The second round of the 2017 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 took place this weekend at Silverstone with Lake District-born Frank Bird continuing his progress in the series, although he was disappointed with his results at his home track.

The 17-year-old Be Wiser, Hager, WIX Filters and Frank Bird Poultry-backed driver, originally from Penrith, was in confident mood after a pair of top-20 finishes on his debut at Monza last month and was hoping to improve at the Northamptonshire track where he has lots of experience.

Testing on Friday proved promising and saw Frank improve his times during the day, but Saturday’s mixed weather conditions didn’t help and he and his Fortec team were left frustrated when rain intervened in the qualifying session to leave him on row 12 of the grid for the opening race.

From there, Frank didn’t make the best of starts and dropped down the order but he drove well to get back to 17th at the chequered flag.

Race two didn’t go to plan for Bird as, after a lengthy safety car intervention for a crash on the start line, he only had a few laps to climb the order but could only manage 22nd position by the finish.

“Overall, the weekend was positive, [we] had good pace in both wet and dry conditions,” said Frank.

“Qualifying One was difficult because it started raining midway through the session. Qualifying Two was wet for my session and for the second one for the others it was dry, so I was a bit unlucky.

“In race one, I got a bad start and dropped a few positions, but managed to get them back and finish 17th.

“Race two was frustrating because of the safety car and only had six racing laps meaning I struggled a little bit and finished in P22.

“I’m looking forward to Pau next weekend which will be my first street circuit race.”

Bird endures a busy few weeks what with Pau next weekend followed by a pair of races supporting the Formula One Grand Prix at Monaco later this month.

Results – Race 1: 1 W Palmer, 2 H Chaves, 3 R Schwartzman, 4 M Fewtrell, 5 S Fenestraz, 6 A Peroni, 17 F Bird.

Race 2 – 1 R Schwartzman, 2 W Palmer, 3 D Ticktum, 4 M Fewtrell, 5 R Guzman, 6 R Verschoor, 22 F Bird