Australia's hot new talent, Thomas Maxwell, arrived in Monza last weekend to take part in his debut race with the Tech 1 Racing team for the opening round of the 2017 Formula Renault Eurocup season.
Taking part in the opening practice sessions and race one was a learning curve for the young Aussie but his performances were very promising, fighting his way through the midfield the entire time gaining some very valuable experience.
Then, when it came time to qualifying for the second race of the weekend on Sunday, he took another massive step forward and secured second place in his group and fourth overall.
Max was doing a superb job racing in first place in the rookie category, however he was caught out on the last lap when he was clipped by another car and was forced to settle for fifth place.
A superb result for his first race in the series!
“Thomas Maxwell scored good points with encouraging performances,” said Simon Abadie, the Tech 1 Racing Team Manager. “While he didn't manage to get the tyres up to the right working temperature in qualifying 1, he gained precious experience by finished a tricky first race in the mid-field.”
“He did the job in Q2 setting the second-best time in his group, half-a-second off pole. Despite a good start which gave him third place he was tagged by the wheel of another car, an action that again went unpunished, and this dropped him down the time sheets. But he fought back up to fifth even if we could have hoped for better.”
While the team wasn't expecting strong results from Thomas on the opening weekend due to his rookie status, he performed beyond their expectations and has set himself up for a strong season to come.
The next round of the Formula Renault Eurocup will take place at Silverstone on 11-14 May.
For more information on Thomas click here.
