afterwards though, only starting two of the next nine races from inside the top 10 until the season finale. He managed to convert one of them into a third place at the Nurburgring but apart from that only one point was added to his tally prior to Jerez.

Two sixth places and a seventh in Spain could not prevent him from dropping down to 10th in the standings.

The major problem in Isaakyan?s season might have been lack of track knowledge, not only at his end but also at JD?s as well, given the Italian squad was making a full-time return to Eurocup.While the team had guest appearances at Jerez, Aragon and Spa in 2014, which were the tracks Isaakyan did well this year, the other ones left them struggling.

Considering his young age, another year in Eurocup would do no harm but Isaakyan has impressed with Pons in F3.5V8 post-season testing, which could prompt a step up. 6/10

The rest

18-year-old Martin Kodric?s Eurocup debut was overshadowed by a serious collision at Aragon but the Croatian went on to improve and become a regular point-scorer in the second half of the season, which was highlighted by a second place at the Nurburgring.

Twice Formula Ford GB runner-up Harrison Scott and Darius Oskoui (back after two years out of racing) ended up as the top FR2.0 rookies, both bagging a podium finish with Scott taking second on home soil at Silverstone and Oskoui securing a third place in the chaotic wet Aragon race.

The Swiss driver finished that race ahead of Fortec?s Callan O?Keeffe, who was never in contention for a podium afterwards and pulled out with two rounds left.

JD?s second full-time entry Thiago Vivacqua and Tech 1?s Simon Gachet were unable to keep up with their teammates Isaakyan and Hubert respectively with the Frenchman ending up as the lowest-placed podium finisher.

James Allen?s second year in the category saw him scoring once at Aragon, while French F4 graduate Valentin Hasse-Clot, forced to switch from Strakka to Manor MP after the season opener before moving over to Fortec after two rounds, raced for more teams than he scored points, with the second switch yielding his best finish of ninth.

Entry-level stars Anton de Pasquale and Lasse Sorensen ended disappointing campaigns early,while Matthew Graham scored twice in the opening round but took no further part.

Amaury Richard and Hugo de Sadeleer ended up as the only full-timers to not score points.

The series welcomed 22 guest drivers for at least one round but only three of them – Force India junior Jehan Daruvala, BRDC F4 champion Will Palmer and top NEC rookie Max Defourny – managed top ten finishes.

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Photo: Jean-Michel Le Meur/DPPI

Ben Barnicoat ended a marathon two-hour qualifying session for the final race of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season at Jerez by claiming pole, while championship leader Jack Aitken will start towards the rear.

The dreadful weather conditions seen on Saturday continued, with the first of the two qualifying groups having their laps in very wet and gloomy conditions.

The second group was red-flagged early on, mostly to recover the stopped car of Darius Oskoui but also because the rain had intensified.

Nearly an hour had passed before the session was restarted, and despite the rain having stopped and the track appearing to be much drier, a number of cars skated off on their first laps.

One of these was Aitken, who was left stranded in a gravel trap and forced to end his session without setting a proper laptime. The Briton has a 13-point advantage in the standings after his two wins on Saturday.

A wait of another half and hour followed as track workers attempted to clear standing water.

Another red flag brought qualifying to an end inside the final minute of running after Max Defourny stopped.

Barnicoat claimed pole, his time of 1m54.432s beating the benchmark set early in the first group’s running by Anthoine Hubert.

Aitken’s off created an opportunity for Louis Deletraz to steal the championship advantage.

As he’s 21 points adrift though, the Swiss driver must win the race to overhaul Aitken and he will have to do so from third on the grid after falling nine tenths short of Barnicoat.

The other title contender Kevin Jorg could only muster sixth in the first group, leaving him 12th on the grid and with an uphill struggle to score the podium finish he requires to beat Aitken to the title.

Behind Deletraz in the second group came Simon Gachet, Defourny and Ukyo Sasahara.

Ignazio D’Agosto was second in the opening group and will start fourth after his two Saturday podiums.

