The meetings come one after another and are all unique, but Dorian Boccolacci continues to take centre stage in Formula Renault 2.0. In Britain, on the fast track of Silverstone, two consecutive podiums reinforce his leading position in the 2016 Northern European Cup. Although qualifying is as important as ever, Dorian has a proven ability to excel in the races, his chosen field, with remarkable perseverance.

Silverstone does not really promote overtaking in FR 2.0. The progress of the second meeting of the NEC in 2016 showed that attacks were infrequent on the 5891m of this track circuit on a former air base. Well aware of the situation, Dorian gave everything he could to achieve his best performance in the two Qualifying sessions, after posting the second fastest lap in free practice, but held up in traffic on his fast laps, he set the 5th and 3rd times. The other feature of British track relates to the abrasive surface coating that rapidly degrades tyres, an element most significant during the last race.

In Race 1, Dorian was able to give free rein to his taste for attack from his 5th position on the starting grid. With a very good start at the lights, he quickly recovered 3rd place before going in pursuit of the top two. The gap was gradually decreased and then Dorian passed Will Palmer on the last lap to grab 2nd position with a real edge.

The situation was not the same on Sunday morning for the second race. Poleman Lando Norris that could not participate in Race 1, so he had the advantage of new tyres and the best chance to win. Other cars were very close to each other in terms of performance and position changes were relatively rare. Dorian managed to keep pace with Palmer but was never able to threaten and he preferred to take another podium place in 3rd position rather than taking unnecessary risks.

"Qualifying did not work out as well as I had hoped," confided the Tech 1 Racing driver. "I'm sure that I had the potential to get closer to Lando Norris on his home track. The first race was really interesting because the tyres could still make a difference. I pushed from the start to move into 3rd not get left behind. The car was getting better and I was enough faster than 2nd on the last lap to pass. In Race 2 I stayed close to Palmer, but overtaking was not possible without serious risks. Following him made me lose support on the front, especially in Sector 1 and the tyres were starting to wear before I could try anything. I'm still very satisfied to have run in the top three throughout the meeting thanks to the excellent work done by the team."

The results of this English weekend are very positive with consistency in the top tier of the NEC which allows Dorian to retain his championship position while increasing his lead. The collaboration with Tech 1 Racing proves increasingly fruitful and the rest of the season promises to be very interesting.

See you on 27th, 28th and 29th May for the second round of the Eurocup FR 2.0 in a single race held during the Monaco Grand Prix!

© Photo Klaas Norg / Dutch Photo Agency