Proud Derek Palmer Jr “over the moon” with progress

Derek Palmer Jr was bursting with pride for his new Infiniti Support Our Paras Racing team after making clear progress throughout their maiden weekend in the British Touring Car Championship.

Palmer Jr and the team arrived at Brands Hatch with very little experience of the Q50, having only shaken it down at Mallory Park last Wednesday, and after being forced to withdraw the second car of Richard Hawken due to technical issues.

But despite problems with the TOCA-supplied power steering systems throughout the weekend, Palmer Jr knocked several seconds off his times throughout and secured an 18th place finish in the final race.

This included an improvement of more than three seconds from free practice two to qualifying, where Palmer was 24th fastest.

“We learned a lot about the car, and the guys learned a lot this weekend,” said Palmer Jr to TouringCarTimes.

“Our aim was to get in the top 20 by the end of the weekend and we finished 18th in race three – I’m over the moon with that.

“We said from the very start that consistent progress is what we wanted to achieve, and that’s what we’ve done. I’m so proud of the guys for all they’ve done and for the car they’ve given us.

“We’ve done minimal running, and turned up here to mix it with some of the best touring car teams in the world.”

Palmer Jr inadvertently became embroiled in the lead battle in race two, when the duelling Gordon Shedden and Andy Priaulx caught him on the last lap. Honda Racing Team’s Shedden was held up slightly, but still got to the flag ahead of West Surrey Racing’s Priaulx.

Palmer Jr said: “That was a bit of an error on my part, I should have moved over earlier. I apologised to Gordon for that. On the radio they told me Jason Plato was going to pass me so I was confused [to see the Honda].”

Not only was it a first BTCC weekend for Palmer Jr, it was also a maiden outing for the injured former Paratroopers who are learning to engineer the Q50. Palmer Jr spoke of his pride in watching how the Paras worked on the car.

“Seeing the guys and watching what they do, operating as a team – I’m so proud of them,” he said.

Ex-Para and team leader Darren Fuller is a former Colour Sergeant in the Parachute Regiment who lost his right arm serving in Afghanistan 2008.

He said: “For all injured Paras who form part of the team, the weekend’s been absolutely fantastic,”

“It’s been a massive achievement just to get here with one car to race in the ultra-competitive BTCC. And we’ll certainly have the second car on the grid in a fortnight at Donington.”