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Perfect Saturday for Will at Brands Hatch

Will Palmer claimed a perfect day at Brands Hatch as he topped every session, took pole position, victory and fastest lap in Saturday's (August 1) Duo BRDC Formula 4 action on the Grand Prix circuit in Kent.

A 20 minute practice session enabled all the drivers to experience the demanding 2.433-mile Grand Prix track ahead of qualifying. Will knocked initial pace-setter Tom Jackson off the timesheets and then slowly lowered his best time until he posted a 1m24.381s. That topped the session and was significantly under the lap record time for a BRDC F4 car on the GP layout.

In glorious sunshine, qualifying got underway and Will let the rest of the field join the circuit before exiting the pit lane himself into clear air. With the Chris Dittmann Racing pair of Omar Ismail and Tom Jackson at the head of the timesheets, Will began posting purple sectors and duly deposed Ismail from top spot with a 1m25.706s.

On the next tour of the 2.433-mile circuit, Will improved his time to a 1m24.685s, a time that would ultimately prove the fastest lap of the session. His HHC Motorsport team-mate Harri Newey slotted into second but was 0.629s slower. Ciaran Haggerty moved into third but neither he nor Newey could get near Will's time as the session came to its conclusion. Indian racer Akhil Rabindra and South African Sisa Ngebulana both spun off in separate incidents with two minutes left, which brought out the red flag and then shortly after the chequered flag. That left Will at the head of the field and he took his fourth pole position of the year.

Speaking after qualifying, Will said: "I'm really pleased to be back on pole and now I need to focus on converting that into another win. The car has been really good all day so we should be in good shape for the race."

Will carried his fine form into the race and led into Paddock Hill Bend after making a good getaway from the front-row. Lanan Racing's Jack Bartholomew and Hillspeed's Ameya Vaidyanathan tangled at Druids which brought out the safety car and negated Will's lead.

After a number of laps under neutral conditions, the safety car peeled off and racing resumed with Will making a clean break from second place Ciaran Haggerty, who had moved ahead of Harri Newey along with Tom Jackson. As the race progressed, Will pulled away from Haggerty and broke the lap record on successive occasions, eventually ending with a fastest lap of 1m25.462s.

He completed 12 laps untroubled and took the chequered flag 3.442s ahead of Haggerty, who was an additional 3.800s ahead of Jackson who claimed third. His victory means he extends his lead in the championship to 49 points over second placed man Rodrigo Fonseca. Tom Jackson closes to within 19 points of the Mexican with Newey and Haggerty moving into fourth and fifth in the standings respectively.

Will's win means he will line up eighth for race two tomorrow which begins at 10:50am.

Brands Hatch GP - Qualifying - Top 10

1. W Palmer, HHC Motorsport, 1m24.685s
2. H Newey, HHC Motorsport, +0.629s
3. C Haggerty, Ecurie Ecosse/GBR, +0.855s
4. T Jackson, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.007s
5. O Ismail, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.029s
6. J Lang, Lang Sport/Gorse Motors, +1.066s~
7. R Fonseca, Lanan Racing, +1.583s
8. J Albert, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, +1.602s
9. J Bartholomew, Lanan Racing, +1.774s
10. S Ngebulana, HHC Motorsport, +1.780s

Brands Hatch GP - Race one - Top 10 

1. W Palmer, HHC Motorsport, 12 laps
2. C Haggerty, Ecurie Ecosse/GBR, +3.442s
3. T Jackson, Chris Dittmann Racing, +7.242s
4. H Newey, HHC Motorsport, +7.685s
5. J Lang, Lang Sport/Gorse Motors, +12.489s
6. O Ismail, Chris Dittmann Racing, +12.895s
7. J Albert, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, +13.412s
8. C Mealin, Lanan Racing, +20.284s
9. S Ngebulana, HHC Motorsport, +23.732s
10. R Fonseca, Lanan Racing, +24.005s 

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