The race, in which he finished 28th overall, having qualifed 36th on the grid, was considered by Renault and Walker to be a learning exercise, as he was the least experienced driver in the field and new to the circuit.
Speaking yesterday former Victoria College student Walker said: ‘Before we went away we intended to use the race for learning purposes.
Being invited to take part at Zandvoort is an honour in itself’.
Problems in qualifying and an accident during the early laps of the race affected Walker’s final position.
He said: ‘I had big problems with the car-to-pit radio in the cockpit, which came loose, eventually finding its way into the footwell, which caused me to spin off and cut my qualifying session short.’ Just as Walker had been climbing up the time sheet, eliminating drivers from in front of him, misfortune in the field meant that, although he qualified, he would start the race from at the back of the mammoth field.
The race warm-up brought further difficulties, with fuel feed problems meaning that his engine was cutting out, but Walker looked back positively at the experience by saying: ‘Yes, the race did have its problems, typified by a heavy crash up the order in the opening laps, which I avoided.
‘But I did get to experiment with different lines, the fuel pump problem was fixed and the car tested throughout the race.
I felt comfortable and settled into the race quickly.
The team were very happy that I qualified at my first attempt – and even happier that I bought car back in one piece!’ Despite initial problems Walker made up nine places in the race and was ninth out of the 15 British championship contenders, a solid result from a testing weekend.
He will be on more familiar territory at Silverstone this weekend and following three hours testing on Thursday, plus two qualifying sessions on Friday, the young Jerseyman will be hoping for a positive outcome from his two races on Sunday.
Walker is currently 16th in the championship table, with 14 points.
Leading the field is Nelson Piquet junior, with 184 points, in his second season of Formula 3 racing.
