Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Jack Aitken wins 2015 Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup title at Jerez

British racer Jack Aitken emerged on top in a dramatic eight-way Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup championship decider at Jerez

The 20-year-old Koiranen driver came into the finale seven points behind Josef Kaufmann Racing duo Louis Deletraz and Kevin Jorg, but surged to the front with two victories in Saturday's wet races.

His hopes then took a dive ahead of Sunday's finale when he aquaplaned off at the start of qualifying, and worse followed when his car shut down on the way to the grid.

Aitken, who suspected water in the emergency cut-off system caused the problem, managed to join the race from the pitlane and made it up to 16th.

With Jorg tumbling down the order thanks to starting on wets on a drying track, and Deletraz - son of 1990s Formula 1 racer Jean-Denis - finishing only sixth, Aitken was able to secure the championship.

Aitken had been a distant ninth in the standings after one third of the season, and his year was also hampered by back injuries sustained in a crash at Monza in the Alps series.

"We thought it would be a six-month recovery period," he told Autosport.

"We were quite lucky that the back injury stabilised. It was isolated and it allowed us to get back just missing one race in my season."

He had already wrapped up the Alps series by the time he arrived the Eurocup finale.

"I think it has been quite a typical Eurocup year," Aitken added.

"After the first couple of rounds where I had some misfortune and then the injury, I thought it was over.

"But we carried on doing what we were doing, and found ourselves yesterday in the position where we were leading the championship.

"We just kept sticking to what we needed to and we really needed those points yesterday. The team did an awesome job all year."

Aitken is a McLaren Autosport BRDC Award finalist and is now considering GP3 or the rebranded Formula Renault 3.5 series for '16.

Countryman and fellow Award contender Ben Barnicoat, whose title hopes ended when he retired from race one at Jerez, won the season finale in his Racing Steps Foundation-backed Fortec entry.

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Rally co-driver killed in crash on Mull Rally - event abandoned
Next article Carlin adds BRDC Formula 4 programme for 2016

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe