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Will storms to season’s best result as he takes podium finish at Paul Ricard

Will Palmer claimed his best result of the 2016 season as the Southwater racer completed a superb drive to finish third in race one of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 weekend at the Circuit Paul Ricard in France last weekend (27/28 August). The 19-year-old followed that up with a strong top-10 finish in race two on Sunday to round off a successful meeting for the Brit.

In a dramatic first qualifying session on Saturday, Will displayed great speed to challenge right at the very front and took provisional pole position as qualifying headed towards its conclusion. His lap time of 2m04.823s looked to be good enough for a P1 start but fellow Brit Harrison Scott eked out slightly more speed to take pole as the chequered flag fell. Nevertheless, championship leader Lando Norris was unable to improve significantly and he took third, leaving Will to claim his first front-row start of the year.

As the lights went out to start the first encounter in France, Will made a lightning getaway and moved to the right-hand side of pole-sitter Scott and swept around the outside to claim the lead through turn one. However, Will fell victim to the long slipstream down the Mistral straight as Scott pulled back alongside through the chicane and retook the lead. The 2015 BRDC F4 Champion fought bravely around the outside of the AVF driver but Scott pushed him wide at the next turn, which enabled Lando Norris to nip down the inside and relegate Will to third.

As he regrouped, Will's R-ace GP team-mate Max Defourny closed up but the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner soon got his head back down and displayed good speed to pull away from the Belgian, opening up the gap to the fourth-placed man to seven-tenths after five laps.

As the race headed into its closing stages, second-placed driver Norris began to pressure Scott for the lead and Will sensed an opportunity, pulling out a number of quick laps to make it a three-way battle for the win. Scott defended forcefully and was able to hang on to his position with Norris taking second and Will claiming his first full Eurocup podium finish of the season as the chequered flag fell. That result meant he also took the runner-up finish in the rookie class behind countryman Norris.

As the action resumed on Sunday, Will demonstrated the pace that had netted him a podium finish the previous day as he was quickest in qualifying on older tyres. However, in an extremely close session, once the field switched to new tyres he couldn't quite match the pace of the front-runners and had to settle for 10^th on the grid, just 0.725s off pole-man Norris.

When the second and final race of the weekend got underway, Will held station through the opening lap but was attacked on lap two by Josef Kaufmann Racing's Robert Shwartzman. Rather than risk a collision, Will ceded the position but soon regained 10^th spot with a clinical pass into the final turn on lap four. A late race spin for Harrison Scott brought him into the clutches of Will in the closing stages but he couldn't quite close up enough to attempt an overtake and took the final spot in the top-10 as the race finished.

Will said: "Overall it's been a good weekend - to qualify on the front row for race one was a great result, and to finish right with the leaders in third place shows that we have made a lot of progress this weekend. The second qualifying didn't go to plan but the race pace was very strong once again, but overtaking was very difficult. I'm confident we can now carry this pace through to the Nurburgring for the Northern European Cup in two weeks time."

Will retains ninth position in the overall Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 standings with two rounds remaining in the season. He will next be in action at the Nurburgring in Germany on 17/18 September for the penultimate round of the 2016 Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup.

Eurocup Formula Renault - Paul Ricard - Race One Top-10

1. H Scott, AVF, 13 Laps
2. L Norris, Josef Kaufmann Racing, +0.152s
3. W Palmer, R-ace GP, +0.933s
4. M Defourny, R-ace GP, +1.509s
5. D Boccolacci, Tech 1 Racing, +8.289s
6. S Fenestraz, Tech 1 Racing, +10.126s
7. R Shwartzman, Josef Kaufmann Racing, +12.033s
8. F Habsburg, Fortec Motorsports, +14.500s
9. J Falchero, R-ace GP, +16.232s
10. A Ptak, Cram Motorsport, +19.238s

Eurocup Formula Renault - Paul Ricard - Race Two Top-10

1. L Norris, Josef Kaufmann Racing, 13 Laps
2. M Defourny, R-ace GP, +4.050s
3. D Boccolacci, Tech 1 Racing, +4.350s
4. G Aubry, Tech 1 Racing, +7.149s
5. S Fenestraz, Tech 1 Racing, +8.362s
6. F Habsburg, Fortec Motorsports, +8.842s
7. J Daruvala, Josef Kaufmann Racing, +9.521s
8. H de Sadeleer, Tech 1 Racing, +11.889s
9. H Scott, AVF, +12.580s
10. W Palmer, R-ace GP, +12.999s

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