Behind him were James Allen, Jake Hughes and Dennis Olsen, who outpaced Jorg by a mere six thousandths of a second.

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Photo: Jean-Michel Le Meur/DPPI

Jack Aitken won again in another weather-interrupted Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 race at Jerez to build himself a 13-point lead to take into Sunday’s deciding race.

As had been the case in race one, the race began behind the safety car and then went to a red flag, this time almost immediately after Danylo Pronenko found the gravel.

The rain did stop and conditions improved. Once more, polesitter Aitken led after the restart until a second safety car appearance when Anthoine Hubert and Valentin Hasse-Clot collided.

The final restart came with just one lap remaining, which Aitken controlled to beat Ignazio D’Agosto to the chequered flag by six tenths of a second.

Unlike in race one, Ben Barnicoat‘s car lasted until the end for him to be able to finish third ahead of the Swiss Josef Kaufmann Racing duo of Kevin Jorg and Louis Deletraz.

Having started day tied for the standings lead and seven points ahead of Aitken, Jorg and Deletraz are now 13 and 21 points adrift respectively with 25 available for winning Sunday’s finale – which comes with its own morning qualifying session.

The three category veterans are now the only drivers who can win the title, as Hubert needed to outscore Aitken to keep his chances alive.

While the top five positions remained static during the race, there was some movement behind that as Dennis Olsen was pushed back to eighth by Matevos Isaakyan and Jake Hughes?either side of the safety car period.

Simon Gachet and Martin Kodric completed the top 10 after Ukyo Sasahara had an off-track moment to drop him to 17th.

Race results

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Photo: Roberto Piccinini

Jack Aitken took a commanding fourth win of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season in a wet, red-flagged opening race of the final round at Jerez to move to the top of the championship.

From pole position, the British driver led under the safety car in treacherous conditions until a red flag after several cars stopped with technical problems at slow speed.

When the race eventually got going for real there was only 10 minutes of racing but Aitken pulled away from the rest, finishing up 14 seconds clear of Kevin Jorg.

He therefore eliminates the seven-point deficit he had to the Swiss driver, and tops the standings courtesy of four wins to his rival’s one. He will also start race two from pole.

Jorg held onto second throughout but there was a change for third on the last lap when Ben Barnicoat slowed, allowing Ignazio D’Agosto to inherit his first Eurocup podium since September 2014.

Louis Deletraz also gained a place to finish fourth, but that wasn’t enough to stop him losing the championship lead he had held since the opening race of the season. He is six points behind Aitken and Jorg with two races left.

Dennis Olsen would have finished behind Deletraz but was another last-lap casualty, allowing Jake Hughes to finish fifth having started 10th, ahead of Matevos Isaakyan.

Anthoine Hubert was another on a charge, coming from 16th on the grid after getting caught out by the weather in qualifying to finish seventh despite the limited number of racing laps.

Martin Kodric led a gaggle of cars across the line to take eighth, with Ukyo Sasahara and Harrison Scott close behind. Simon Gachet had been battling with them before a trip through the gravel.

Hubert, Hughes and Barnicoat make it six drivers still in mathematical title contention, 27, 39 and 47 points respectively behind Aitken and Jorg.

Race results

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Photo: Roberto Piccinini

Jack Aitken has claimed an crucial advantage in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 title decider at Jerez by taking pole for the first two races of the weekend.

The Briton came into the event with a seven-point deficit to Louis Deletraz and Kevin Jorg but is now on course to overturn that after beating Jorg to the fastest time.

Aitken, who won the Alps title at the same circuit one week ago, topped the first of the two groups with a time of 1m39.989s ahead of fellow contenders Ben Barnicoat and Deletraz.

Jorg set the best time from the second group but mid-session rain prevented him from matching Aitken, forcing him to settle for a 1m40.457s and a place on the front row.

Ignazio D’Agosto was second in group B behind Jorg, with Dennis Olsen third.

The rain caught out title contender Anthoine Hubert after his Tech 1 team held him back in the pits at the start of the second session.

