The Salisbury racer was impressive all weekend, taking his maiden podium on Saturday and followed it up with another on Sunday.

The Atech Reid GP driver carried his late season form into the Finals Series, taking a impressive third on the gird in challenging wet conditions on Saturday. In the race, the 20-year-old drove superbly to finish just three tenths of a second behind race winner Rowland, and claimed his maiden Formula Renault podium.

“I am absolutely ecstatic!” stated an exuberant Wells. “ I have been really pushing myself all year to get onto the podium in the Formula Renault 2.0 category and, after narrowly missing out at Brands Hatch late in the season it’s just great to have finished on the podium here this afternoon.

“I don’t think anyone can wipe the smile off my face right now!”

But the weekend wouldn’t end there for Wells. On Sunday he once again placed his Atech Reid GP car at the sharp end, despite making what he called a ‘rookie mistake’ in qualifying.

“Qualifying was quite difficult on Sunday to be honest,” said Wells.

“I made a bit of a rookie mistake and pushed too hard on the tyres too soon which caused cold graining. We should have been in fourth for race one, but I caught a bit of traffic on my quick lap which cost me time. Apart from that it was my fault as the car was brilliant. My mistake, but i’ll certainly learn from it.”

Starting from sixth, Wells had it all to do in race one.

“Race one was tricky from the off really. With the graining it was very difficult to get any speed out of the tyres as I was just understeering. It was a solid finish in the points.”

But race two would be a very different story for Dan. Starting from third on the gird, he was hampered off the line when pole-man Josh Hill stalled his Forte car.

“My start race two was absolutely fantastic, the only problem was Josh (Hill) was right in front of me and not going anywhere!

“I tried to defend the inside line into Richies but it was a lost cause. From that point a few guys went off ahead. I just ran my own race still trying to cope with the understeer. I managed to keep the car on the blackstuff, the two guys ahead of us came off and we managed to get third. It was some consolation considering I could have been second in qualifying or off the line but its a podium nonetheless, and a good points haul from the weekend.”

Wells currently lies second on the championship with two rounds remaining, and he believes he can take more silverware from Rockingham.

“I made a few mistakes in qualifying which cost us front row starts, but in the race we were strong. We challenged Rowland all the way yesterday and we were on the pace. Today I made it difficult for myself with the tyre situation, but I still managed to get the points. You need consistency in a championship with no dropped scored and we go to Rockingham knowning the car was very strong their earlier in the season.

“The cars been fantastic this weekend and the whole team have worked really hard. I’m hoping for a double win there!”

Photo: Jakob Ebrey