FPAUDI: Oulton Park: Series race notes

JOLYON PALMER TAKES SECOND FPA WIN OF THE SEASON
But Tim Bridgman extends lead

Jolyon Palmer took his second victory of the year in action packed round 15 of the Visma Formula Palmer Audi Championship at the Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire.

The Comma backed driver had been strong all weekend, and scored a podium finish in the first race of the day. Palmer made a sensational start, with perfect timing of the revs, and breezed past the struggling Stefan Wilson.

It was now a straight fight to the first corner between Tim Bridgman and Palmer, with Bridgman losing out despite using a shoot of boost on seeing Palmer alongside him. Local driver Tom Bradshaw was up into third with the languishing Wilson in fourth. After a poor start, the onus was now on Wilson to make amends, but found himself pushing too hard and crashing out at island.

With all Wilson's hard work undone, the spotlight switched to Tim Bridgman's quest for championship honours, but he would have to contend with Bradshaw and Jack Clarke first. Despite solid drives all weekend, Clarke was another driving pushing too hard and ventured on to the grass at Cascades, moving him down to eighth in the process.

With the top three moving away from the chasing pack, the safety car was deployed on lap four after Ivan Lukashevic's spin. The brought the pack right back up together again, with Bridgman swarming all over the rear end of Palmer. The safety also brought Luciano Bacheta back into proceedings, who was out to make amends for some slightly disappointing performances over the weekend.

Speaking after the race, Jolyon Palmer said "It was the perfect start, and I used the boost just at the right time". Despite the latter section of the race looking comfortable for Palmer, he kept boost in reserve for each of the last four laps. This was something that second place man Bridgman picked up on though the changes in engine note, and changed his game plan accordingly. Bridgman admitted to catching up with Palmer in the latter half of the race without the use of the boost, but sound found himself the end of a quandary; whether to go for the win or to score valuable championship points. In the end, sense prevailed and Bridgman opened up a gap over Stefan Wilson. After the race, Bridgman said "I would have rather have seen Stefan finish than worry about the championship standings", demonstrating some of the camaraderie amongst the young FPA drivers.

Many of the drivers utilised Richard Owen's extensive racing knowledge over the course of the weekend.. Richard's Motorsport CV includes F1 and the Jaguar XJ220, and is now taking the role of a technical adviser to the young FPA drivers. Richard's addition to the FPA set up will allow drivers to express any technical concerns, and develop their technical awareness, which is something that will be called upon more frequently as they move up the Motorsport ladder.

Tim Bridgman lead the championship on 282 points from Stefan Wilson on 238. Luciano Bacheta moves down the standings to third on 237, with Jack Clarke behind on 198. Jolyon Palmer's win brings him into the top five on 187 points

Visma Formula Palmer Audi Championship

Round 15 Classification.
1. Jolyon Palmer 23:10:967
2. Tim Bridgman 23:11:950
3. Tom Bradshaw 23:12:475
4. Luciano Bacheta 23:14:429
5. Jack Clarke 23:20:844
6. Richard Kent 23:22:119
7. Chris Chubb 23:22:672
8. Chris Bell 23:23:569
9. Doros Loucaides 23:40:014
10. Nik Iruwan 23:40:744

The FPA Championship moves on to Donington on the September 1/2

-credit: www.formula-palmer-audi.com