German takes second F2 win ahead of Tuscher and Zanella

Markus Pommer secured his second Formula Two win of the season with a superb lights-to-flag drive during today’s (Sunday) second race at Paul Ricard.

In sweltering conditions, the 21-year-old got a great start from pole to pull out a small gap over second-place Mathéo Tuscher and maintained it throughout the 19-lap race.. The Swiss racer came home second to round off an impressive weekend for the teenager after his maiden win yesterday and now closes the gap to championship leader Luciano Bacheta. Third place went to Christopher Zanella ahead of Kevin Mirocha with 22-year-old Bacheta completing the top five.

Pommer got away cleanly as the lights went out to lead from Tuscher, with Mirocha getting ahead of Zanella to take third and Bacheta and Mihai Marinescu both getting the jump on Dino Zamparelli. The Brit was determined to retake his position though and came very close to re-passing the Romanian in the opening few laps.

At the front, Pommer was maintaining a 0.7s lead over Tuscher while in the midfield Axcil Jefferies was leading a three-car train for the final points spot. By the halfway stage Pommer had now stretched his lead to more than a second and importantly out of Tuscher’s reach in the Boost Zones.

Zanella then moved up to third after getting past Mirocha up the inside of the chicane with Zamparelli finally getting ahead of Marinescu at the same corner following their lengthy duel. Bacheta also closed in on Mirocha in the final stages but at the front there was no stopping Pommer who now moves up to fourth in the championship standings, just three points shy of Zanella. Meanwhile, Tuscher’s second place helps the 15-year-old cut the deficit to Bacheta to 32.5 points with two rounds (four races) of the season left to play out.

Outside the top five, Zamparelli finished sixth from Marinescu with Daniel McKenzie battling his way back to eighth place. Ninth place went to Plamen Kralev with the Bulgarian claiming his first points finish of the season with Axcil Jefferies ending 10th and his fifth successive top 10 position.

Speaking afterwards Pommer said: "The win feels really good! Everything went well. The car felt good and so was my start. The tyres were great too and it was a fantastic race. Tuscher was quicker than me on the opening few laps but then I was able to pull out a gap and I just drove really smoothly until the end of the race. It’s a great result for my championship and now I can fight for second place."

The Formula Two drivers now have a six-week break until the next rounds which take place at the Hungaroring, Budapest, on 7-9 September. www.formulatwo.com

F2 Results: Paul Ricard – Race 2:

1. Markus Pommer, 19 laps
2. Mathéo Tuscher, +1.222s
3. Christopher Zanella, +2.143s
4. Kevin Mirocha, +6.345s
5. Luciano Bacheta, +7.217s
6. Dino Zamparelli, +7.483s
7. Mihai Marinescu, +13.537s
8. Daniel McKenzie, +15.255s
9. Plamen Kralev, +22.457s
10. Axcil Jefferies, +23.683s
F2 Drivers’ standings – After Rd 12:
1. Luciano Bacheta, 189.5 pts
2. Matheo Tuscher, 157 pts
3. Christopher Zanella, 143 pts
4. Markus Pommer, 140 pts
5. Mihai Marinescu, 135 pts
6. Kevin Mirocha, 96.5 pts
7. Daniel McKenzie, 80 pts
8. Dino Zamparelli, 71.5 pts
9. Alex Fontana, 70 pts
10. Hector Hurst, 27 pts