Young Basingstoke racer Archie Hamilton has moved up the championship standings to second following a successful weekend at Oulton Park.
The 20-year-old Formula Renault championship star lags 19 points behind championship leader Josh Webster and has teammate Kieran Vernon nipping closely at his heels two points behind.
Qualifying and both races took place on Saturday with wet and dry periods throughout the afternoon adding to the mix.
In the dry, Archie qualified fifth for race one and third for race two in the 20-minute session.
Disaster nearly struck in the opening stages of race one when Hamilton was swallowed by a tangle of cars at the first hairpin pushing him back through the field. He was saved by a red flag because of an accident and a sudden downpour meant a restart from his original grid slot.
With the rain clearing, Hamilton opted for dry weather tyres, but the still damp track made driving on slicks a challenge.
Two laps from the end, with as much of a dry line as possible, Archie went on a charge and managed to pass Kourosh Khani and Callum Bowyer to take third place and claim another podium.
The start for race two saw Hamilton escape any first lap tangles and he was challenging for second when the race was halted by the red flags reappearing.
But on the restart, Archie’s clutch slipped and he rolled slightly, attracting a drive through penalty.
He came out of the pits in 16th place and over the four remaining laps regained eight places to cross the line in eighth place.
The Formula Renault Championship now heads into an eight-week summer break with rounds seven and eight of the season scheduled to kick-off the second half of the campaign from July 23 at Croft in north Yorkshire.
