30 mai 2015
First poles for the Renault Sport Trophy go to ART Junior Team and Steijn Schothorst
The ART Junior Team’s car #2 will be on pole for the first two races of the very first meeting of the Renault Sport Trophy. Early in the morning, Slovak Richard Gonda earned the pole position for the Prestige sprint race and the Endurance race, for which he will start. Steijn Schothorst (Equipe Verschuur) followed up a few hours later with his own pole for the Elite sprint race. Tonight, the Gonda-Pizzitola duo will head up the Endurance race in front of Nalio-Bacheta (Oregon Team) and Braams-Geerts (V8 Racing).
The first session was for Prestige drivers, with the results determining this weekend’s starting grid for both the Endurance and sprint races. Dario Capitanio (Oregon Team) took the lead, but Richard Gonda overcame him to take the first Renault Sport Trophy pole position at 2:13.272. The Slovak came in ahead of Niccolò Nalio, Max Braams, Dierderik Sijthoff (V8 Racing) and Dario Capitanio.
In the Elite class, Vittorio Ghirelli (Zele Racing) was aggressive from the start but Steijn Schothorst (Equipe Verschuur) got out in front at the mid-point. Andrea Pizzitola waited until late in the session to clock in a 2:12.435 lap, only to be cancelled as he did not respect the track limits. Schothorst then kept the Elite pole in front of the Frenchman, David Fumanelli (Oregon Team), Vittorio Ghirelli and Indy Dontje (ART Junior Team).
The Endurance race – the first Renault Sport Trophy race – will start at 6.05pm. Tomorrow’s Prestige sprint race will kick off at 10.40am while the Elite sprint will begin at 3.15pm.
Richard Gonda : “I’m thrilled to take the first pole position at such a major event as the World Series by Renault. The team was amazing and Andréa as well who took over behind the wheel of the Renault Sport R.S. 01. We hope to take home a win for the Renault Sport Trophy.”
