Dundee-born Lewis Williamson opened his the British Formula Renault Championship campaign with a podium finish in the second of the double-headers at Thruxton.
The young Scot, making his debut for the Manor Competition team, finished fourth in today’s first race before storming to second place from fourth on the grid in the day’s final counter.
In the process, Williamson set new new lap record at the 2.4-mile Hampshire track posting a best time of 1min 09.895secs on lap four of the 16-lap race.
“I’m really chuffed to finish the day on the podium,” Williamson, who had qualified on pole for the opening race, admitted. “This was an important day for me to show everyone at the team, and the championship, that I have what it takes to be competitive.
“I didn’t make the best of starts in the first race and suffered witrh a bit of bumping and banging which dropped me back to fourth, so for the second race I concentrated on making sure I got the best possible start.
“We made a couple of tweaks to the clutch and I really focused on the lights. The result was I catapulted from fourth on the grid to second by the time we’d got halfway through the first lap.”
Williamson’s more experienced team-mate, Surrey-born Will Stevens, who contested the series last year, finished second in the first race behind Hungarian Tama’s Pa’l Kiss before winning the second race, finishing just 0.789s ahead of the Scot.
Stevens leads the championship with 60 points, six ahead of Pa’l Kiss and a further two in front of team-mate Williamson.
JM