It wasn't the easiest of weekend's for Tech 1 Racing driver Thomas Maxwell at the Silverstone circuit over the weekend. Changeable weather conditions, which is normally par for the course at the British event, spiced things up for the young Australian in the second round of the 2017 Formula Renault Eurocup Championship.
Putting in some solid lap times during qualifying, officials then opted to disallow them due to overstepping the track limits, so he was left to start the weekend's opening race from 26th on the grid.
Incidents at the start of the race saw the safety car come out early, however once the racing got back underway, Thomas showed his Down Under grit and determination to slice his way through the field, making up 13 places from his original grid position to cross the line in 13th place.
“Some days life just gives you lemons,” Thomas said. “13th from 26th in Race 1 was the most we could do.”
The focal point then was to make sure he kept in between the white lines for Sunday's qualifying session, however that too was tricky due to the damp track conditions. After switching to slicks through the session, Thomas ended up 17th on the grid for race two, not ideal but better than Saturday.
The start of race 2 was very similar to race one with incidents making the safety car call a necessity once again after a driver was left on the grass, keeping the drivers under control until lap 6.
Just like Saturday, when the racing resumed Thomas carved his way up through the pack to eventually cross the line in a much more promising 8th place after another fierce battle with a fellow Aussie racer.
The next round of the 2017 Formula Renault Eurocup Championship will take place in Pau, France, this coming weekend.
