Nick Yelloly returned to the Formula Renault 3.5 podium in the opening race in Spain this weekend finishing second in the rookie class and sixth overall. Preparing for only his third weekend in World Series by Renault, the 20 year-old was an impressive second fastest in the collective test on Friday ahead of Saturday morning’s qualifying at the Circuit de Catalunya.The Solihull star repeated his stunning pace of Silverstone and Paul Ricard, setting the seventh fastest time, despite struggling to get a clear lap in the double red-flag affected, half-hour session. In the race, the Williams de broe and Merito-backed Formula Renault 2.0 winner was quick off the line and got up to fifth on the opening lap before being tipped into a spin by an over-optimistic move by another car on lap 26 of 29.Such was his advantage however, Yelloly lost just one place and went on to take his third top six finish in the series, and his fourth podium position from five races. The GP3 racer, who set the bar with a superb performance in the opening two weekends, has once again underlined his ability as one of Britain’s brightest young racing prospects and looks set to secure another top six finish in the final round tomorrow.Yelloly commented: “We tried a different set-up in Friday’s free practice, which wasn’t really to my liking so we switched it back for the second and the car was much better managing a promising second place. In qualifying this morning I really struggled to get a clear lap in between two red flag periods and ended up seventh. It’s very hard to overtake here and I knew that qualifying would be crucial to get a good finish.“I made a good start to get up to fifth but over the last 20 laps or so, the rear tyres went off and I was suffering with oversteer. I lost a place to Korjus when we touched, but I’m happy to have taken another podium finish in the rookie class in only my fifth World Series by Renault race. Now we’ll study the data, then consider our options with regards to set-up for tomorrow’s qualifying and aim for another top six finish and podium to round out the season.”