Briton out-drags title rival Stoneman to take assured fifth victory

Jolyon Palmer reclaimed the overall lead in the 2010 FIA Formula Two Championship courtesy of an assured victory in today’s second race.

Starting on the front row alongside title rival Dean Stoneman – who wrested the overall lead from Palmer just 24 hours ago – Jolyon made a superb start to out-drag Stoneman on the run down to the first corner.

The pair were almost inseparable in the opening stages, exchanging fastest laps and establishing an early lead over the rest of the field. The gap peaked at just over one second on lap ten, and although Stoneman was able to close again on Palmer in the final stages he was never able to mount a full challenge for the lead.

Despite having Stoneman looming in his mirrors, Palmer looked assured and composed throughout, eventually claiming his fifth victory of the season and recapturing the championship lead in the process.

"That was all about the start – it was a perfect getaway," Palmer reflected. "I couldn’t pull away from Dean but we were both pulling away from third, so I just made sure not to make any mistakes and keep him behind.

"I was pretty relieved when the chequered flag came, but at the same time I was in control of my own race."

Behind the lead pair, Philipp Eng looked set to take third after winning an opening lap duel with Kazim Vasiliauskas for third – Eng losing out to the Lithuanian away from the line before a bold move on the outside of turn three saw him reclaim the position.

The Austrian suffered heartbreak however when his car retired on the final lap of the race, handing third to Vasiliauskas – his third podium of the year.

Sergey Afanasiev built upon a podium in yesterday’s race to lead home Benjamin Bailly in the battle for fourth, the Russian withstanding heavy early pressure to finish just over a second clear of Bailly.

Yesterday’s race winner Nicola De Marco also had to withstand heavy pressure from Benjamin Lariche for almost the entire duration of the race, but held on to complete the most successful weekend of his 2010 season. Unable to find a way past, Lariche nevertheless scored his best result of the year in seventh.

Kelvin Snoeks finished less than a second down the road in eighth, while Jack Clarke made superb early progress to clinch ninth, having started from 14th on the grid. Will Bratt rounded out the top ten, the Briton losing out at the start before working his way back up the order with eye-catching moves on Armaan Ebrahim and Mihai Marinescu.

Outside the top ten, Tom Gladdis enjoyed engrossing duels with Armaan Ebrahim and later Mihai Marinescu, while Ricardo Teixeira was the only race casualty other than Philipp Eng – the Angolan being tipped into a spin and out of the race by Plamen Kralev on the opening lap.

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Championship leaders share the front row as Jolyon Palmer sets second fastest time

Championship leaders Dean Stoneman and Jolyon Palmer will share the front row for today’s second race at Brno, setting up what could be a pivotal moment in the fight for the 2010 FIA Formula Two Championship.

Stoneman, who wrested the championship lead from Palmer after yesterday’s opening race, took his second pole of the weekend with an imperious display in second qualifying – the Briton going out early on fresh rubber and setting a dominant 1m45.683s with ten minutes of the boost-enabled session still remaining.

Having used his boosts, Stoneman returned to the pits and the rest of the field took up the challenge of responding to his benchmark. Philipp Eng initially looked to have come closest, the Austrian moving to within half a second of Stoneman’s benchmark, before Jolyon Palmer pipped the Austrian with five minutes to go to take second.

Neither driver was able to really challenge Stoneman, however, leaving him to take his fifth pole position of the season. "I wasn’t going to do the strategy that I did," Stoneman said, "but I had nothing to lose and I just went out there and went for it early."

Palmer’s late effort demoted Eng to third, meaning the championship’s top three will start from first to third respectively – setting up a potentially thrilling run down to the first corner between the three main title protagonists.

Kazim Vasiliauskas showed hugely improved form in today’s qualifying session to take fourth, having set the fastest first sector time of anyone during the session.

Yesterday’s race winner Nicola De Marco will share the third row with Russia’s Sergey Afanasiev, after the pair both set their best times with four minutes of the session remaining. De Marco finished just shy of six tenths of a second off Stoneman, while Afanasiev – third in yesterday’s qualifying – was just over four tenths of a second further back, underlining just how impressive Stoneman’s benchmark was.

