Palmer gets off to a flying start
The first world championship qualifying round attracted over 60 cars, which were split into two heats.
Palmer started near the back of his heat as a star-graded driver but quickly set about carving his way through the field. He nosed into the lead with five laps left and went on to record a relatively comfortable victory.
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Hide AdIn the final, Palmer repeated his charge and had moved up to fourth place by half-distance.
He worked his way into second and was rapidly closing in on the race leader, eight-times world champion Rob Speak from Manchester, but just ran out of laps to mount a challenge and had to settle for the runners-up position.
“We’ve spent a lot of money over the winter,” he said, “and hopefully it will get results.”
In Sunday’s second world qualifying round at Belle Vue, Manchester, Palmer retired from his heat but won the consolation comfortably to qualify for the final.
Struggling a little with the car’s handling, he still managed sixth in that race to complete an excellent opening weekend of the season.