The first of two rounds in Callum Ilott’s home country may not have gone exactly to plan, but the British driver did at least show what he is all about, with two surging charges up the field.

Having Qualified on the front row, Ilott was eying up a home victory at Silverstone in the Feature Race, but he couldn’t even get his UNI-Virtuosi off the linefor the formation lap, as he stalled and was forced to start from the pits.

The 21-year-old got out onto the track some distance behind the rest of the field at the start, but somehow managed to close the gap and thunder his way through the field, fighting all the way to fifth place, in a magnificent drive.

Starting from fourth in the Sprint Race, Ilott connected with Yuki Tsunoda in the opening lap and was handed a five-second time penalty for causing the collision. Once again, he got his head down and attempted to make the best of the situation.

The Briton managed to claw his way to second, but pushed the limits a little too hard and spun on track, which forced him to retire.