Thanks to a faultless performance at Donington, Kamui Kobayashi (Prema Power Team) put himself back in contention in the race to succeed Scott Speed as champion. The Japanese driver closed the gap to Michael Ammermüller (Jenzer Motorsport) to 31 points, but the German still remains the hot favourite and could claim the title in Estoril.
They are never apart for long: whether they are battling it in the Italian Championship or in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, Michael Ammermüller and Kamui Kobayashi seem to cross swords almost every weekend! And as a warm-up before Estoril, the top two drivers in the overall standings met up in Varano for the penultimate meeting of the season in the Italian Championship. Although Kamui Kobayashi took a giant stride towards the Italian FR 2.0 title, the real climax to the season will be in Monza, at the final round of the 2005 World Series by Renault!
Leader of the Eurocup since the season's first qualifying session, Michael Ammermüller is now in the luxurious position of being able to control proceedings. But he had his worst weekend of the season so far at Donington, taking a mere ten points whilst Kobayashi took thirty-three! Nonetheless, the Jenzer Motorsport driver still has a substantial lead over his rivals. To take the title before Monza, he only needs to score three points more than Kamui Kobayashi. An objective that is well within the reach of the German, even if it is the Japanese driver who has had the better of the last two meetings.
Kobayashi has shown himself to be calm and collected in avoiding making the title his main objective. Kamui says that he starts from scratch for each new race. The Prema Power Team driver is only interested in victories. Winning the Eurocup would just be the icing on the cake.
Although the SG Formula drivers are, mathematically speaking, not yet out of the title race, their hopes of victory took a further dent in the UK. To win the title, Yann Clairay needs to pick up all the remaining points on offer and hope that Ammermüller does no better than one second place finish between now and the end of the season. The situation is even more difficult for Carlo Van Dam, who will seemingly concentrate on fighting for a place on the final championship podium. The chances of SG Formula will be strengthened by the presence of Romain Grosjean, who won the French FR2.0 Championship at the penultimate meeting of the season, and Julien Jousse.
Despite no longer being in the title race, several drivers will be looking to put in a good performance as the season comes to a close. Winner in Bilbao, on the podium in Donington, Adrian Zaugg (Jenzer Motorsport) is clearly not intimidated by his teammate Ammermüller. Having joined forces with AR Motorsport, Junior Strous (Mr. Glow Motorsport) got himself back among the top three in the UK. But he knows he can aim even higher!
Constantly improving since Bilbao, one driver is sure to have the Portuguese crowd on his side: local hero, Filipe Albuquerque. Also lying third in the German FR2.0 Championship, the leading driver of the Motopark Oschersleben team would dearly love to finish on the podium again in the Eurocup.
Keen to prepare well for the Monza meeting, the Euronova Racing team will have three cars in the starting line-up driven by Jérôme d'Ambrosio, twice on the podium at Zolder and winner last weekend in Varano, alongside Alberto Costa and Marco Frezza. As Westley Barber is still unwell, Gustavo Sondermann continues to line up for Comtec Racing. At Cram Compétition, the Venezuelan Giancarlo Serenelli regains the seat that was temporarily occupied by Ben Hanley in Donington.
