Will Palmer extended his Duo BRDC Formula 4 championship lead as he took a lights-to-flag victory in race one of the weekend (22/23 August) at Snetterton (Saturday). Having qualified on pole position, the 18-year-old led home his HHC Motorsport team-mate Harri Newey and crossed the line over eight seconds ahead, as Chris Dittmann Racing’s Tom Jackson rounded out the podium in third.

Qualifying got underway in gloriously sunny conditions with the 19 drivers on the Duo BRDC Formula 4 grid heading out onto the 2.97-mile 300 circuit. A number of drivers, including the HHC Motorsport trio of Palmer, Newey and Sisa Ngebulana, delayed their exit from the pit-lane in order to find clear track.

In the early stages, Palmer led the way from 16-year-old Omar Ismail, competing in just his fourth single-seater meeting of his burgeoning career. With 10 minutes completed in the 20-minute session, Palmer held an advantage of 0.757s over his rival, with Newey third ahead of Akhil Rabindra and Ciaran Haggerty.

Improvements became ever more gradual with Ismail and Newey trading times, whilst Ismail held onto his place on the provisional front row with a 1m50.101s, which put him within two-tenths of a second of Palmer. That spurred the championship leader into action and he secured pole position with a stunning lap, posting a time of 1m49.396s which put him comfortably clear of the rest of the field. Tom Jackson, a winner at Snetterton in July, and Ciaran Haggerty both improved to go fourth and fifth fastest as the session headed towards its conclusion.

On his final lap, Solihull racer Ismail improved slightly but could only get within 0.668s and had to settle for second, still on the front-row alongside Palmer. Newey held on to third as the chequered flag flew with Jackson and Haggerty rounding out the top-five.

An impressive qualifying session for Hillspeed’s Faisal Al Zubair and Ameya Vaidyanathan saw them claim sixth and seventh on the grid for the first race of the weekend, with Jack Bartholomew, Akhil Rabindra and Jordan Albert rounding out the top-10.

Just as in qualifying, hot and sunny conditions greeted the Duo BRDC Formula 4 field as they headed out on to the grid for the start of race one. The sweltering weather was not appreciated by the drivers though when Fernando Urrutia’s car failed to get away on the green flag lap, causing a delayed start.

When the lights finally went out to begin the 10-lap race, Omar Ismail made a strong getaway from the front row to challenge pole-sitter Will Palmer into Riches. The championship leader managed to resist the Chris Dittmann Racing car however and maintained his position at the head of the field.

Further back, Harri Newey was overtaken by Tom Jackson and relegated to fourth, but regained the position when Maidstone racer Jackson made a mistake at the end of the opening lap. Ameya Vaidyanathan, who had posted his best qualifying performance of the year with seventh, dropped back early on and eventually came home in 16th.

On the second lap, Omar Ismail lost his second place and dropped down to fifth, and into the clutches of Hillspeed’s Faisal Al Zubair. That let Harri Newey inherit the position with Tom Jackson moving into third, just ahead of Ciaran Haggerty. Rodrigo Fonseca, second-place in the overall standings, made a great start having qualified a disappointing 16th to move up to eighth and he was soon attacking his team-mate at Lanan Racing, Jack Bartholomew.

Palmer continued to extend his advantage at the front as Fonseca made a move on Bartholomew, securing seventh just before the halfway stage of the race. The battle continued apace as the race moved towards its conclusion and Bartholomew fought well to retake the position, before losing out to the Mexican on the penultimate lap with the 16-year-old eventually finishing 12th.

Omar Ismail had to defend in the closing stages of the race from Al Zubair, who attempted to overtake the Solihull youngster into Riches on numerous occasions. The Omani racer couldn’t quite get past Ismail, coming home just 0.090s behind his rival as they crossed the line, but still secured his best result of the year with sixth.

