Norfolk racer George Russell has managed to maintain his perfect finishing record in the FIA Formula Three series despite, for the second race meeting in succession, all the drivers receiving a stern warning over driving standards.

However, Russell proved his undoubted skills at Spa by fighting his way from 21st on the grid for race three into a podium place to prove it is possible to race clean and overtake in the series.

'It was a great result to come away with a podium after such an unlucky qualifying, but now we can go to the next race and really push for more,' said the BRDC Autosport Young Driver title holder.

Qualifying had again put the local racer on the back foot. 'We were extremely unlucky. On my best two laps before the rain came in qualifying one, the driver way ahead of me made a mistake and came on right in front of me which compromised me a lot. I was fairly certain P3 was possible but we had to settle for P11,' he added.

'Then for Q2 it was a drying track, and on my best lap, the red flag came out three seconds before I crossed the line, so I had my best lap deleted.'

Race one at the Spa Francorchamps circuit saw Russell produce a lightning start vaulting him up to sixth place while race two was turbulent with a number of unnecessary incidents resulting in only three racing laps.

Matt Allison narrowly failed to secure victory on his return to competitive racing when the Norwich racer had to follow Luke Herbert across the finishing line unable to unseat his rival.

Allison had claimed pole position for his first start in the Michelin Clio Cup at the dauntingly fast Thruxton Circuit ahead of championship leader Herbert.

Herbert, beat the Intercity Racing team driver, to the opening corner and had to contend with Allison glued to his rear bumper for the remainder of the race.

'I've never been so disappointed finishing second to be honest, ultimately though we've got to put it into perspective it was my first competitive Clio race since 2011 and my first standing start since then too,' said Allison.

Race two produced a retirement for Allison who became embroiled in a fourth place battle with Brett Lidsey resulting in the pair clashing at the chicane which put the local driver out of the event.

Peter Bennett, also from Norwich, narrowly failed to join Allison on the race one rostrum having to settle for fourth place just missing out on his first podium visit of the season.

In race two the Finesse Motorsport of Wisbech racer narrowly missed out on a repeat of his fourth place by inches after a tight battle with Andy Jordan.

In the Sport category for novice racers in their first season, Cranworth's Adam Hatfield claimed two victories while being placed tenth overall in race one before improving to eighth place in the latter event.