Race report

FIA F2

Determined Jolyon Palmer fights back to score points at Spa

Jolyon Palmer now sets his sights on Monza

Edited: Aug 28, 2013, 4:22 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Jolyon Palmer, Carlin

Southwater racer Jolyon Palmer turned in a gritty performance to add to his GP2 Series score at Spa-Francorchamps (23-25 August), despite being taken out of contention in the opening race.

Jolyon Palmer, Carlin

Photo by: GP2 Media Service

Typically changeable conditions at the Belgian circuit, located in the Ardennes Forest, saw a damp practice session give way to dry conditions in qualifying. Jolyon secured seventh place on the grid, matching his performance in Hungary and was therefore optimistic of a strong weekend.

A good start to race one gained Jolyon a place on the run to La Source and he ran three abreast with Marcus Ericsson and Alexander Rossi down the hill to Eau Rouge. He passed Ericsson up the Hill to Les Combes and completed the opening lap in fifth place, with team mate Felipe Nasr slotting in behind.

The race was then neutralised to clear an accident at Eau Rouge but at the restart Nasr attempted a lunge down the inside at the La Source hairpin, which resulted in both Carlin drivers colliding. Nasr was out on the spot and was later handed a penalty by the stewards for his actions, however Jolyon was now down in 19th place. Nevertherless he fought his way back to 15th place by the chequered flag.

A determined drive in the sprint race saw Jolyon claim several places in the opening laps. He was soon into the top ten and despite being hit by rival Dani Clos, continued to progress up the order. This involved several battles with the surrounding pack and by the end of the race Jolyon had scored valuable points for sixth place, further enhancing his reputation the championship’s most prolific overtaker.

Afterwards Jolyon commented: "It was a good race today, coming from 15th to finish sixth at the end and take a few points. Unfortunately we were always on the back foot after yesterday's incident and it has costs us a lot of points this weekend. Now we must just make sure it doesn't happen again and move on for Monza in two weeks' time."

Jolyon is back in action in the GP2 Series at Monza, Italy on 6-8 September.

Jolyon Palmer Press

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Rossi on the podium in Spa Feature Race

Next article Palmer leads the way in Monza

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

With rallying back in the spotlight, it could probably teach F1 a thing or two

Formula 1

With rallying back in the spotlight, it could probably teach F1 a thing or two

You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller

MotoGP

Qatar GP

You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller

Why the anticlimactic WEC title showdown was the worst-case scenario

WEC

WEC WEC

Monza

2 h

Why the anticlimactic WEC title showdown was the worst-case scenario

How Istanbul is revamping its F1 circuit to clinch long-term future

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Turkish GP

3 h

How Istanbul is revamping its F1 circuit to clinch long-term future

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts