|
Sunday, 20 September 2009 03:00 |
 Spaniard Andy Soucek celebrated his 2009 championship title in style with a fifth Formula Two race win of the season.
 Andy Soucek celebrated his championship in style today, leap frogging Mirko Bortolotti and Robert Wickens off the start to claim his fifth victory of the season.
The Spaniard, who clinched the championship yesterday, continued his impressive streak in Formula Two as he looks forward to a test with the AT&T Williams F1 team at the end of the season.
The race got off to a frenetic start, Soucek burst between the Red Bull duo of Wickens and Bortolotti, Mikhail Aleshin made his way up to fourth place.
The Russian then passed Wickens on the outside at the Traguardo chicane, but Aleshin pushed too hard at the next corner and spun on the exit of Tamburello.
His car was stranded on the circuit as the whole F2 field powered through, unfortunately, Jens Hoing was unsighted and the German ploughed into Aleshin at high speed.
A safety car was instantly deployed but Pietro Gandolfi somehow did not see the boards and he ran into the back of the slowing Natacha Gachnang. The young Swiss female racer was furious with Gandolfi as she remonstrated with him after the accident. Both cars were out on the spot and this further prolonged the safety car period.
At the restart, Wickens got the jump on Bortolotti soon after the start/finish line, but the Italian had a problem. With smoke and oil coming from his car, Bortolotti pulled off but not before the slippery surface had caught out several drivers behind.
Alex Brundle was having a great run but the young Englishman was the first to hit the oil and it fired him off into the barrier. Julien Jousse and Jack Clarke followed, although Clarke was able to rejoin.
Marshalls were able to put sand down on the oil while the race continued and race leader Soucek was the first to throw up plumes of white dust into the cars behind. Wickens car was covered, which seemed to startle the Canadian momentarily.
he leading pair traded fastest laps towards the end of the race but they both maintained position as Soucek saw off Wickens until the finish.
"I got a good start. It was a bit dangerous because I was in the middle of the Red Bull cars and I was a bit uncomfortable, but I managed to squeeze up the inside. From then on I just pushed really hard to improve my lap times, I was very consistent and quick. Another victory, now five wins and eight podiums, I can't really expect more. Today I really wanted it to be good, and I'm very proud," said Soucek.
Milos Pavlovic took a lonely yet well deserved third place. The Serbian has been struck by bad luck throughout much of 2009 so it was fitting that he made his first visit to the podium since Spa Francorchaps in June.
"It's a relief to be back on the podium. Racing is all about confidence, so if you start having problems you start losing ground. This weekend I qualified well, and it's nice to be back in the top three," said Pavlovic.
Tobias Hegewald took fourth to fire himself back into the top six of the championship standings, whilst Carlos Iaconelli came home fifth.
There was a fantastic battle for sixth place and it will be a memorable one for young Briton Jolyon Palmer. The teenager has been in good form at Imola and he followed up his storming drive during yesterday's race with another here today.
His rise from 16th on the grid to sixth at the finish included a great pass on Spaniard German Sanchez. So Palmer went to score his first points of the season, ahead of Sanchez and Jason Moore.
The reigning Formula Palmer Audi also deserves great praise after racing with a broken hand throughout the weekend, taking the final point will make his efforts all the more worthwhile.
Nicola De Marco and Philipp Eng were also part of the five car scrap for sixth, but the pair had to settle for ninth and tenth respectively.
Armaan Ebrahim was struck with bad luck when his car did not get off the start line, whilst Kazim Vasiliauskas also retired when running well in the top six.
Race 2 results:
| Pos. | N° | * | Driver | Nat. | Sponsor | Time | Laps | Gap | Speed | | 1 | 22 | | Andy SOUCEK | ESP | FK-Automotive | 30'12.572 | 15 | | 145.79 | | 2 | 12 | | Robert WICKENS | CAN | Red Bull - Lukoil | 30'14.979 | 15 | 2.407 | 145.6 | | 3 | 25 | | Milos PAVLOVIC | SRB | Bobby Tech | 30'20.484 | 15 | 7.912 | 145.16 | | 4 | 8 | | Tobias HEGEWALD | GER | Interwetten | 30'28.961 | 15 | 16.389 | 144.48 | | 5 | 17 | | Carlos IACONELLI | BRA | Iaconelli.com | 30'32.735 | 15 | 20.163 | 144.19 | | 6 | 3 | | Jolyon PALMER | GBR | Comma Oil | 30'36.082 | 15 | 23.51 | 143.92 | | 7 | 31 | | Jason MOORE | GBR | Olney Tyres & Exhausts | 30'38.067 | 15 | 25.495 | 143.77 | | 8 | 27 | | German SANCHEZ | ESP | Go-Karts Orihuela Costa | 30'39.786 | 15 | 27.214 | 143.63 | | 9 | 10 | | Nicola DE MARCO | ITA | Friulana Flange | 30'39.860 | 15 | 27.288 | 143.63 | | 10 | 33 | | Philipp ENG | AUT | European Racing Events | 30'40.643 | 15 | 28.071 | 143.57 | | 11 | 44 | | Ollie HANCOCK | GBR | Race2Win - The Drivers Club | 30'42.792 | 15 | 30.22 | 143.4 | | 12 | 2 | | Sebastian HOHENTHAL | SWE | Mafi - Sweden Team | 30'45.806 | 15 | 33.234 | 143.16 | | 13 | 24 | | Tom GLADDIS | GBR | Marrache & Co | 30'46.444 | 15 | 33.872 | 143.11 | | 14 | 11 | | Jack CLARKE | GBR | KSS Design Group | 30'54.706 | 15 | 42.134 | 142.48 | | 15 | 23 | | Henri KARJALAINEN | FIN | Everyman - LTC Rakennus | 30'55.774 | 15 | 43.202 | 142.4 | | Not classified | | | 14 | | Mirko BORTOLOTTI | ITA | Red Bull | 13'38.221 | 5 | D.N.F. | 106.98 | | | 21 | | Kazim VASILIAUSKAS | LTU | Darsena Management | 13'39.580 | 5 | D.N.F. | 106.8 | | | 5 | | Alex BRUNDLE | GBR | Sen - GAC - Nasstar | 13'40.180 | 5 | D.N.F. | 106.73 | | | 4 | | Julien JOUSSE | FRA | E Leclerc | 13'41.086 | 5 | D.N.F. | 106.61 | | | 16 | | Edoardo PISCOPO | ITA | Auto Capital | 04'52.700 | 2 | D.N.F. | 117.93 | | | 18 | | Natacha GACHNANG | SUI | Motorex | 01'52.570 | 1 | D.N.F. | 149.66 | | | 9 | | Pietro GANDOLFI | ITA | Piscine Laghetto | 01'53.977 | 1 | D.N.F. | 147.81 | | | 6 | | Armaan EBRAHIM | IND | JK Racing | | 0 | D.N.F. | | | | 15 | | Mikhail ALESHIN | RUS | Red Bull - Lukoil | | 0 | D.N.F. | | | | 20 | | Jens HOING | GER | HASKAMP | | 0 | D.N.F. | | | Fastest lap | | | 12 | | Robert WICKENS | | Red Bull - Lukoil | 01'38.576 | 12 | 111.39 mph | 179.27 kph |
If you found this service informative please be kind and leave a tip.
|
|
|
|
|
NEWS by SERIES 
