The first weekend was one of records. Never before where there that many nationalities in such a large fields. Drivers from 22 different countries were among the almost forty cars. Because of these numbers, the organization decided to change the format for the qualifying in negotiation with the teams. Instead of two sessions with all cars on track, the field was split in two which each his own qualification. The starting grid of race 1 was composed by the fastest lap times, the grid of the second race was formed by the second best qualifying time.

It landed Matt Parry with pole position for both races, followed by 2012 champion Jake Dennis. Matt Parry of the Fortec Motorsport NEC team had the best start and lead the entire field through the first lap. Olliver Rowland made the best progress however, starting from tenth position he managed to be in fifth place in just the first lap.

The bottleneck of the race turned out to be the famous hairpin ‘Spitzkehre’. In first instance Alex Baron and Fran Rueda saw their race come to an early end in the sixth turn of the Formula One track. Just a few laps later, frontrunners Parry and Dennis came to a collision in the exact same turn. Parry could continue in third place, but Dennis had to resume his race from the back of the field.

The collision put the lead with to Esteban Ocon, who did not have to defend the position for long, as the safety car was deployed by race control; Miika Laiho had rolled over with his Formula Renault 2.0 and landed upside down. Although Miika suffered no injury, the car was less fortunate, resulting in some serious work for the marshalls. The race was for the remaining laps led by the safetycar, and flagged with Esteban Ocon as the first winner of the season.

The second race started on Sunday morning the 7^th of April at 9.00 in the morning. Although the last day of the first event was very sunny, temperatures were still very low, making it hard to find the right temperature for the tires. It resulted in many spins during the warm up lap, causing some drivers to start their race at the back of the field. Although the start was clean, four cars crashed in the Parabolika turn. Yu Kanamaru (KTR), Juan Branger (JD Motorsport), Alex Baron (ART Junior Team) and Nicolas Jamin (ART Junior Team) collided and came to a stand on the track. For the second time that weekend, the safety car came on track to neutralise the race and to give the officials the space to clear the track.

At the restart, the first four drivers Dennis, Parry, Rowland and Ocon drove away from the others and started a battle for the podium. Rowland, who is like Dennis part of the Racing Steps Foundation programme, passed Parry for second place. Parry had shortly lost his car on one of the curbs but restored well and took third place.

The last race of the weekend saw Andrea Pizzitola on pole. The Frenchmen had earned the first place on the starting grid by finishing sixth in the first race on Saturday. Parry, supported by the Caterham Development programme took second and Olliver Rowland drove to the third place. These three drivers built a gap towards the field. In the second lap, Rowland saw the opportunity to pass Parry.

After 25 minutes, Pizzitola drove to a clean win, followed by Rowland and Parry in that order. A remarkable performance of Rowland, who managed to get three podium places out of three races. The Brit for Manor MP Motorsport goes in the lead of the current standings with 68 points. As he, and the following Ocon and Pakari will not participate the entire season of the NEC, Parry for the Fortec Motorsport NEC team in tied four place is currently the best performing NEC driver with 57 points.

The next race of the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup is held at the Nurburgring on the 20^th and 21^st of April.

 

Result Race 1:

1. Esteban Ocon in 25 minutes, 41.882 seconds, , 2. Mikko Pakari +0.172, 3. Oliver Rowland +0.764, 4. Matt Parry +2.169, 5. Jack Aitken +2.277, 6. Andrea Pizzitola + 2.772, 7. Shahaan Engineer +2.933, 8. Steijn Schothorst +3.171, 9. Gustav Malja +3.585, 10. Victor Sendin +4.323

 

Result Race 2:

1. Jake Dennis in 26 minutes, 8.882 seconds,  2. Oliver Rowland + 1.139, 3. Matt Parry +2.326, 4. Esteban Ocon +3.449, 5. Mikko Pakari +13.065, 6. Shahaan Engineer + 13.782, 7. Gustav Malja +15.906, 8. Roman Mavlanov + 16.484, 9. Alex Albon +16.978, 10. Steijn Schothorst +18.269

 

Result Race 3:

1. Andrea Pizzitola in 26 minutes and 34.645 seconds, 2. Oliver Rowland +3.278, 3. Matt Parry +6.079, 4. Mikko Pakari +8.578, 5. Steijn Schothorst +10.495, 6. Shahaan Engineer +11.260, 7. Gustav Malja +12.015, 8. Esteban Ocon +12.269, 9. Jake Dennis +14.807, 10. Jakub Dalewski + 22.803

 

Standings after 3 races:

1. Rowland 68 points, 2. Ocon 60, 3. Pakari 57, 4. Parry 57, 5. Pizzitola 55, 6. Engineer 44, 7. Dennis 42, 8. Malja 40, 9. Schothorst 40, 10. Dalewski 27.