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North European Championship  after 7 meetings  

1º António Félix da Costa (Campeão), 307pts; 2º Kevin Magnussen (Dinamarquês), 234pts; 3º Adrian Quaife-Hobbs (Britânico), 195pts ..... (38 drivers classified)

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Antonio Felix da Costa gets first International Title - NEC Formula Renault 2.0 Champion

Brilliant win at Nurburgring secures Title with two races to finish the championship

Antonio Félix da Costa won the Formula Renault 2.0 North European Championship title at the Nurburgrting last weekend(20 Sept). After a strong and consistent performance throughout the season, taking 9 wins and 1 second place from 12 races, the Motorpark  Portuguese driver claimed his first international title. Also at the Nurburgring, da Costa entered the penultimate event in the Eurocup, where he won the first race and finished second in the second, At the moment the results are provisional pending an appeal from his team Motopark Academy against his disqualification.

Due to the the shortage of time between the first race of the NEC and the second race of the Eurocup, Team Motopark decided to make da Costa start from the pit lane to avoid the usual confusion of the first corner at Nurburgring:

"I was P3 on the grid, where usually some confusion might happen on the start, so we decided to play secure and start from  the pits" said Antonio, who after the field had gone pulled out of the pit-lane to finish an excellent sixth, overtaking thirteen cars in thirteen laps. This put him into third on the grid for race 2 as the top 8 are revered.

In the second race, from third at the start, Antonio gave his opponents no chance, winning  in impressive style, finishing more than 6 seconds clear of second-placed  Adrian Quaife - Hobbs . This result allowed the young Portuguese driver to collect the North European title of Formula Renault 2.0,  with two races still to come at Spa Francorchamps in two weeks time.

"It was a very stressful weekend, I learn a lot about how to control emotions, I run two races for  the Eurocup and two other for the NEC. I am really happy with my performance and I believe this title was a great reward for all the work and commitment that my team has spent since the beginning of the season. I am very pleased and even more motivated to continue to fight for the European Championship. I would like to thank and dedicate this title to those who accompanied me along this time, between sponsors, all guys in Motopark, friends, my manager team - Sowhat and my dad."

In the second race of the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup, Antonio Felix da Costa secured a second place. The result from both two races at the Nurburgring in the Eurocup is currently provisional  pending the appeal brought by Motopark against an alleged irregularity. "The decision of the appeal of Motopark on these two races will come in the coming weeks. Both me and my team are fully confident that the final decision will be in our favour and the recovery of 27 points will come to me. For now I want to celebrate and enjoy the NEC title and after focus myself on the last race of the Eurocup at Alcaniz", concluded the new NEC Formula Renault 2.0 Champion.

Daniel Aho takes first win and lead in NEC

Finnish Daniel Aho for Koiranen Bros had a fantastic race at his home track in Alastaro and took the first win in his Formula Renault 2.0 NEC career. By taking the 30 points for this victory, Aho cannot just celebrate his first triumph on the podium, but also takes the lead in the standings for the Northern European Cup with 101 points, leaving Antonio Felix Da Costa behind with 99.

The Finnish drivers already showed they feel at home by claiming the fastest times during the test days preceding the race weekend in Alastaro. Laine opened the fight for the best time on the Wednesday morning, whilst team member Heikkinen was the first driver to dive below the 1.11.00 on the three kilometer long track.

Sa Silva caused some moments of excitement during the test on Thursday afternoon, by loosing his car at full speed, meeting an advertisement board and disappearing into the forest. Fortunately, he was not hurt and replacing the nose of the car could repair the damage.

After training for three days on a dry track, the teams were unpleasantly surprised to find a wet track for the qualification on Saturday morning. All cars left on rain tyres, during which South African Arnold Neveling had the time to beat (1.23.866). After 10 minutes, Daniel Aho was the first to switch to slicks, shortly after followed by the Motopark cars. It took a while until the decision for slicks would pay off, but when it did, the fastest lap times were improving fast. This resulted in a good result for Jimmy Eriksson and Bart Hylkema who positioned them selves on the first starting row, followed by SL Formula driver Arnold Neveling and Estonian Kevin Korjus for TT Racing.

On a dry but cloudy track, Jimmy Eriksson had a great start and was immediately building on a gap between him and Bart Hylkema. The two Motopark drivers were able to drive away from the rest and were never challenged by other competitors. A little further in the field Daniel Aho met the back of his team member Toomas Heikkinen, and after a short touch Heikkinen had to leave the race.

After the chequered flag, rookie Eriksson was able to celebrate his first victory, together with team member Bart Hylkema who was ecstatic on his first podium place. Arnold Neveling did a good job finishing third, doing very good buusiness for the overall standings. Another remarkably good result was for Kevin Korjus on 4th position. Jesse Laine ended on an 8th , which delivered him the pole position for race number 2. Guest driver Henri Karjalainen, who also participates in FIA Formula 2, finished 7th and earned the second place on the starting grid for Sundays race.

The conditions for Sundays race were worse compared to earlier that week, since the temperature dropped to 9 degrees Celsius. Although a continuous threat of rain, the track was dry enough to start on slicks. A clean start, with no incidents and a very good one for Daniel Aho, who shot from 4th to 2nd place right after the lights went off. Julian Eisenreich, who eliminated himself in the first race, started from the last position but did an amazing first lap and earned six places in the same round. In the first phase of the race, winner of Saturday's race Jimmy Eriksson made a mistake and spun. However, he was able to recover three places in the following three laps.

Jesse Laine did a good job and knew how to keep the first position until the 12th lap, when Daniel Aho was able to pass his team member and take the lead. Laine defended second position for the next 3 laps, but Brazilian Luis Derani for Motopark Academy was considerably faster and passed Finnish Laine in lap 15. Arnold Neveling finished 5th, securing the third position in the standings for the Northern European Cup.