By the time he could set a flying lap the circuit was wet, and although he was able to improve his time after a red flag period caused by a crash for Denis Bulatov, the Frenchman ended up eighth in his group and 16th on the grid for both races.

The order at the front of group A was the same on the classification of second-fastest times that sets the grid for race two with Aitken leading Barnicoat and Deletraz.

In group B, D’Agosto beat Jorg to the front row, giving the Swiss driver more work to do to prevent Aitken from ending the day leading the championship.

Ukyo Sasahara, Alexey Korneev, Matevos Isaakyan and Jake Hughes will fill places seven to 10 on the grid for race one, with the order for race two being Isaakyan, Hughes,?Sasahara and Thiago Vivacqua.

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Photo: Jean-Michel Le Meur/DPPI

Max Defourny led Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 title contender Anthoine Hubert by just one thousandth of a second in Friday’s running ahead of the deciding round at Jerez.

Unusually, the quickest times were set in the morning session on a green but cooler circuit.

Wildcard entrant Defourny, who finished his NEC campaign fourth in the standings as top rookie, set the day’s best time at 1m40.408s.

Hubert, who is fourth in the Eurocup standings and within 15 points of the lead, was just 0.001 seconds behind the Belgian.

Defourny’s ART Junior team-mate Ukyo Sasahara was third ahead of Simon Gachet and the ARTA Engineering duo of Amaury Richard and James Allen.

Russians Vasily Romanov and Matevos Isaakyan rounded out the top eight with Hugo de Sadeleer ninth and Ben Barnicoat 10th.

All of the top 10 with the exception of Sasahara have the benefit of having contested the Alps round at Jerez last weekend, when Hubert and Barnicoat won the two races.

Isaakyan set the pace in the afternoon session, when the track temperature was around eight degrees higher than in the morning.

His 1m41.665s was four tenths off his own earlier pace and 1.2s down on Defourny’s.

Force India protege Jehan Daruvala was second ahead of Ignazio D’Agosto, Darius Oskoui and Barnicoat, who is fifth in the title race, 29 points down.

Dennis Olsen was sixth ahead of new Alps champion Jack Aitken, who is third in the standings, seven points down.

Joint championship leader Kevin Jorg was eighth in front of Harrison Scott and Hubert.

Louis Deletraz, who heads the standings with more wins than Jorg, was 26th out of 27 drivers in the morning session and 14th in the afternoon, leaving him 25th overall.

Combined times

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Photo: Florent Gooden/DPPI

Anthoine Hubert beat team-mate Simon Gachet to win the second Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 race of the weekend at Le Mans, closing to within 13 points of the championship lead with a round to go.

Hubert led away from pole but ended up behind Gachet after the Dunlop chicane, after his team-mate cut the corner.

The race was then neutralised behind the safety car after Matevos Isaakyan ended up in the gravel.

After the restart, Hubert got a run on Gachet along the main straight and was able to re-pass down the inside at Dunlop, with Gachet not defending the move.

As he took his second win of the season, Hubert was able to pull out a margin of nearly two seconds as Gachet defended from Dennis Olsen.

Gachet stayed ahead – after cutting the DuInlop chicane once more – as he claimed his first podium in the Eurocup, while Olsen got his first rostrum since winning at the Aragon opener.

Gachet and Olsen appeared on the podium with their positions switched – Olsen second and Gachet third.

Ignazio D’Agosto finished on the tail of his Manor MP team-mate Olsen in third, while Harrison Scott kept fellow Britons Ben Barnicoat and Jack Aitken at bay for fourth.

Aitken did finish ahead of title rivals Kevin Jorg and Louis Deletraz, who started fourth and fifth but fell back to eighth and ninth on the opening lap and stayed there until the end, Deletraz fending off Ukyo Sasahara.

The two Swiss Josef Kaufmann Racing drivers are now tied on points at the head of the standings, going to the final round at Jerez.

Aitken is just seven behind and only six ahead of Hubert, who is up to fourth ahead of Barnicoat and Hughes, who finished down in 15th.

