Frenchman coverts pole position to race two victory
Julien Jousse, who started on pole position, took a dominant maiden victory in race two of the FIA Formula Two Championship at Donington Park this afternoon (Sunday).
Jousse made a fantastic getaway as the lights went out, whilst Kazim Vasiliauskas also had a storming start – the Lithuanian got by Sebastian Hohenthal and Mirko Bortolotti around the outside at Redgate to move into second.
An incident at the Esses on the first lap involving multiple cars towards the back of the field eliminated Jason Moore, Armaan Ebrahim, Jens Höing, Nicola De Marco and Tom Gladdis, and brought out the safety car for three laps. At the restart, Jousse pulled out a good advantage whilst Alex Brundle and Robert Wickens made contact at the Craner Curves. The young Briton made heavy contact with the barriers and both drivers were out on the spot.
Jousse continued to pull away from Vasiliauskas whilst an intense battle raged behind, as Mirko Bortolotti, Sebastian Hohenthal and Andy Soucek all scrapped for third place. Soucek made a remarkable pass on Hohenthal on lap 17 at the Craner Curves and quickly set about catching Bortolotti – the Spaniard applying intense pressure on the reigning Italian Formula 3 champion.
Bortolotti produced a superb defensive display to hold Soucek at bay as the pair went side-by-side through Redgate, Hollywood and the Craner Curves. Soucek was forced to concede and Bortolotti clinched the final podium position, whilst Jousse took victory by more than 15 seconds from Vasiliauskas.
Sebastian Hohenthal held off both Tobias Hegewald and Mikhail Aleshin to take fifth, whilst Milo Pavlović rounded out the points in eighth position. Carlos Iaconelli and Philipp Eng were ninth and tenth respectively.
Germán Sánchez and Jolyon Palmer both enjoyed good runs just outside the top ten – 11th place for Sánchez equalling his best performance of the season. Edoardo Piscopo retired late on, as did Natacha Gachnang after a spin at Goddards.
Julien Jousse said: "I’m happy because everything went right in this race. It was not the case this morning, because I made a big mistake and missed an opportunity to score big points. I’m happy to win after this pole. I was quick all weekend and I am happy to confirm that with a win. I don’t know Oschersleben, so I hope to learn it very quickly and get the same result."
Kazim Vasiliauskas said: "The start was not so bad. I used the boost and Bortolotti and Hohenthal were fighting on the inside of the corner. They both braked early so I just tried to go around the outside and I passed them. Then at the restart I made a mistake because I tried to press the boost but instead I pushed the wrong button! Bortolotti almost overtook me but I defended and after that I just tried to focus on my race."
Mirko Bortolotti said: "I’m happy to be back on the podium. It was a really difficult race for me because I was under pressure throughout the race. I had a close moment going side by side with Soucek, but it was fun."
Race 2 – Donington Park – Provisional Classification:
1. Julien Jousse, 25 laps
2. Kazim Vasiliauskas, +15.116s
3. Mirko Bortolotti, +17.858s
4. Andy Soucek, +18.318s
5. Sebastian Hohenthal, +19.315s
6. Tobias Hegewald, +19.948s
7. Mikhail Aleshin, +20.383s
8. Milo Pavlović, +21.440s
9. Carlos Iaconelli, +23.886s
10. Philipp Eng, +24.301s