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António Félix da Costa back in
Estoril
As part of his ongoing preparation
program for next season, António Félix da Costa was back in Estoril
to participate in the 2nd round of the Portuguese Winter
Series.
With
over thirty drivers on the entry list, António arrived at Estoril
eager to test himself against some of his future opponents in the
2009 Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup.
Starting from 3rd place on the grid
in the first race, the young driver from Estoril had one of his
trademark lightning starts and went into the lead. He slipped to 3rd
place though after missing a gearshift and, as the race was still in
its first corners, was hit from behind by another driver who had
lost control of his car. As a result of this incident António ended
up in the gravel, losing precious seconds and rejoining the race in
last place.
From there on António Félix da Costa
fought back and recovered many positions, overtaking cars on several
points on the track at an average of two per lap before finally
finishing in 8th place.
For the day’s second race, António
lined up in 3rd place on the grid once again and moved up into 2nd
after the start. This would be a short race for the Portuguese
driver however, as just before the start the team had discovered a
small problem in the steering which worsened during the early laps
and forced him to come into the pits on the 6th lap to retire.
“Even
if the results were not the ones we hoped for, it was still
important to be here in Estoril because we want to get as much
mileage as possible before the next season starts. Also, it was
interesting to meet some of my opponents for next year in racing
conditions”,
António Félix da Costa commented to his website
www.felixdacosta.com
The driver from Estoril has been
very active in the past weeks, testing at the Nürburgring, Spa-Francorchamps,
Portimão and Estoril where, together with Motopark Academy, he tried
several technical solutions for the forthcoming season. Before the
year ends, António will still be testing at both Valencia and
Barcelona, after which his intense 2009 preparation program will
draw to a close.
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