The 17-year old Argentinian started his Formula Renault Eurocup race from fourth place but, by the second turn of lap one, had made a brave move to climb to P2 and position himself on the back of the race leader. After eight laps of the Monza track, which he’d never before driven before race week, he took the race lead and held it to the chequered flag.
“I wasn’t so happy with my qualifying position of fourth, so I knew I had to be smart at the start to get myself in the position to take the race lead. I managed to get on the outside of turn one and then the inside of turn two, passing two cars and making it stick. After the safety car, I had an opportunity to take the lead, so I made sure I took advantage.”
With a win under his belt, Franco started race two from sixth place and by turn two had climbed to fifth before picking his way through the pack to finish lap one in third. While running in second place, he went slightly wide and dirtied his tyres making it hard for him to hold his position. He crossed the line in third place and left the opening round with 40 championship points.
“It was a good start to the season, but I think I could have had a win and a second place and I can’t afford to drop any points. The competition is seriously tough. MP Motorsport gave me a great car and a great team and I think we can really get some strong results this season. I’ve got two weeks of hard work ahead of me before round two. The guys at Bullet make sure that I’m always learning and developing and have been with me here in Monza all week – so thank you to the whole Bullet team for everything.”
Franco now heads to a training camp ahead of round two that takes place at Imola on 24-26 July.