Johan Jokinen dominates Silverstone free practice two
Danish driver sets the afternoon pace after Stoneman tops morning session
Johan Jokinen has set the pace during the second free practice session of the day at Silverstone, after recording a lap time more than four tenths quicker than the rest of the field.
Such was Jokinen’s dominance that the 19-year-old set two laps faster than his closest rivals, as he immediately bettered his own 1:37.9s benchmark to record a pacesetting 1:37.851s lap time with just over five minutes of the session remaining.
Jolyon Palmer and Sergey Afanasiev were second and third respectively – continuing their impressive pre-season testing form. Kelvin Snoeks proved to be the surprise package during the 30 minutes of action, as the Dutchman set the fastest first sector of any driver and finished fourth overall.
British drivers completed fifth through to seventh places on the timesheet, with Tom Gladdis, Will Bratt and Jack Clarke separated by little over one tenth of a second. Philipp Eng meanwhile was just 0.034s behind Clarke in eighth. Clarke was also involved in a strange incident when he had a minor coming together with another competitor at Abbey, although both cars continued without damage. Mihai Marinescu and Armaan Ebrahim rounded out the top ten.
Lithuanian Kazim Vasiliauskas finished 11th this afternoon, as he continues to get up to speed on his F2 return having missed the full pre-season testing programme. RACB-backed Belgian racer Benjamin Bailly slotted in behind Vasiliauskas, followed by Dean Stoneman – who also spun at the exit of Copse during the session.
Indian trio Parthiva Sureshwaren, Ajith Kumar and Armaan Ebrahim all endured off track moments, whilst Plamen Kralev spun at Becketts.
As the chequered flag waved, Danish driver Jokinen was already watching from the pitwall after ending his session with a few minutes to go. Reflecting on another strong showing, Jokinen said: "Everything just fell into place in this session. The car felt great on the circuit, the set up was almost perfect for the circuit now as it is now, and when I went out on new tyres everything seemed to just flow.
"In the first session I focussed on trying to do a race simulation and that went very well, so in the second I made it my aim to go for a fast lap – I needed to see if the set up was that good, and clearly it was! My overall goal is to win the championship, so of course as it is now I’m clearly going for the win – with a four tenths lead over the other guys it would be mad not to go for it!"
Earlier in the day Dean Stoneman set the quickest time during the first free practice session, the Briton finishing just 0.090s faster than compatriot Jack Clarke. Philipp Eng was third ahead of the impressive Jokinen, with Afanasiev and Gladdis again placed within the top six.
2010 FIA Formula Two Championship – Silverstone – Free Practice 2:
1. Johan Jokinen, 1:37.851s
2. Jolyon Palmer, +0.408s
3. Sergey Afanasiev, +0.538s
4. Kelvin Snoeks, +0.561s
5. Tom Gladdis, +0.609s
6. Will Bratt, +0.624s
7. Jack Clarke, +0.752s
8. Philipp Eng, +0.786s
9. Mihai Marinescu, +0.930s
10. Armaan Ebrahim, +1.043s