Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo has claimed  pole position for the first race of this weekend’s Estoril round of the Formula Renault 2.0 series. 

In a closely fought Super Pole battle Tobias Hegewald (Motopark Academy) took the initial lead, with Kuba Giermaziak in second, as several drivers opted to bide their time in the pits.

Richard Singleton (Hitech Junior Team) cranked things up with eight minutes to go. Valtteri Bottas, however, wasted no time in ousting him from first position. With just over three minutes to go, Daniel Ricciardo beat Bottas’s time, just as Albert Costa ran into the safety barrier, causing the red flags to be brought out. At this stage, Ricciardo led from Bottas - just two thousandths of a second slower - Vergne and Singleton.

In heavy traffic, there was little chance of the drivers improving on their times at the restart. The positions stayed the same, but Bottas was nevertheless able to secure pole position for race 2, ahead of the day’s surprise package, Richard Singleton.

After my crash yesterday, I had to put things right. I got a really good lap in just before the red flag, which gives me pole and another point which could prove important. Ricciardo said after qualifying.

with:  Renault Sport Media