Ambitions thwarted at Spa for Charles Milesi

When Qualifying didn’t go as expected in Belgium the meeting became more complicated for Charles Milesi, a habitual frontrunner of the Formula Renault Eurocup in 2018. In support of the legendary and very popular 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the Bourguignon driver saw his hopes of a good performance take a difficult turn, due to two Qualifying sessions that did not meet his expectations. There will be revenge in the air in September…

Promising Free Practice sessions

In Belgium, there was no shortage of work for the R-ace GP team to refine the settings at the hilly and selective circuit of Spa Francorchamps, the longest of the season, where the lap times are around 2m 20! From the first day of Free Practice on Wednesday, Charles Milesi was very successful and regularly ran in the top 10 with a total of 29 cars on track. 7th in the first session, he improved his time in the second, three tenths off the fastest time and the same tenth as his team-mates.

A problematic final sector

In the heat of Thursday, men and machines were put to the test! After another ranking in the top 10 in the last free session, the first official Qualifying put him in 14th position in the aggregate of the two groups. “Charles had the opportunity to set a great time. He was really fast in the first two sectors and could aim for a good place on the grid,” said Julien Abelli from Simumotion, present alongside Charles. “Unfortunately, he made a mistake at the last chicane and lost several tenths. He was very motivated, but maybe he wanted to do too much!“

The next day, the last sector dropped him in the hierarchy again during the second Qualifying, even though this time he achieved 9th position.

One point as a reward

The start of Race 1 was very lively in the pack, where Charles Milesi immediately lost a place. Over the course of the laps, he managed to keep pace with the lead pack, but unfortunately couldn’t improve on his 10th position as the last laps were behind the safety car following a car going off at Raidillon. Race 2 took place a few hours before the start of the 24 Hours …
“Charles knew that this race would be difficult because of his place on the grid,” continued Julien Abelli. “The driver in front of him did not help by cutting the chicane when Charles was trying to overtake him. He ended up passing, but it was too late to gain other positions and he had to settle for 13th. We have to take the time to analyse the sixth meeting of the season in depth and understand why the end result was better.“

“The second part of my season did not start under the best auspices. I scored only one point in Spa, it’s not enough. There are still four races to be played in September and in October, I remain focused and determined to aim for the final podium at the end of the season, “concluded Charles.