Alex Brundle's hopes of capturing the FIA Formula Two title appear to have faded after the local racer was knocked out of the first of two races at the Nurburgring.

'I'm trying to remain as upbeat as possible but I have to accept the leaders are now going to be difficult to beat,' said a disappointed Brundle, who ended the weekend 100 points behind leader Mirko Bortolotti.

'That was a messy race where few of the top drivers scored well, apart from Bortolotti and Christopher Zanella who just seem to be having all the luck.'

The weekend started well for the King's Lynn racer with fourth on the grid for the opening race, but it was soon to turn sour after an early collision with rival Will Bratt, in what Brundle described as an 'unnecessary shunt'.

The pair were disputing fourth place until a collision at the final corner on the German circuit damaged the local racer's front suspension leaving a wheel askew.

Brundle was again in the wars in race two when light contact with Johannes Theobald saw the latter barrel roll out of the race without injury. The local racer was attempting to dislodge Theobald from fifth when the two made light contact at the Veedol Chicane and the resulting incident saw the safety car deployed for the first time in the series.

When racing resumed Brundle piled pressure on the fourth placed driver without success, leaving him a long way from his intended goal.

Having led countless Locost sports car races, Richard Jenkins finally managed to secure victory in the series in the opening race at the recent Donington Park meeting.

The Norwich racer has previously been successful in the preliminary heats but a final victory had tantalisingly stayed out of reach. Starting seventh, Jenkins quickly moved up to fifth, which he soon turned into third – until the final lap when a well planned manoeuvre down the final straight saw him lead into the last corner and greet the chequered flag with the whole field behind him.

Jenkins was unable to repeat the feat in race two, which was stopped on safety grounds and restarted over just two laps, leaving the local racer powerless to improve on fifth.

Martin Ward continues to lead the Stock Hatch Championship after a second at Donington Park allowed the Blofield racer to open up a 10 point advantage to the chasing Matt Digby and Jake Farndon.

The latter won the race at the Leicestershire circuit but Ward, loaded with success ballast, kept the rest of the field behind after starting alongside Farndon who had claimed pole position.

Attleborough's Paul Rogers still leads the RGB series despite being demoted to second after an over-eager start was punished. The local racer led away only for Suffolk rival John Cutmore to slip by on the opening lap, before a well worked manoeuvre foxed his opponent at Redgate three laps from the finish.