Charles Milesi retains his place in the top five of the Eurocup

Arriving in Austria, Charles Milesi was hoping to experience a sparkling weekend and challenging races on the Red Bull Ring’s hilly track, in the wake of his recent excellent performances in the 2018 Formula Renault Eurocup. Unfortunately, some problems prevented the French hopeful achieving the expected result. Charles Milesi, however, is in an encouraging 5th place in the provisional standings, having just reached the milestone of mid-season.

After his victories at Silverstone and Monaco in May, Charles Milesi was delighted and motivated by his R-ace GP car at the fifth of the ten meetings scheduled this year in Formula Renault Eurocup. He regretted, however, that he had not been able to prepare for this event as he would have liked with Simumotion, particularly on the physical level, because of a painful arm injury. The French driver also had the disadvantage of learning the Austrian track and its many idiosyncrasies.

A first encouraging qualifier

As he foresaw, the collective tests did not fully meet his expectations. “Honestly, I did not feel 100% sure of my abilities,” said Charles. “We then carried out a very informative debriefing with my technical team and sports coaches to improve my performance. I was able to be pretty fast in the first Qualifying session, although I think it was possible to pick up a tenth here and there.” He finally posted the 4th fastest time in Group A, which gave him a start position of 8th in Race 1.

“I was hoping I could have a better time in the second Qualifying session. Alas, while I had just started a fast lap, with an excellent sector 1, a driver made a mistake at a hairpin. He restarted right in front of me, instead of letting me through, which cut me off. Subsequently, I could not improve, as the session was interrupted by the red flag!” Charles had to be content with 13th position.

Storm on the track and under the helmets

In Race 1, Charles Milesi kept up a strong pace, with the third fastest time in the race. “In the end, a violent downpour hit the Red Bull Ring. As we were on slick tyres, the race management had to put out the red flag and the points were halved. The point I scored for finishing 10th turned into a half-point!“

His difficult Qualifying at the start of the meeting turned against him in Race 2. “In the pack, I had to contend with drivers who hit me twice. Then the car was tricky to drive, especially in the fast curves, because of a damaged rear diffuser. With my arm pain, it became very difficult. Even with the slipstream, it was impossible for me to attempt a pass and I had to settle for 13th place. It’s a shame, I had a very good feeling at this beautiful circuit. In the end, a much better result would have been possible with a more advantageous place on the starting grid.“

Heading for Spa Francorchamps

While the Formula Renault Eurocup had a break of nearly two months between Monaco and the Red Bull Ring, the drivers will follow up with another meeting in the space of a week. This time, they will head for Belgium and the legendary circuit of Spa Francorchamps, opening the famous 24 Hours of Spa. On 27th and 28th July, Charles Milesi intends to return to the podium. “In the Championship, anything is still possible. The standard is very high this year and positions change frequently at the front. For now, I’m 5th, but it’s a position that can change very quickly if I score big points in a meeting.“