BRDC Rising Star Palmer, who had been untroubled throughout the race by setting numerous fastest laps, took the chequered flag 8.163s ahead of team-mate Newey, with Jackson coming home just under a second behind the 16-year-old. Ecurie Ecosse Young Driver Ciaran Haggerty took fourth with Ismail fifth. Douglas Motorsport’s Akhil Rabindra finished eighth, which secured pole position for the Indian driver for tomorrow’s reverse-grid race two, which gets underway at 10:35 on Sunday morning at Snetterton.

The top-three were presented with their trophies on the podium by McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner, and last year’s BRDC F4 Champion, George Russell.

Speaking after stepping from the podium, winner Will Palmer said: “It was quite close off the start but I managed to hold off Omar. I think they had a battle behind me which let me get away, and then it was just about doing qualifying laps to bring the car home first. I think it’s meant to be dry for race two tomorrow so I will aim to post a fast lap there and it will be a fun race trying to come through the pack to get another podium.”

The result extends Palmer’s lead in the standings to 89 points over Fonseca with Jackson closing in on the Lanan Racing man; the 18-year-old now just four points adrift in third. Newey’s runner-up position in race one moves him up to fourth ahead of Ciaran Haggerty, who is now fifth.

Race two begins at 10:35 today, with the third and final race of the weekend being broadcast exclusively live on Motors TV from 15:05. You can follow all the action through live timing and updates on the official BRDC Formula 4 website.

Duo BRDC Formula 4 Championship - Snetterton - Round 16

1. Will Palmer, HHC Motorsport, 10 Laps2. Harri Newey, HHC Motorsport, +8.163s3. Tom Jackson, Chris Dittmann Racing, +9.161s4. Ciaran Haggerty, GBR/Ecurie Ecosse, +14.243s5. Omar Ismail, Chris Dittmann Racing, +20.817s6. Faisal Al Zubair, Hillspeed, +20.907s7. Rodrigo Fonseca, Lanan Racing, +25.630s8. Akhil Rabindra, Douglas Motorsport, +26.212s9. Chris Mealin, Lanan Racing, +27.323s10. Jack Lang, Lang Sport/Gorse Motors, +27.957s11. Sisa Ngebulana, HHC Motorsport, +29.428s12. Jack Bartholomew, Lanan Racing, +32.429s13. Jordan Albert, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, +32.935s14. Zubair Hoque, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, +34.720s15. Joe Stables, JR Racing, +38.934s16. Ameya Vaidyanathan, Hillspeed, +41.605s17. Hernan Fallas, Hillspeed, +44.206s18. James Reveler, 23 Racing, +49.979sDNF. Fernando Urrutia, Douglas Motorsport, 0 Laps

2015 Duo BRDC Formula 4 Championship standings after race 16 of 24

1. Will Palmer, HHC Motorsport, 383 points2. Rodrigo Fonseca, Lanan Racing, 294 points3. Tom Jackson, Chris Dittmann Racing, 290 points4. Harri Newey, HHC Motorsport, 269 points5. Ciaran Haggerty, Ecurie Ecosse/GBR, 264 points6. Chris Mealin, Lanan Racing, 241 points7. Jordan Albert, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, 238 points8. Jack Bartholomew, Lanan Racing, 211 points9. Omar Ismail, Chris Dittmann Racing, 167 points10. Akhil Rabindra, Douglas Motorsport, 148 points11. Jack Lang, Lang Sport/Gorse Motors, 145 points12. Zubair Hoque, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, 142 points13. Sisa Ngebulana, HHC Motorsport, 141 points14. Fernando Urrutia, Douglas Motorsport, 136 points15. Michael O'Brien, Chris Dittmann Racing, 134 points16. Faisal Al Zubair, Hillspeed, 130 points17. Ameya Vaidyanthan, Hillspeed, 116 points18. Sebastian Lanzetti, Hillspeed, 89 points=18. James Reveler, 23 Racing, 89 points20. Hernan Fallas, Mark Godwin Racing, 39 points21. Joe Stables, JR Racing, 36 points22. Paul Sieljes, Chris Dittmann Racing, 34 points23. Marc Gonzalez, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, 13 points