Will Palmer secures BRDC Formula 4 crown with a round to go
Will Palmer wrapped up the BRDC Formula 4 title with three races to spare after a dominant performance that included two wins and a second place at Donington Park
Palmer, the son of BRDC F4 series boss and ex-Formula 1 racer Jonathan Palmer, and brother of GP2 champion Jolyon, won races two and three to claim the title with one whole round at Brands Hatch still to run.
"It's amazing and to do it with a win is even better," he said after his race three victory.
"I'm delighted and really grateful for the team because the car has been great all year, so I'm really happy."
Eighteen-year-old Palmer scored his ninth and 10th wins of the season at Donington and explained that his good form in qualifying, where he has been fastest four times and never been out of the top two so far this season, was the key to his title win.
"I haven't really made any mistakes and I managed to have quite good pace [in qualifying], which has made my life a lot easier for most of the race ones and race threes [where the driver with the fastest lap starts first], which is where I've been able to score big points."
Palmer, who is in his second consecutive season of BRDC F4, added that while he had been aiming to win the title this year, he had not expected to be quite so successful.
"I was always going into the championship aiming to win it, [but] with 10 wins and to win it a round early was definitely not as likely coming into [the season], so I'm delighted," he said.
"I'll be back at Brands to have a fun weekend and do as well as I can."
The winner of BRDC F4 receives a full test with GP3 team ART Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi at the end of the year and Palmer explained that moving up to GP3 or European Formula 3 is his aim for 2016.
"I'd like to move on [from F4], hopefully to F3 or GP3.
"Obviously with the championship I've got a test in Abu Dhabi in GP3 so I'll see how that goes and I'll be doing a bit of F3 testing too. [The F3 test team] is not confirmed yet, but that's the goal."
Palmer's HHC Motorsport team-mate Harrison Newey - the son of F1 design guru Adrian Newey - claimed the win in the first race of the weekend at Donington, his first in car racing.
The duo now occupy the first two positions in the championship standings with Chris Dittmann Racing's Tom Jackson in third.
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