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Australian driver Luis Leeds has walked away without injury, following a scary incident during Race 1 of Round 5 of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 at the Hungaroring in Hungary.
The Josef Kaufmann Racing pilot tangled with the pack in turn 2 and thankfully ended up on all 4 wheels despite getting plenty of air time, enabling him to get out of the car unassisted and walk away.
In the wake of the Silverstone weekend, the Formula Renault Eurocup heads to Pau for the third meeting of the season. Nicknamed the “little Monaco”, the urban track will be an all-new experience for many of the competitors. The streets of the southern French city will serve as a big test before taking on the Monaco circuit the following week.
After breaking their respective ducks in Great Britain, Luis Leeds (Josef Kaufmann Racing) and Presley Martono (Mark Burdett Motorsport) will be out for more, while Alexander Vartanyan (JD Motorsport) will look to return to the top ten.
Josef Kaufmann Racing driver, Luis Leeds, has claimed his first points of the season with a strong 7th place finish in Race 2 of the Silverstone round of the 2017 Formula Renault Eurocup series.
Formula Renault Eurocup leader, Will Palmer (R-ace GP) extended his points advantage in the general classification with his win in race one at Silverstone.
The season now heads to Pau in France for Round 3 of the season between May 19 - 21.
Introduced in 1971, Formula Renault soon joined the ranks of the best motor racing schools of champions. In 2017 a promising field of the best young hopefuls and European teams head to the Autodromo di Monza for the season opener. “The Temple of Speed” will allow for judging the contenders, who share one goal: win the first race of the season.
The action gets underway at the famous Monza circuit where many talented drivers won in the Formula Renault Eurocup before eventually competing at the highest level of the sport. Who will replicate the exploits of Kamui Kobayashi, Pastor Maldonado, Felipe Massa, Alain Prost, Didier Pironi and Patrick Tambay?
Two weeks before the first collective tests, the Formula Renault Eurocup is assured of having 30 young and talented drivers for the 2017 season. Defending their chances on Europe’s finest circuits, they also represent nine of the most respected teams in motorsport.
Spread among nine teams, the 30 title contenders will come together on March 15 at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours for the tests which will kick off a campaign that will take them to 10 European tracks, including Pau and Monaco.
Driver Luis Leeds has signed to race for Josef Kaufmann Racing in 2017.
Luis will race in the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and NEC Series and will be based from the UK.
Josef Kaufmann Racing is known as a solid producer of Formula 1 talent.
It is one of the world's most awarded and professional racing outfits, with current Formula 1 stars Nico Hülkenberg, Stoffel Vandoorne, Esteban Gutiérrez and Sébastien Buemi all having raced for the team.
Luis Leeds went into the last weekend of the British Formula 4 season with a chance of taking the championship but the cards didn't fall his way and the 16-year-old Australian couldn't move forward in the points table after the final round at Brands Hatch.
It was nevertheless a great season for the Red Bull Junior, winning races so far from his home in Melbourne. "It has been a great year, very tough but very worth it," explained Leeds. "I am very proud of what we have done, proud of the Arden team who gave me everything, a really great bunch of people, I can't thank them enough."
In Race 1, Leeds fought his way back up to 10th, but the Red Bull Junior now sits 36 points adrift of championship leader Fielding with just 50 up for grabs tomorrow.
“This title is going to go down to the wire.”
Said a resolute Leeds: “I’ve had so many things happen this year, but I will be giving it my all to take the fight to Fielding and Fewtrell. I’ve got nothing to lose and I’m coming for them.”
Three races over the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit will decide the British F4 championship this coming weekend and Red Bull Junior Luis Leeds knows that he can take the title. It will be a huge battle and he has a 19 point deficit but there are 75 points to be won.
"Yes sure, it's an exciting week for me, my two title contenders less than 20 in front. In fact there are five or six of us that can still win the title and I am in the middle of them," enthuses the 16-year-old Australian with his usual huge smile.
"I'm just concentrating on going after the title, the dream is there, it's up to me to grab it. It's great that the final is on the GP track at Brands, an iconic circuit."
This weekend sees the finale to the 2016 F4 British Championship, with Luis well in contention to take the title.
The 2016 F4 British Championship has been the antithesis to the claim that “single-seater racing is boring” and the 2016 instalment reaches its climax with six drivers from four teams in title contention.
Leeds arrives at Brands Hatch with one more win to his name than Fewtrell. The Red Bull Junior has excelled behind the wheel. His Achilles heel has been qualifying, but a pole position and front row grid slot at Silverstone suggests his luck may have changed at just the right moment.
Fast all the way through the weekend, Luis Leeds is now just 19 points off the lead of the British F4 championship after the penultimate round at Silverstone.
The Red Bull Junior should have been even closer, with an all podium weekend, but for a puncture in Race 1.
"Yes," enthused the 16-year-old Australian.
"It was a pretty good weekend, we proved our speed and now are a lot closer to the front of the championship, closer than we've been since the unlucky weekend at Oulton."
A second place in the reverse grid Race 2 at Rockingham means that 16-year-old Australian Luis Leeds is still third in the British F4 title chase with just two events and six races remaining.
Never one to dodge the issue the Red Bull Junior laid it out. "We had a tough weekend, not easy, far from it in fact. Again, like at Knockhill it was a wet qualifying, well it started wet, drying out then wet again. I had the chance of two dry laps and I messed up one of them, spun into the wall in fact."
Luis Leeds jumped from fifth to second in the British Formula 4 championship with a brilliant weekend last time out in Knockhill. The 16-year-old Australian proved two things: One; he is a major title contender and Two; it is very close at the top of the points table.
“I think that there are eight of us in the hunt for the title,” enthused the Red Bull Junior looking forward to the three races at Rockingham this weekend. “It seems to get more intense every weekend and I think this one will be the toughest so far.”
KNOCKHILL 14 AUGUST, 2016 – Luis Leeds stood on the top step of the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford podium for the third time this season after a perfect drive from pole.
Said a beaming Leeds: “We’ve had a tough run of things lately, but we’ve worked so hard as a team, but the car feels pretty perfect this weekend. We’re really on it and really starting to get things together now so we can be a real contender for this championship.
