Media Info: Dijon Formula Cup

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(track photos by Louis Fabbri, portrait by raph m)

Alexandra Hervé in the top 10 in the Formule Renault Cup!

The Formule Renault Cup restarted on the Dijon-Prenois circuit after a two-month hiatus. Alexandra Hervé learned a great deal during the meeting as the 16 year old from the Val d’Oise scored points in both races. She is in the top 10 in the championship and the top 5 in the Rookies’ classification as the second half of the season has just begun.

This year, Alexandra has made the jump from karting to cars and quite logically she has opted for single-seaters. The Formula Renault 2.0 is a very quick motor car with considerable downforce and a wide range of setup options. It is an ideal tool for drivers learning the ropes.

After Paul Ricard, Val de Vienne and Lédenon she took on the Dijon-Prenois circuit which has the reputation of an extremely demanding racetrack. Thanks to its long undulating curves its average lap speed is the highest on the calendar. In free practice Alexandra set the 13th, 11th and 14th quickest times and in qualifying she was 15th fastest. She managed to improve this position in the two races with 14th place on Saturday and 12th on Sunday.

“My last race goes back to the beginning of May when I missed a day’s competition due to a mechanical problem.,” explains the driver from Deuil-la-Barre, 16 km far from Paris. “Since then we’ve been testing at Dijon and Croix-en-Ternois, but overall I lack track time. I immediately adored the Dijon circuit. For budgetary reasons I only shod used tyres in free practice, which affected my performance in qualifying. I found my marks were no longer the right ones when I was on new tyres.”

Alexandra has learned lessons from her outing in Burgundy. “Among the positive points are my starts, which I’ve greatly improved since the beginning of the season as well as my capacity to cope with pressure. In race two I managed to keep my closest pursuer behind me right till the end. My team manager, Hervé David, gave me great encouragement over the radio, ‘don’t give anything away!’ he repeated and I was four-tenths-of-a-second ahead on the line. I adopted a good pace in early stages in the races, but in the closing laps I was beginning to suffer from a physical point of view. I gave everything I had as soon as the lights went out and I managed to finish both races in the points. But I’ve understood that I have to do a lot more when it comes to fitness training and develop a programme adapted to the demands of this sport.”

The summer break comes at just the right moment. The next opportunity to see Alexandra at the wheel of her car will be on the Nogaro circuit on 22-23-24 September in the South-West of France, which will coincide with the arrival of autumn.

A big thank you to my partners: Shop-racing, MMA Deuil-la-Barre, COFIF expertise comptable

Formula Renault Cup by TTE rankings after 8 out of 14 races :

1 CHAPPARD Franck 1140

2 ANTONEL Quentin 890

3 TROJANI Paul 880

4 NARAC Raphaël 690

5 PRUDENT Adeline 660

6 CLAVAUD Jérémy 640

7 GOSSELIN Willyam 628

8 REBUS Alain 605

9 COPERCHINI Serge 520

10 HERVE Alexandra 349

11 MALHOMME Thierry 315

12 AIMARD Thierry 291

13 POULAT Jérôme 221

14 LEMASSON Pierre 165

15 BOUCHE Julien 150

16 FERSTLER Dorian 125

17 CHOUKROUN Grégory 105

18 VUAGNAT Eric 100

19 TATERKA Enzo 95

20 MOREL Tristan 93

21 BENECH Maxence 91

22 BUCHER Alain 80

23 BRONDEAU Pascal 31

24 DEYRES Frédéric 27

25 GASPAR Miguel 0