Armstrong's race career steps up

Young New Zealand racer Marcus Armstrong (pictured above with Dad Rick) has once more impressed in his second-ever single-seater race weekend.
Competing as a ‘wildcard’ entry at the final round of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championship held during the weekend at Estoril in Portugal, Armstrong was instantly on the pace of his more experienced rivals.
He built on his experience at the Nurburgring round of Formula Renault 2.0 NEC, where he posted a best result of fourth overall against the same field.
In the first qualifying session Armstrong was sixth fastest of the 22-strong grid, running used tyres on the damp track.
“We got on the pace quickly and I was extremely happy with our used tyre performance. Our new tyre speed was less impressive in testing but still good enough for P7. Ultimately I felt we were strong in dry conditions but things weren't ideal for us when the track was ‘half and half’,” he said.
At the start of the first race, Armstrong leapt from the third row straight into third position.
A first-lap spin that put Australian James Allen off the track brought out the safety car and bunched the field up. On the restart, Armstrong defended against a very aggressive overtake by championship regular Sacha Fenestraz, who then spun on same lap, bringing the safety car out again.
On the second restart Armstrong shot briefly up to second place as his team-max Max de Fourny swept through to third.
Under intense pressure, Armstrong went slightly wide, putting two wheels onto the rain-slicked grass. He was able to regain the track but six cars had swept past, pushing him down to 12th place.
“Race 1 was good, until Max lost the rear of his car when down the inside of me, which put me in the grass. Our recovery was less impressive than I had hoped, but we struggled for speed in the difficult conditions,” he said.
Over the remaining distance Armstrong defended his midfield position, setting his fastest lap of the weekend and then moving up to ninth overall at the end after his team-mate de Fourny and race leader Lando Norris tangled and went off on the penultimate lap.
The next day, Armstrong had split the field, qualifying 13th in damp running conditions.
“Qualifying two was not good. We went for slicks but the track was damp in many places so I struggled to get rear grip with slicks on a mostly wet circuit,” he said.
A rain shower 20 minutes before the start meant the second race was again declared wet. Armstrong started as he meant to go on, slotting in between Allen and Jehan Daruvala in the frantic first few corners of the race.
“I was happy with our first few laps in race two but we fell off the pace in the latter part of the race and I had to defend quite a lot.”
A lap later Armstrong had picked off Daruvala, Falchero and Bruno Baptista and slotted into ninth overall.
In the closing laps, a rapidly drying track surface meant drivers were using the remaining wet areas to cool and protect their tyres and there were several close calls. Armstrong was locked in battle with a half dozen championship regulars and like others trying to keep his tyres working.
All the while Bruno Baptista was attacking, hoping to force his way past. Eventually, the battle went in Baptista’s favour.
“These races were my first in wet or part-wet conditions. The battle with Bruno was good, and I learned a lot about the performance of the Michelin tyres in difficult conditions which will be very valuable in 2017,” he said.
Sacha Fenestraz converted pole position to the race win, fighting off a challenge from Max de Fourny, while Armstrong was happy to run a clean race and finish tenth behind Baptista.
Most recently, Marcus Armstrong contested the final round of the British F3 Championship at the weekend with Double R Racing and posted a seventh, fourth and seventh. Preparations are now under way for Armstrong’s winter testing with a view to making the important next step into a full season of wings and slicks racing.

Marcus Armstrong career information
https://www.driverdb.com/drivers/marcus-armstrong/
Full race coverage
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Estoril race one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_axWmmmiGk
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Estoril race two
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZcBiOJ1WVI