Spaniard holds off Wickens and Jousse
Championship leader Andy Soucek recorded the fastest lap time of the day (Friday) during the second Formula Two free practice session at Oschersleben.
The Spaniard’s time was set relatively early on in the 30-minute session, whilst his title rivals tried to respond in the latter stages. Robert Wickens and Julien Jousse are second and third respectively in the current overall standings, and both drivers secured the same positions during the final moments of the second free practice session.
Whilst Soucek remains out in front, both Wickens and Jousse are confident of a good weekend ahead: "The weekend has started pretty well," commented Wickens. "I have come into the event in a positive frame of mind and I am happy with the progress we have made. I didn’t use the boost either so I can still find some time there. I really enjoy technical circuits like this – it seems to suit my driving style. Andy is in front, but it was only practice!"
"I am feeling confident," said Jousse. "The track is quite difficult to learn however, as it is quite bumpy. It is very easy to make a mistake here. My time was with the boost, but I don’t know what everyone else was doing. It will be very close in qualifying on new tyres."
Edoardo Piscopo set the last flying lap of the session, which included the fasted final sector of any driver. Unfortunately his first two sectors did not reach the same heights, but the Italian’s lap was still good enough for fourth.
Tobias Hegewald was bumped down to fifth and Milo Pavlović set a last minute lap to take sixth away from Austrian racer Philipp Eng.
Carlos Iaconelli and early pace-setter Mikhail Aleshin were eighth and ninth, but both drivers had late spins at the tight turn one whilst trying to improve their times. Lithuanian talent Kazim Vasiliauskas rounded out the top ten.
The tight, twisty and slippery nature of the Oschersleben circuit caught out several drivers, most notably Armaan Ebrahim, who spun into the gravel at the exit of turn nine, and debutant Ollie Hancock, who made contact with the barriers after a late off. It was an unfortunate incident for the Briton as he had set his fastest lap of the session during the previous tour. British trio Alex Brundle, Jolyon Palmer and Jason Moore were also amongst those who recovered from spins.
Earlier in the day Julien Jousse and Mikhail Aleshin had set the pace in the first free practice session, both drivers remarkably recording the same lap time of 1:21.514s.
Free Practice two – Oschersleben – Provisional Classification:
1. Andy Soucek, 1:20.900
2. Robert Wickens, +0.026s
3. Julien Jousse, +0.169s
4. Edoardo Piscopo, +0.231s
5. Tobias Hegewald, +0.355s
6. Milo Pavlović, +0.416s
7. Philipp Eng, +0.479s
8. Carlos Iaconelli, +0.524s
9. Mikhail Aleshin, +0.555s
10. Kazim Vasiliauskas, +0.634s www.formulatwo.com