In tricky conditions, the Frenchman claimed ninth place after starting the race on grooved rain tyres and finishing it on slicks.

Following up from his fourth position yesterday, Panciatici qualified in eighth place this morning, while Russian team-mate Daniil Move made strong progress to place his Junior Lotus Racing machine 11th on the grid.

Just before the race there was a heavy shower of rain. Panciatici was fitted with wet-weather tyres while Move remained on slick rubber. Unfortunately, Move could not start the race due to technical issues.

Panciatici raced well, and was able to make his stop for slick tyres just as the window for mandatory pit-stops opened. He lay in 10th place for most of the closing stages, but then moved up to ninth when the driver who finished one place ahead was penalised for corner cutting on the last lap.

Team manager Peter Crolla said: “Nelson was looking very strong for a while in qualifying. Unfortunately he couldn’t put all his good sectors together in the final moments of the session, and he completed his run just before the track was in optimum condition, but eighth was a good result. Daniil did a very good job and propelled himself up the grid compared to yesterday.

“When we went to the grid it was dry, but then it started raining on the warm-up laps. The call for weather to run slick or wet tyres was tricky. It was the right conditions for wet tyres for the first two or three laps. Then Nelson came in for slicks, which counted as his mandatory stop because the window was open.

“Nelson drove a good race. He was held up a little bit, but progressed very well once he got past.”

Next the teams visit the Hungaroring, near Budapest, for the sixth round of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series on July 3 and 4. Junior Lotus Racing is looking forward to the event. “Hungary’s typically a very hot race so it will be nice to get away from the rain!” said Crolla. “It’s a circuit that both our drivers know well and we’re hoping that we can build on Nelson’s two strong points-scoring positions from this weekend and get some more good results.”