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Strong top-10 double for Will in Eurocup at Monza

Will Palmer scored two strong top-10 finishes from three races in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championship at the high-speed Italian circuit of Monza last weekend (2/3 July). He achieved a best result of sixth in race one following a confident drive but suffered a DNF in race two after contact with Indian Jehan Daruvala. He bounced back in race three however and recovered from dropping to 16^th to come home seventh after charging back through the field.

On his first outing at Monza earlier in the year, Will claimed a podium finish in the Formula Renault Northern European Cup category and was aiming to carry that form into the Eurocup weekend. He was able to do that in a qualifying session which set the field for the first two races in Italy, with the fastest and second fastest laps determining grid order.

After a slow start to the session, Will was down in 13^th before the red flags flew and brought a halt to the session with 4m25s remaining after Jehan Daruvala spun into the gravel at turn nine. Once qualifying resumed the 2015 BRDC Formula 4 Champion set about improving his times and he soon lapped the Monza track in a time of 1m49.437s to take fifth, less than half-a-second off pole man Dorian Boccolacci as the chequered flag came out. Will's second fastest lap of the session was an excellent 1m49.458s, which put him fourth on the grid for race two, only 0.129s slower than fastest man Lando Norris.

Lining up alongside his R-ace GP team-mate Max Defourny on the third row, Will made a good start to maintain his fifth place through turn one. As Norris and Boccolacci began to break away at the front, Will was drawn into a fight with Hugo de Sadeleer and Robert Shwartzman, with the 19-year-old dropping to seventh after lap three. However, Will fought back to claim sixth from de Sadeleer during the middle stages and with Shwartzman a few seconds up the road, drove a calm and measured race to hold off Daruvala for a strong sixth place finish.

Race two was also held on Saturday and as the lights went out, Will made a great start from the second row to vault past Sacha Fenestraz to claim third behind Norris and Boccolacci as the field completed lap one. The positions changed once more as Norris made a small mistake on lap two, which enabled Harrison Scott to move into second and dropped Will to fourth. The 2015 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner was soon under attack from race one rival de Sadeleer and the Swiss driver was able to find a way past, forcing Will down to fifth.

Josef Kaufmann Racing's Jehan Daruvala found himself in sixth and attempted to overtake Will on lap six, but contact was made and the pair ended up in the gravel at the exit of turn three, bringing a premature and disappointing end to both drivers races.

Sunday's action began with the second 30-minute qualifying session of the weekend, which set the grid for the third and final race of the weekend at Monza. Will, along with his R-ace GP team-mates Max Defourny and Julien Falchero allowed the rest of the field to join the track before heading out. The Southwater racer posted a best time of 1m49.932s, which put him 12^th on the grid for race three, in what was an extremely close qualifying session.

He held his original starting position through the opening lap but lost out to Bruno Baptista on lap two, and subsequently dropped to 16^th behind Alex Korneev, Nikita Troitskiy and Jehan Daruvala. Will soon set about recovering the lost ground and had made his way back to 14^th when the safety car was deployed following a crash on the main straight between Nikita Mazepin and Troitskiy.

Once the racing resumed, he quickly gained four positions and found himself in 10^th at the end of lap seven. His forward momentum continued as he passed Korneev for ninth before overtaking Henrique Chaves as the race headed into its closing stages. Will wasn't done there though and made up yet another position as he passed Sacha Fenestraz on the final lap, taking the chequered flag in seventh after a determined drive.

Will moves up to eighth in the overall Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 standings with 23 points, with the next Eurocup race taking place at the Red Bull Ring in Austria on 16/17 July.

Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 - Race One

1. L Norris, Josef Kaufmann Racing, 15 Laps
2. D Boccolacci, Tech 1 Racing, +0.532s
3. H Scott, AVF, +12.538s
4. S Fenestraz, Tech 1 Racing, +12.805s
5. R Shwartzman, Josef Kaufmann Racing, +13.333s
6. W Palmer, R-ace GP, +15.125s
7. J Daruvala, Josef Kaufmann Racing, +15.639s
8. M Defourny, R-ace GP, +19.118s
9. A Korneev, JD Motorsport, +20.575s
10. H de Sadeleer, Tech 1 Racing, +23.105s

Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 - Race Two

1. D Boccolacci, Tech 1 Racing, 13 Laps
2. M Defourny, R-ace GP, +1.926s
3. S Fenestraz, Tech 1 Racing, +2.887s
4. H de Sadeleer, Tech 1 Racing, +3.518s
5. N Troitskiy, Fortec Motorsports, +5.575s
6. R Shwartzman, Josef Kaufmann Racing, +5.980s
7. L Norris, Josef Kaufmann Racing, +6.119s
8. N Mazepin, AVF, +6.739s
9. J Falchero, R-ace GP, +9.513s
DNF. W Palmer, R-ace GP, 5 Laps

Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 - Race Three

1. H Scott, AVF, 14 Laps
2. L Norris, Josef Kaufmann Racing, +0.840s
3. D Boccolacci, Tech 1 Racing, +0.955s
4. M Defourny, R-ace GP, +3.359s
5. G Aubry, Tech 1 Racing, +6.993s
6. R Shwartzman, Josef Kaufmann Racing, +9.039s
7. W Palmer, R-ace GP, +9.764s
8. S Fenestraz, Tech 1 Racing, +11.623s
9. A Korneev, JD Motorsport, +15.708s
10. H Chaves, AVF, +16.064s

Latest Results

Latest Eurocup Standings