Lando Norris moved a step closer to another title after his sixth win in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup this weekend (17-18 September).
The 16-year-old Josef Kaufmann Racing driver finished second in the first race at the Nurburgring, before taking another victory in tough conditions. And after extending his lead at the top of the standings once again, he will head to the final round at Hockenheim in a fortnight, confident he can finish the job.
The ADD Motorsports racer said: “It was a pretty good weekend again, with a win, a second place and extending my lead in the process.
“We did well to turn it around from our pace in practice to how we were in qualifying. It gave us the confidence going into the races. I’ve got a good gap going into the final round in a couple of weeks time, so hopefully I can go to Hockenheim and do what I’ve been doing.”
Lando was a little off the pace in testing, finishing second, with the team trying a few different things in the first practice session a day later which helped close the gap. By the final practice session, with the team changing a few more things, he was fastest on both old and new tyres.
Lando went into qualifying full of confidence and got three good laps in late on in the first, to get pole.
With the track continually improving, Lando went out late again in the second session, claiming pole again with a bigger gap than in the first. Frustratingly, after all the hard work, the Somerset driver didn’t get the start he was hoping for, dropping into second place by turn one.
A safety car slowed proceedings on the second lap, but after the restart Lando pushed the leader for most of the race, but was unable to find a way past and had to settle for second place.
The second race was delayed due to the foggy conditions and then three formation laps saw the drivers waiting around for a long time. When the race finally got going, Lando got off to a much better start, although a safety car on lap one slowed down his progress.
His restart was good and he started to build up momentum again before the safety car led the field for a second time. But Lando kept his concentration at the restart and pulled away again.
With some damp left on the track from the overnight rain, the racer was cautious on corners but did enough to take the win. He now leads the Championship by 48 points – with the final round at Hockenheim consisting of three races.
He added: “The win has put me in a great position leading into Hockenheim. "I have a nice cushion, but I won’t be changing how I approach the races. I’ll go for the wins as always and hopefully it will be enough. For now, I have to put that to the back of my mind and concentrate on the next round of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 at Spa next weekend.”
