Arden Motorsport celebrated a return to the winner’s circle with Alex Quinn – plus a double podium for home hero Ugo de Wilde – on the Formula Renault Eurocup’s latest excursion to Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps last weekend [23-24 October].
The Banbury-based team arrived in Belgium on the back of a positive weekend at Barcelona, with de Wilde scoring a first podium finish of 2020, and De Gerus’ bagging his first points in Europe’s premier single-seater category.
The team’s pace in practice was evident, with Quinn, de Wilde and De Gerus all setting competitive times around the world-famous 4.3-mile circuit, in Quinn’s case despite no previous running at Spa in his career to date.
With all three cars qualifying inside the top-ten for the opening race of the weekend, the omens looked good for another strong double-header in the Ardennes Forest.
Despite an early setback, good pace from de Wilde in a wet opening race kept him the top-three, and hounding championship leader Victor Martins for second place.
Quinn’s wet-weather pace served him well as he maintained fourth – a sign of good things to come – but an unlucky clash with the barriers on the exit of Eau Rouge left De Gerus on the sidelines, and the race was red-flagged shortly after due to the worsening weather conditions.
Buoyed by silverware on home turf for de Wilde, the team set about repairing De Gerus’ car, and a mammoth effort saw him return to the grid for the final race on Saturday in the lead up to the iconic Total 24 Hours of Spa.
What followed was nothing short of the drive of the season – Quinn scythed his way through a field of Renault-powered rising stars to claim his first overall victory in the category – and a second Rookie win of the weekend - from 12th on the grid!
And, with de Wilde following him home to complete a superb 1-2 finish for the team, it marked the perfect end to a topsy-turvy weekend, and moved the team to within two points of fourth in the Teams’ Championship.
The 2020 Formula Renault Eurocup season resumes this coming weekend, back at Imola on the Formula 1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix support package.
Ben Salter, Arden Formula Renault Team Manager said:
“Congratulations to the entire team on a superb weekend at Spa-Francorchamps – that’s the one we’ve been waiting for!
“All three drivers did tremendously well; Alex and Ugo’s pace, especially in tough weather conditions, was exemplary, and they’re rightly rewarded with plenty of silverware to take back to base in Banbury.
“It was a tough weekend for Reshad, but we’re very pleased with how he reacted to a difficult opening race, and how he continues to progress - we’re confident more points are just around the corner for him.
“Having only slept for about three hours overnight between Friday and Saturday, and even then only making the grid for the final race by about a minute, I’m just delighted for the whole team to see the fruits of their labours.
“It’s the perfect motivation for the team as we head into a back-to-back week, and hopefully we’ll have more of the same back at Imola on the Formula 1 support bill next time out.”
Alex Quinn (#20) said:
“It was great to finally get a win, the team have deserved it for a long time now and it was made even more special by Ugo doing a good job with P2.
“I am really focused on keeping up our recent good momentum onto Imola, a track I love, so I am looking forward to it.”
Reshad De Gerus (#21) said:
“It has been a difficult weekend for me, after a 10th place in qualifying I had an accident in race one and I would like to thank the team for the incredible work done during the night from Friday to Saturday.
“They managed to repair all the damage and I was able to take the start of race two. I can't wait to get back to Imola, the car is fast and I know I can do much better.”
Ugo de Wilde (#27) said:
“It was a really good weekend with a double podium at my home race! Thanks to the team who gave us a good car during the whole weekend.
“We showed once again that we are in a really good shape at the moment, with three podiums in the last four races, and we need to keep the momentum on to Imola.
“The car was looking strong there last time so I will do my best to be sure to deliver and take some more trophies!"