17.05.2019

Euroformula Open championship leader Liam Lawson set the pace on the first day of the series’ inaugural visit to the Pau street circuit.



Wet weather inflicted on both free practice sessions, including a heavy downpour in the opening morning session, but Motopark driver Lawson judged the conditions well to go fastest both times.



His Motopark team-mates were his rivals in morning, but as the track got drier and quicker, different challengers emerged. The quickest of these was Carlin’s Christian Hahn, who lapped within just 0.195 seconds of Lawson.



The improvement in weather meant times improved by over 2.5s, but only Hahn and the three Motopark cars of Marino Sato, Julian Hanses and Yuki Tsunoda could get within a second of Lawson.



Behind them were Teo Martín Motorsport’s Guilherme Samaia and Double R Racing’s Jack Doohan, both new to the challenge of street circuits. Doohan’s team-mate Linus Lundqvist was one of the more committed drivers in the low grip conditions, but his bravery came at a cost when he crashed in the twisty section of the lap in FP2.



His team worked hard and remarkably had him back on the track before the end of the session, where he was able to go 13th fastest.

RP Motorsport decided against attending the Pau round, leaving Drivex School's Rui Andrade as the lead Piedrafita-powered entrant.



The Euroformula field will be rejoin on Saturday for qualifying and race one, before the Grand Prix de Pau sessions are held on the Sunday.