Jolyon Palmer hailed his home round of the 2012 GP2 campaign as “a great weekend” after a podium finish at Silverstone.
The iSport International driver finished up as the best of the three British racers in both encounters, even though his weekend began with drama before he had even got out on track.
The traffic chaos outside the circuit on Friday morning led to Palmer being forced to run the last two miles into the circuit in order to make it in time for the free practice session.
It would prove to be a bit of a wasted effort in the end though with heavy rain rendering the circuit barely driveable.
“That was a very meaningless session,” said Palmer. “I got one flying lap in but even that was more a matter of just staying on the track! The visibility was the worst I’ve ever experienced.”
The 21-year-old from Southwater in West Sussex mastered yet more tricky conditions in qualifying to claim a best ever result of third on the grid. It was a position he held until the finish of the hour-long feature race on Saturday, which featured a wet track once again.
“It was a tricky race because of the difficult conditions,” said Jolyon afterwards. “In the end as it started to dry out we were struggling because the car was set up a bit more towards the wet conditions, so in the end I was happy to see the chequered flag and take a home podium.”
Palmer started sixth for the sprint race on Sunday, but got a terrible launch that dropped him towards the back of the pack – though he still managed to recover to P13 by the end of the first lap. He continued to make progress from there to finish up fifth.
“I had a very poor start and dropped back to P17 and then managed to make my way back through the field to finish fifth. It turned out to be a really enjoyable race, although I am sure with a better start we could have fought for the win as our pace was very good.”
Palmer's strong weekend moved him up to tenth in the standings as he continues his fightback from a difficult start to the season dogged by mechanical gremlins.
“Overall it’s been a great weekend – thanks to the team and the British fans for their determined support despite the conditions. I hope to carry this momentum through to Germany and move up further in the championship,” he said.
