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Resurgent Palmer makes podium return to sustain Eurocup title bid

Will Palmer returned to the Formula Renault Eurocup podium at the Red Bull Ring in Austria last weekend (22-23 August), with a charging second place finish on Sunday morning's second race keeping him right in the championship hunt.

Will qualified in fourth position during the split qualifying sessions for both of the weekend's races, placing himself in a promising starting position for each part of the double-header.

Will initially made a very good start in Saturday's opening 25-minute race, rocketing past championship rival Sacha Fenestraz at the first corner to set up a dice for the podium positions early on. Fenestraz moved back past on the run out of turn two, but Will continued to apply consistent pressure to the Frenchman and Max Defourny ahead on the opening laps.

At the start of the third lap, Will was attacked by Dan Ticktum on the start-finish straight and in his attempts to defend the position, was boxed in behind Robert Shwartzman. The two touched, with Will's car suffering damage, ensuring that damage limitation was the aim for the remainder of the distance.

As the cars around him benefitted from Will's front nose impairment, he was edged back to an eventual 12th place finish.

On Sunday, Will immediately set about recovering from Saturday's disappointment with a stunning an incisive move on Defourny and Gabriel Aubry to claim second position by the time the pack left turn two. From here, Will set about bridging the gap to the leading Fenestraz, but the race was interrupted by two safety car periods, preventing him from settling into an attacking rhythm.

Despite this, Will signalled his pace by completing the final lap of the race almost half a second faster than Fenestraz to finish just over a second adrift.

This result means that Will closes the gap to second place in the Formula Renault Eurocup standings to just two points with eight races remaining.

Will said: "It's been a mixed weekend at the Red Bull Ring. The pace was strong, and in both qualifying sessions I was second in my group, only a tenth off fastest. In race one, I was running fourth early on but unfortunately picked up front wing damage and could only finishe 12th. In race two I managed to move up from fourth to second on lap one and I held that position throughout to take another podium. Paul Ricard is a track I go well at and really enjoy driving so I'm aiming for a return to the top step when we go there in a month's time."

Will returns to action on 26-27 August as the championship moves to the Circuit Paul Ricard in France.

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