UPDATE: It was later confirmed that stewards had indeed dropped Gachet behind Olsen in the results. Furthermore, Scott was relegated five-places for gaining an advantage by going off the circuit, putting him 10th. With Aitken, Jorg and Deletraz among those promoted a place, Hubert’s standings deficit to each of them is increased by two points, leaving him 15 off the lead.

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Photo: Bastien Baudin / DPPI

Anthoine Hubert claimed his second Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 pole of the season in the Sunday qualifying at Le Mans.

The Frenchman snatched the lead in the second group from Ignazio D’Agosto with his penultimate flyer and although that was not enough to beat his teammate Simon Gachet‘s benchmark from Group A, he then secured pole with a further improvement.

He was almost two tenths quicker than D’Agosto, who ended up with?an identical time to Louis Deletraz but stayed second due to setting it earlier.

The first group saw Gachet beat?yesterday’s pole-sitter Kevin Jorg by just 0.012s to complete a full Tech 1 front row.

Jorg has to settle for fourth on the grid between D’Agosto and Deletraz.

Dennis Olsen will occupy the sixth spot on the grid ahead of Jack Aitken, who was narrowly behind Deletraz in group B.

The top ten on the grid will be completed by Harrison Scott, Ukyo Sasahara and Saturday’s winner Ben Barnicoat.

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Photo: Bastien Baudin/DPPI

Ben Barnicoat took his second consecutive Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 victory by winning race one at Le Mans.

Lining up third on the grid, the Fortec driver was first to cross the line after the opening lap after overtakes on front-row starters Louis Deletraz and Kevin Jorg.

Josef Kaufmann Racing team-mates Deletraz and Jorg had been side-by-side into the chicane for the first time and after going off track, Deletraz gave the place back to Jorg but Barnicoat took advantage to steal the lead.

Although Barnicoat was not quite able to pull away from Jorg, the gap between the duo stayed at around a second throughout the entire race.

It was a more eventful race for Deletraz though, who had to withstand race-long pressure from Jack Aitken with the Briton going side-by-side several times but ultimately unable to make a move.

The duo was closely followed by?Ukyo Sasahara and sixth place went to?Anthoine Hubert, who earned the spot?by overtaking?Dennis Olsen.

Ignazio D’Agosto inherited eighth following the retirements of Jake Hughes, who pulled off after losing a wheel, and Matevos Isaakyan, who damaged his front wing following an overly ambitious dive on Olsen.

The top ten was completed by Fortec duo Valentin Hasse-Clot and Martin Kodric.

Deletraz continues to hold on to his championship lead, which is now only two points ahead of Jorg and a further nine ahead of Aitken.

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Photo: Bastien Baudin/DPPI

Kevin Jorg and Martin Kodric topped the Friday running ahead of the penultimate round of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season at Le Mans.

Jorg came out on top in a late sort-out at the end of the afternoon session, following two red flags, posting a 1m33.667s.

The Swiss driver, who is currently second in the standings, led the two drivers either side of him in the title race.

Jack Aitken was 0.073s down in second while championship leader Louis Deletraz was 0.093s back in third.

Ignazio D’Agosto took fourth ahead of Ben Barnicoat and Harrison Scott.

Ukyo Sasahara and Anthoine Hubert rounded out the top eight, with Kodric eighth and Dennis Olsen 10th.

Kodric – fresh from his maiden podium in race two at the Nurburgring – topped the morning session with a time nearly two and a half seconds slower than the afternoon pace.

He was 0.243 seconds ahead of Aitken in second, with Hubert third.

D’Agosto was again fourth ahead of Sasahara, Jorg and Deletraz.

Matevos Isaakyan and Jake Hughes featured in eighth and ninth respectively, with Barnicoat 10th.

Two regular Eurocup drivers are absent from Le Mans following disappointing runs of results – Fortec’s Callan O’Keeffe and Koiranen’s FR1.6 champion Anton de Pasquale.

Combined practice results

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