Thomas Maxwell claimed his best results to date last weekend in the Formula Renault Eurocup Championship at Spa – taking a highly impressive seventh and fourth, grabbing some all-important points.

 

Consistency has been Maxwell’s strongest point this year, scoring points in all but two of the races so far. By finishing fourth, the Australian claims his highest finishing position in the championship so far and only narrowly missed out on a podium.

 

Things started well for Maxwell in qualifying on Friday. For race one, he put in a strong lap to see him lining-up in tenth, but was able to better this for race two, where he grabbed a spot on row four on the grid in seventh position. This put him a good position to attack at the front of the field for the weekend’s racing.

 

It almost looked too easy for Maxwell at the start of race one, picking off two drivers by the time the field had reached La Source. Then, on the infamous Kemmel Straight, he found a way past Victor Martins with a clever and brave move. Unfortunately, he lost a place to Colombo but managed to get back into seventh by getting past Logan Sargeant in the midst of what was a hugely competitive battle for good points. Once more, he made the move on the Kemmel Straight, and this time would hold onto the position until the chequered flag.

 

Race two was were Maxwell was at his most impressive, climbing from seventh to finish fourth. On the first lap alone, he was able to make up two places by making passes on Oscar Piastri and Max Fewtrell, which then allowed him to go chasing down championship leader Christian Lundgaard for fourth place. A safety car calmed the action down for a few laps, but as soon as the race restarted, Maxwell attacked for the place. The pair battled well for much of the race, with both overtaking and then losing the position to the other, but ultimately, it was Maxwell who came out on top. Once free of the dicing, he was able to pull a significant gap to the long train of cars from fifth place down and was able to comfortably take fourth. Towards the latter stages of the race, he was running as quickly as the third placed driver, so a podium really was within touching distance.

 

“I'm super happy to walk away from Spa with our best result of the championship,” he said.

 

“Had a good time there, a good haul of points, the team at JD did a really good job, they gave us a really good car.”

 

His haul of points from the weekend puts him in tenth place in the championship, not far behind fellow Australian Oscar Piastri in ninth. The championship takes another short break before it heads to the Hungaroring on the 1st and 2nd of September.

 

“I’m confident now going into the back half of the year that we can continue this and hopefully make our way to the podium. I think if we keep pushing and working the way we are we’ll be on track for a few more good results.”