British racer Dennis takes early lead in Formula Renault 2.0 NEC

Fortec Motorsports driver Jake Dennis took an early lead in the 2012 Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup at a rain-lashed Hockenheim in Germany over the weekend (21/22 April) with one race win and two other podiums from the first three rounds of the Michelin-backed championship.

Dennis – along with team-mates Josh Hill, Shahaan Engineer and Dan De Zille, plus Mark Burdett Motorsport driver Gabriel Casagrande – was due to contest the Formula Renault UK Championship until it was shelved just prior to the start of the season.

Thankfully the burgeoning Northern European Cup (NEC), featuring the same cars as Formula Renault UK, had space for all five competitors and Dennis, in particular, enjoyed a superb start to his maiden campaign on mainland Europe.

“It was a really good opening weekend for me, particularly given the challenging conditions as the track was really slippery”, said Dennis, “It’s great to be leading the championship after the first weekend but it’s a long season so I’m not thinking too much about that yet – I’m just taking each race as it comes.”

Compatriot Jordan King, driving for Manor MP Motorsport, took a second place finish in round one and backed it up with two more top five results. Hill, meanwhile, didn’t have the most successful of weekends – first shunted out of race one, more problems in race three meant the highlight was third place in the second encounter.

In terms of the championship standings, Dennis leads by 12 points from Belgian star Stoffel Vandoorne. King is fourth in the title race, 18 points adrift of the series lead, with Fortec’s young Indian racer Engineer the best placed car racing rookie in ninth.

Competitors and teams have a huge break in the championship now with the fourth and fifth rounds of the season not taking place until 23/24 June at Germany’s Nurburgring.