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Double fourth as Will Palmer secures strong points haul in Pau

Will Palmer emerged from the two Formula Renault Eurocup rounds at Pau, France, with a healthy double-points result following two hard-fought fourth place finishes on a tricky street circuit, the layout of which yielded little in the way of overtaking opportunities last weekend (20/21 May).

The BRDC Superstar qualified fourth for Saturday's opening race in his R-ace GP-prepared machine, missing out on a front-row start by just a tenth-of-a-second, such were the narrow margins on the undulating city circuit. Without a clear road ahead of him, the circuit's opening narrow turns were potentially hazardous, but Will kept his nose clean as he held his position from the start in the truncated 23-minute encounter which was delayed following start line issues for other drivers.

Will was immediately all over the back of Gabriel Aubry in the opening exchanges and he lined up a manoeuvre at the start of lap two before falling back in line behind the Frenchman. It didn't take long for the Sussex driver to launch an incisive move up the inside though, seizing third position under braking for the slow-speed Lycee hairpin just a couple of corners later. Aubry was back past on the run through Parc Beaumont subsequently, however, but Will was able to remain firmly within the Tech 1 Racing driver's mirrors.

By the start of the fourth lap, Palmer had to fend off a little pressure from the chasing pack, but he impressively drew further ahead through the rapid hill top section of the circuit to further secure his track position.

Thereafter, Will maintained a consistent pace throughout the race, as the number of overtaking opportunities was further reduced by yellow flags at various points of the circuit for incidents involving other competitors. As a result, Will remained fourth until the chequered flag despite a performance which indicated he had the pace to cause Aubry more issues.

Will then started fourth once again for Sunday's race, despite actually setting the third fastest time of the second qualifying session, due to the split qualification format. This meant that Will would have to start one position on the grid behind his team-mate and primary championship rival Robert Shwartzman.

This time, the race ran to its full 25-minute duration, and Will once again comfortably defended his fourth place into the opening corners of the race, whilst keeping his car firmly in the slipstream of his Russian team-mate.

Again, the Pyrenean street circuit's tight and twisty nature made overtaking difficult, with Will firmly snapping at the heels of the podium runners, as the leading quartet pulled convincingly away from the rest of the field. Will was able to hound Shwartzman consistently in the latter stages of the race, but with no gaps to attempt a pass forthcoming, Will stayed in fourth until the end of the race to seal a double-points finish.

Will leaves France in second position overall in the championship standings, and he is back in street circuit action next weekend (27/28 May) as the championship heads to Monaco to support F1.

Race One Result

1, R Shwartzman, R-ace GP, 20 laps
2, M Defourny, R-ace GP, +0.592s
3, G Aubry , Tech 1 Racing, +3.719s
4, W Palmer, R-ace GP, +4.464s
5, A Peroni, Fortec Motorsports, +5.584s
6, S Fenestraz, Josef Kaufmann Racing, +7.764s
7, M Fewtrell, Tech 1 Racing, +9.825s
8, Y Ye, Josef Kaufmann Racing, +13.294s
9, R Guzman, R-ace GP, +14.677s
10, D Ticktum, Arden, +15.631s

Race Two Result

1, A Peroni, Fortec Motorsports, 21 laps
2, S Fenestraz, Josef Kaufmann Racing, +0.520s
3, R Shwartzman, R-ace GP, +1.662s
4, W Palmer, R-ace GP, +2.271s
5, M Fewtrell, Tech 1 Racing, +9.239s
6, M Defourny, R-ace GP, +9.673s
7, G Aubry, Tech 1 Racing, +10.515s
8, R Verschoor, MP Motorsport, +17.166s
9, N Verhagen, MP Motorsport, +24.080s
10, Y Ye, Josef Kaufmann Racing, +24.736s

Championship standings after Pau:

1, R Shwartzman, R-ace GP, 105 points
2, W Palmer, R-ace GP, 104 points
3, S Fenestraz, Josef Kaufmann Racing, 72 points
4, A Peroni, Fortec, 51 points
5, M Defourny, R-ace GP, 51 points
6, M Fewtrell, Tech 1 Racing, 48 points
7, G Aubry, Tech 1 Racing, 40 points
8, R Verschoor, MP Motorsport, 25 points
9, H Chaves, AVF, 24 points
10, D Ticktum, Arden, 17 points

More to follow.  

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