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Palmer makes progress in both Nürburgring Eurocup races to remain in title hunt

Will Palmer remained firmly in the reckoning for the 2017 Formula Renault Eurocup championship, with a battling display to gain places in both races at the legendary Nürburgring circuit in Germany. The R-ace GP driver finished eighth in the first of the weekend's two races, before rising to fifth in the second race amidst treacherous on-track conditions.

The BRDC Superstar qualified 10th of the season-high 31 competitors in Saturday's opening qualifying session, before improving to seventh place, just a fraction of a second away from pole position in the second qualifying session later that afternoon.

Will made a terrific start to Saturday evening's opening 25-minute race, surging past both Thomas Randle and Gabriel Aubry as the pack jostled through the opening corners. Thereafter, overtaking opportunities were sparse, though Will shadowed Yifei Ye ahead relentlessly in an attempt to force a mistake. By the time the chequered flag fell, the young Briton was just over half a second behind his rival, in eighth position.

Will was denied the possibility of another dynamite start on Sunday morning when a deluge reduced visibility and track surface grip to force a start behind the safety car. This meant that the first three laps of the race were effectively neutralised, reducing the number of laps Will would have to climb the order.

With the race length virtually reduced to 14 minutes, the pack began racing on lap four, and Will coolly kept his nose clean to rise to fifth as a number of other drivers fell afoul of the massively wet track surface, forcing the safety car to emerge from the pit-lane for a second time.

Will dropped behind Aubry as the race got underway again for a second time, but remained closely behind the Frenchman before attempting a daring manoeuvre around the outside at turn one on the final lap. It didn't stick, but crucially Will was in a position to capitalise as championship rival and team-mate Robert Shwartzman ran wide to regain fifth position.

This weekend's results put Will third in the standings, behind Shwartzman and Sacha Fenestraz, but excellent damage limitation ensures that the deficit to the lead is just nine points, in a championship where 25 points are available for a win.

Will said: "It was a tough weekend at the Nürburgring, where we struggled a bit in both qualifying sessions which meant I lined up only 10th and seventh for the two races. In race one, I managed to move up to eighth early on and challenged for seventh on lap two, but after that it was very difficult to do anything as it is a tricky track to overtake on, so I finished eighth.

"Race two was wet, and I made a really good safety car start to pass someone up the inside of turn one. I then benefitted from someone running wide in front to move into fifth. I was attacking on the last lap to try and take fourth, but in the end I had to settle for fifth.

"Overall, it was a tricky weekend but it was good to score some solid points still to keep well in the championship hunt. I'm confident we've understood why we struggled so I'm sure we'll be back where we should be next weekend in Austria."

More to follow. 

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