Championship leader out in front during official test session
FIA Formula Two Championship leader Andy Soucek has set the ultimate pace during an official test session at Donington Park today (Tuesday).
After nearly four hours of potential running, Soucek set a time of 1:23.053s during the closing moments of the final afternoon session. "Today was a good day," the Spaniard enthused. "We made progress with the car, and came away with a very good time compared to the rest of the field. We tried a lot of things with the set up and finally ended up with a great car, but there is still work to do.
"It wasn’t really a surprise to set such a good time as we were very quick in the morning on old tyres, but for sure it’s not going to be as comfortable for me on the weekend. Everything can still change, but today gives me a lot of confidence before the races and hopefully I can extend my championship lead."
Milo Pavlović moved into second on his final flying lap of the day, having previously been at the lower end of the top ten.
Julien Jousse set the third quickest time as the majority of drivers improved late on after switching to fresh Avon tyres for the first time. Earlier pace setter Edoardo Piscopo ended up just 0.005s behind Jousse in fourth, whilst Red Bull-backed Mikhail Aleshin rounded out the top five.
Carlos Iaconelli, Sebastian Hohenthal and Mirko Bortolotti were sixth, seventh and eighth respectively, ahead of top Briton Jason Moore. The 20-year-old driver from Bedfordshire impressed on a circuit where he won twice during his 2008 Formula Palmer Audi Championship winning season.
Lithuanian Kazim Vasiliauskas had earlier been one of only two drivers to set a time inside the 1:23s bracket, but he failed to improve during the final session and ended up tenth overall. Vasiliauskas and Bortolotti were the busiest drivers on the day, having completed 77 laps, whilst Natacha Gachnang completed 76.
Previous race winners Tobias Hegewald, Robert Wickens and Philipp Eng will have all been disappointed to have finished outside the top ten in 11th, 14th and 15th respectively, whilst British pair Jolyon Palmer and Alex Brundle were sandwiched between them.
In a largely incident free day of running, there were brief spins for the likes of Germán Sánchez, Pietro Gandolfi and Tom Gladdis.
FIA Formula Two Championship – Official Test (sessions combined) – Donington Park, UK:
1. Andy Soucek, 1:23.053s
2. Milos Pavlovic, +0.291s
3. Julien Jousse, +0.553s
4. Edoardo Piscopo, +0.558s
5. Mikhail Aleshin, +0.580s
6. Carlos Iaconelli, +0.654s
7. Sebastian Hohenthal, +0.717s
8. Mirko Bortolotti, +0.800s
9. Jason Moore, +0.803s
10. Kazim Vasiliauskas, +0.830s