Benjamin Lariche had been running an impressive fourth with just five minutes to go, but the Frenchman was forced to settle for seventh at the chequered flag as several drivers improved late on.

Lariche will line up alongside Benjamin Bailly, who finished fourth in race one, while Will Bratt edged Mihai Marinescu by the closest margin of the session to clinch ninth, less than two hundredths of a second ahead of the Romanian.

With the track bathed in sunshine it proved to be a remarkably incident-free session, minor moments for Jack Clarke and Ricardo Teixeira the only incidents of note

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Italian takes assured first victory as Stoneman snatches championship lead

Nicola De Marco claimed his first F2 victory in today’s opening race at Brno, the Italian jumping polesitter Dean Stoneman at the start and looking assured throughout the 20 lap contest.

Once into the lead De Marco set about establishing an impressive early pace that Stoneman could not quite match, building up a gap of around two seconds by lap eight which he then gradually extended during the remainder of the race.

De Marco, who qualified on pole and then slipped up from the lead in last year’s two races here in Brno, was justifiably delighted: "This is a really important win for me – it’s my first in F2 but also because it’s here in Brno where last year I did a mistake when I was first."

Stoneman could not quite challenge De Marco for the lead, but nonetheless took an impressive second place in his first ever race on the Brno circuit – his haul of 18 points helping him wrest the overall championship lead from Jolyon Palmer, who finished the race in fifth.

Russia’s Sergey Afanasiev finished a relatively quiet third – his third podium this year following top three finishes at Silverstone and Monza – with Benjamin Bailly looking comfortable in fourth.

Bailly had lost out to the fast-starting Philipp Eng on the opening lap, but went round the outside of his Austrian rival at turn three as Jolyon Palmer also looked to challenge Eng on the inside. Palmer was unable to find a way past Eng, setting up an engaging duel for fifth which saw the pair often separated by just over half a second during the opening stages.

Palmer eventually found a way through on lap 13, completing a well-worked pass on the inside of Eng going into turn three. The Austrian tried to respond with a challenge just two corners later, but Palmer defended well and Eng was forced to back out of the move – eventually coming home in sixth, several seconds down the road from Palmer.

Behind that battle, Kelvin Snoeks – starting from seventh on his return to F2 – was working hard to keep Britain’s Will Bratt at bay. Bratt himself had Tom Gladdis less than one second behind for much of the race, and was ultimately unable to find a way past Snoeks, even when Gladdis fell back to 12th after spinning at turn seven. Snoeks finished seventh, his second best result of the year after a podium at Marrakech, with Bratt finishing less than six tenths of a second behind.

Ricardo Teixeira and Benjamin Lariche enjoyed a race-long battle for ninth, with the Angolan eventually claiming the position by just over six tenths of a second – Lariche settling for tenth to continue his remarkable record of scoring points in every event this year.

Outside the top ten, Mihai Marinescu had an eventful race after clattering cones on the final corner in the opening lap. One cone became wedged in front of Mihai’s left sidepod, and the resulting loss of aerodynamic performance caused him to drop back through the field until he eventually pitted to remove the item.

Jack Clarke and Armaan Ebrahim endured a disappointing opening race as the pair collided on the opening corner – Clarke seemingly spinning on the apex of the right-hander and collecting Ebrahim in the process.

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Briton edges De Marco by just 0.045s; Sergey Afanasiev takes third

Britain’s Dean Stoneman sealed his fourth pole position of the season today at Brno, edging out 2009 polesitter Nicola De Marco by just 0.045s.

Stoneman left it late in the session, eventually moving to the top of the timesheets in a frantic last five minutes that also saw Nicola De Marco, Jolyon Palmer and Sergey Afanasiev take spells at the top.

It was Afanasiev who made the best start to the session, topping the timesheets for nearly all of the opening ten minutes before the field pitted for fresh rubber. The Russian resumed his spell at the top with around ten minutes to go, only to be displaced by Jolyon Palmer as the times began to tumble.

