Photo: Formula Renault 2.0 NEC
Josef Kaufmann Racing’s Louis Deletraz kicked off his sophomore campaign in Formula Renault 2.0 NEC by topping both practice sessions at Monza.
Deletraz, who won last year’s NEC opener at the Italian track, narrowly lead squadmate Kevin Jorg in session one, before taking the top spot in the second session with a late flyer.
In the opening run, Strakka’s Max Defourny was a full four tenths behind the JKR duo as he was closely followed by Fortec drivers Ferdinand Habsburg and Callan O’Keeffe.
Charlie Eastwood was sixth ahead of Zac Claman DeMelo and Manor’s FR2.0 returnee Ignazio D’Agosto. Dries Vanthoor took ninth, with Josef Zaruba in tenth.
Defourny ended up just 0.018s off first place in the afternoon, with fellow Strakka rookie Valentin Hasse-Clot in third, just a tenth down on the leader.
Jehan Daruvala was best of the rest in fourth, ahead of Jorg and Eastwood, who made it three Strakka cars in the top six.
O’Keeffe, Vanthoor, DeMelo and Habsburg completed the top ten.
Combined session results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | S1 | S2 |
| 1 | Louis Deletraz | Josef Kaufmaan Racing | 1:49.465 | 1:49.021 |
| 2 | Max Defourny | Strakka Racing | 1:49.925 | 1:49.039 |
| 3 | Valentin Hasse-Clot | Strakka Racing | 1:50.742 | 1:49.123 |
| 4 | Jehan Daruvala | Fortec Motorsport | 1:50.534 | 1:49.482 |
| 5 | Kevin Jorg | Josef Kaufmaan Racing | 1:49.489 | 1:49.640 |
| 6 | Charlie Eastwood | Strakka Racing | 1:50.114 | 1:49.683 |
| 7 | Callan O’Keeffe | Fortec Motorsport | 1:49.964 | 1:49.690 |
| 8 | Dries Vanthoor | Josef Kaufmaan Racing | 1:50.283 | 1:49.692 |
| 9 | Zac Claman DeMelo | Fortec Motorsport | 1:50.175 | 1:49.698 |
| 10 | Ferdinand Habsburg | Fortec Motorsport | 1:49.935 | 1:49.718 |
| 11 | Nikita Mazepin | Josef Kaufmaan Racing | 1:50.436 | 1:49.847 |
| 12 | Ignazio D’Agosto | Manor MP Motorsport | 1:50.216 | 1:49.869 |
| 13 | Josef Zaruba | AVF | 1:50.296 | 1:49.881 |
| 14 | Dennis Olsen | Manor MP Motorsport | 1:50.785 | 1:49.932 |
| 15 | Darius Oskoui | ART Junior Team | 1:50.809 | 1:49.945 |
| 16 | Alex Gill | Fortec Motorsport | 1:50.414 | 1:50.064 |
| 17 | Rahul Raj Mayer | Mark Burdett Motorsport | 1:50.560 | 1:50.113 |
| 18 | Ukyo Sasahara | ART Junior Team | 1:50.367 | 1:50.166 |
| 19 | Lasse Sorensen | Manor MP Motorsport | 1:51.238 | 1:50.364 |
| 20 | Colin Noble | MGR Motorsport | 1:51.825 | 1:50.446 |
| 21 | Pontus Fredericsson | Prizma Motorsport | 1:51.400 | 1:50.536 |
| 22 | Robin Hansson | Fragus BR Motorsport | 1:50.632 | 1:50.542 |
| 23 | Oliver Soderstrom | Fragus BR Motorsport | 1:50.935 | 1:50.609 |
| 24 | Henrique Chaves | AVF | 1:51.707 | 1:50.655 |
| 25 | Roy Geerts | AVF | 1:50.864 | 1:51.989 |
| 26 | Luke Chudleigh | Fortec Motorsport | 1:51.094 | 1:51.388 |
| 27 | Bronislav Formanek | AVF | 1:51.849 | 1:51.210 |
| 28 | David Richert | InterEuropol | 1:52.750 | 1:51.649 |
| 29 | Inigo Bikuna | AVF | 1:52.263 | 1:51.832 |
| 30 | Bartlomiej Mirecki | BM Racing Team | 1:52.238 | 1:51.964 |
Personal best time in bold
Best time of session in italics