Lando Norris ended his Championship winning Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season with another podium finish, but it could have been a better weekend at Estoril after a last lap clash with Max Defourny saw them both crash out whilst battling for the lead.
The Josef Kaufmann Racing driver had led for much of the race only to see R-ace GP’s Defourny close down the gap, before the two collided at turn one, spinning Norris around, with the move allowing Will Palmer to inherit the lead and the race victory.
“Both restarts were very good and I managed to get a gap very quickly, I didn’t have the pace compared to Defourny so he was catching me the last few laps,” said Norris on landonorris.com.
“I led onto the last lap but defended too late, with a gap open he managed to get to the inside, then I felt contact putting me out of the race.”
Norris was forced to pass both Henrique Chaves and Defourny on Sunday to claim second place behind Sacha Fenestraz, and on a damp track managed to keep his tyres alive until the end, and was closing on the race leader when the chequered flag fell.
“I got a pretty good start, but Chaves had an even better one,” said Norris. “The track was drying, so I tried to not use my tyres up to much on the opening laps.
“But I didn’t give up, and managed to do fastest lap after fastest lap closing down the gap to Max. I wasn’t able to quite get close enough to make a move, but I’m very happy with 2nd”
Norris was delighted to end the season with both Formula Renault 2.0 titles, having won the Eurocup and NEC crowns, and thanked the team for allowing him to have such a successful 2016. Josef Kaufmann Racing also confirmed themselves as the Teams’ champions with the results at Estoril.
“To win both championships is amazing!” said Norris. “I want to thank the team for this season. They allowed me to have a season that passed all my expectations in Formula Renault 2.0.”
