It was a comfortable victory from Will Palmer who took the lead on the opening lap, never looking back for race one domination at Silverstone. The biggest surprise came on the opening lap, when his Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 teammate Max Defourny retired.
There was drama at the start as Jarno Opmeer was clouted by Neil Verhagen on the grid when Opmeer’s car failed to get away. The pair would block the track bringing out the safety car and forcing the field to drive through the pits.
Up front, polesitter Defourny had made a poor start and was already down to third before his car came to a grinding halt on the back straight. It was a disappointing way to end his day, failing to finish for the first time this season.
Palmer meanwhile had made a tremendous start, taking the early lead and breaking away as the safety car came back into the pits. Henrique Chaves had inherited second and attempted to chase the leader, but was forced to defend from the ever-present Robert Shwartzman and Max Fewtrell.
Elsewhere in the field Gabriel Saucy was forced to pull in due to mechanical issues as the battle for second intensified.
With Fewtrell becoming ever more aggressive on the back of the Russian, Sacha Fenestraz and Alex Peroni joined the train behind Chaves, who had dropped over three seconds from Palmer who eventually cruised home for a comfortable victory, over six seconds ahead of the opposition.
Chaves held off race long pressure to claim second, with the positions remaining static after the fourth lap. Shwartzman took a well deserved third with rookie winner Fewtrell settling for fourth ahead of Fenestraz and Peroni.
Behind the queue for second, Richard Verschoor came home as best of the rest, with Gabriel Aubry in eighth ahead of Ye Yifei and home driver Daniel Ticktum.