The previous best time, 1:25:029 (177.187 km/h), was clocked at the wheel of a Formula Renault 3.5 by Fabio Carbone in 2008. The Brazilian driver went on to a career in F1, which the new record-holder, Tio Ellinas, was able to get a taste of by conducting tests with Marussia in 2013 while he was competing in the GP3 Series for the Marussia Manor Racing team.

The native of Cyprus, who climbed up through Formula Ford and so the GP3 Series before taking on Formula Renault 3.5, was the only driver to go below the 1:21 mark, a performance that afforded him the pole for the second race of the weekend. His immediate pursuer, Oliver Rowland, clocked a time of 1:21:002 which still got him pole position in the first race.

Starting from the first row, the British driver won the first race, while Tio - from his real first name Eftihios - Ellinas had to settle for the third step on the podium in the second race. The Cypriot driver wore the colours of a well-known endurance team, Strakka Racing, who won in the LM P2 class at the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans.

At the 24 Hours of Le Mans - which takes place not at the Circuit Bugatti, but at the Circuit des 24 Heures - the speed record was established this year by Neel Jani and his Porsche 919 Hybrid during qualifying - at an average of 249.2 km/h...

Cécile Bonardel / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO