SEAN Walkinshaw was happy to claim his first points finish in the EuroFormula Open season at the Autódromo do Algarve in Portugal.

His efforts saw him move into the top 12 in the championship standings.

Although qualifying didn’t go to plan, the 20-year-old Chipping Norton driver delivered the superb front-running pace he had displayed in testing to finish seventh in round three and 12th in round four despite starting from the back of the grid.

In addition to his appearance on the EuroFormula Open points table, Walkinshaw is also tenth in the Spanish F3 battle.

“We’ve definitely made good progress this weekend, overall I’m pretty happy,” he said.

“It’s been a lot better than things were at the Nurburgring, we were much more competitive and hopefully we can keep that progress moving forward now to Jerez in a couple of weeks.”

Despite some quick times in open practice, Walkinshaw could only qualify 15th for the opening race.

But a fine performance saw him finish in seventh.

Set to begin 11th on the grid for the second race, Walkinshaw stalled on the way to his starting slot, prompting a green flag which forced him to move to the back of the 20-car grid.

A good start saw the Oxfordshire driver begin to climb through the field, crossing the line in 12th.

Rounds five and six take place in Jerez, Spain over next weekend.

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