Sealing a clean sweep in Renault Eurocup

Whilst we celebrated championship success for Max (Fewtrell), we also enjoyed strong performances for both Logan (Sargeant) and Frank (Bird), as Formula Renault Eurocup came to an end in Barcelona last weekend.

When qualifying got underway, Logan took the bull by the horns and posted the fastest time in his group, claiming himself a front row spot for Race 1. Whilst a strong showing from Frank saw him take a top-10 position on the grid.

With nothing to lose and it all to play for, Logan was in prime position for another exciting fight at the front. As Race 1 got underway on Saturday afternoon, with the title at stake, tension was palpable. Starting from P2, Logan managed to hold off the challenge behind and maintain his composure throughout, to add another a podium to his championship tally. With a strong starting position, Frank held his own throughout, to claim a points paying finish, demonstrating his rise in confidence and performance as the season has progressed.

With an appetite for the top step, Logan was leader of the pack as the field set the grid for Race 2 on Sunday morning, claiming pole position for the final race. From there, in stunning style, the American racer lead a lights-to-flag victory, crossing the line with a considerable margin. With pole position, race win, rookie win and the fastest lap of the race, he claimed in a clean sweep in the final race for this generation of Formula Renault.

Fresh from the podium, Logan commented:

“It’s always positive to finish with a victory. We began and concluded the season on the top step of the podium. As I had nothing to lose, I was extremely relaxed as I maintained my lead and pace, which granted me the win.”

Working closely with the guys, Gary Catt recapped on a strong first season for both Logan and Frank:

“On the whole, Logan had a very good debut season in Formula Renault. Especially as it was the first time he had raced on each circuit on the calendar. Logan started off really well by winning the first race of the season at Paul Ricard and continued to impress over the first 3 race weekends. A run of bad luck cost him in the middle of the season, but he came back fighting and was the second highest point scorer in the last 3 race weekends of the season. The lessons learned in 2018, I'm sure will help him significantly in the future.”

“Frank did a solid job this year and really improved massively throughout the season. During the second half of the year, Frank was regularly racing inside the top 10, which is great considering how competitive the championship is. Despite not coming from a karting background like most of the other runners in the series, Frank really proved himself. With a good winter programme to keep him sharp, we are hoping Frank can start 2019 where he left off this year and fight even further to the front of the field.”

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Caldwell creates his own record in Italian F4

This weekend, Olli Caldwell brought a strong Italian F4 campaign to a close. With an impressive run of consistency, he held himself firmly within the title fight till the end.

With a further twist that allowed all drivers to drop their worst five race results of the year, the championship was open for an exciting final furore. Fresh from a clean sweep of victories at Vallelunga, Olli was in good form as he went head-to-head with his Prema teammates.

When drama ensued in the opening race, with both of his title rivals Lorandi and Fittipaldi coming together, Olli was there to take the spills, claiming a valuable second place that narrowed the points gap. Under stormy skies on Sunday morning, the penultimate race delivered a disrupted and chaotic run. Starting behind the safety car, the race finally got underway with 19 minutes on the clock. But almost immediately, the charge was halted by the call of a red flag due to a multi-car incident with less than a lap of racing complete. Putting up a fight at the restart, Olli found his 2nd place position under threat from Lorandi and Petecof. Despite holding his own throughout the race, Olli crossed the line in 4th, which unfortunately put him out of the title fight.

Ready for one final battle, Olli reset and focussed on tackling the field on Sunday afternoon. Despite further rain, that didn’t dampen a nail-biting 8 lap charge, in which the Brit found himself right in the thick of the action. When the safety car peeled into the pits, Olli immediately put the power down, to go three-wide with Petecof and leader Fittipaldi. Slotting into 3rd place, he kept the pressure on as racing continued. Maintaining composure throughout the tricky race, which saw many slips and slides in treacherous conditions, Olli rounded off his season with another trip to the podium.

With 4 Wins, 11 Podiums and 3 pole positions to his name, Olli became the only driver to finish in the points at all rounds, the first driver in Italian F4 history to do so. All this in only his first season in Europe, proving just why he was in consideration for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award at such a young age.

Reviewing a strong season for Olli, Director of Infinity Sports Management, Harry Soden said:

“We are really proud of Olli and how he has performed this season, with the highlight being the triple win at Vallelunga. To take the championship fight down to the last race of the season, was a great achievement against much more experienced drivers.”

With many of the 2018 championships in the bag, we turn our attention to the F2 and GP3 finale in just 3 weeks time.