Stoneman was next to hold provisional pole, only for Nicola De Marco to capture the position by dipping into the 1m45s bracket for the first time. The response was immediate, Stoneman shaving half a second off his previous best to sit fastest with a 1:45.597s. De Marco tried to respond, but fell agonisingly short – missing out by just over four hundredths of a second.

Stoneman, who has never raced at Brno before, enthused: "I went out there to get pole but I didn’t expect to get that lap out there on a difficult track. Overall I was just chipping away at the session trying to get a quick lap – it’s obviously another new track for me and I only did 19 laps yesterday so it’s been pretty good. I’m fairly confident, hopefully I’ve got the start sussed and the aim is to win – but also to finish in front of Jolyon and Philipp."

Behind the lead duo, Sergey Afanasiev improved late on to capture third, with Benjamin Bailly also rising up through the order in the final minutes to claim fourth, just over one tenth of a second behind the Russian.

That meant championship leader Jolyon Palmer had to settle for fifth, although a late yellow flag period – brought about as Natalia Kowalska spun into the gravel and out of the session at turn seven – prevented him from mustering a final challenge. He will share the third row with fellow title contender Philipp Eng, the Austrian finishing just seven hundredths of a second behind Palmer.

Kelvin Snoeks, making his return to F2 after missing the last round at Brands Hatch with a broken ankle, was an impressive seventh, edging out Tom Gladdis – a points finisher here last year – by less than 0.03s.

The closest margin in the field was reserved for the fifth row, however, with Ricardo Teixeira and Will Bratt separated by just one thousandth of a second – Angola’s Teixeira ultimately claiming ninth, with Bratt rounding out the top ten.

In another typically close F2 qualifying session, Romania’s Mihai Marinescu missed out on a top ten starting berth by less than two hundredths of a second, while the top 17 drivers were covered by less than 1.4s.

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Russian pips Kazim by 0.014s on final tour, with Tom Gladdis third

Russia’s Sergey Afanasiev ended fastest in the second free practice session in Brno, edging out Kazim Vasiliauskas by just 14 thousandths of a second on his very last tour of the circuit.

The pair ended more than three tenths clear of Tom Gladdis in third, the Briton having held the top spot himself until the final minutes of the session when Vasiliauskas and then Afanasiev made their charge.

In what was an incredibly close session, fourth through to seventh were covered by less than one tenth of a second, while the top eight were separated by just over six tenths.

With the track now almost fully dry, lap times were almost 20 seconds faster than this morning’s wet opener. Dean Stoneman made the most of the early damp conditions to top the timesheets for the opening ten minutes before Philipp Eng responded, becoming the first driver to dip into the 1m47s bracket.

A mid-session break allowed the field to fine tune their set-ups and saw an instant drop in lap times as drivers returned to the track, with first Bailly and then Gladdis jumping Eng. Kazim looked to have sealed top spot after setting personal bests in all three sectors on his tenth lap of the circuit, only to be edged out by a superb last-gasp effort from Afanasiev.

Afanasiev, who took a podium here in Formula Master last year, said: “I think it was my best session of the year, an awesome session, and it’s the first time I’ve been fastest so I’m excited! Okay today is just a practice and qualifying is tomorrow, and I don’t want to predict anything but we will fight for pole – I want to go for it!”

Gladdis remained in third, but there was still time for Benjamin Bailly to jump Philipp Eng and clinch fourth by just two thousandths of a second. Nicola De Marco, a polesitter here in 2009, and Dean Stoneman both finished within four hundredths of a second of Eng’s time, claiming sixth and seventh respectively.

Ivan Samarin rounded out one of the closest top eights this season, the Russian finishing less than seven tenths off Afanasiev’s ultimate best after impressing particularly in the second sector.

Mihai Marinescu meanwhile pipped Natalia Kowalska by just over six hundredths of a second to clinch ninth, with the Polish racer rounding out the top ten.

Kelvin Snoeks was 11th, as the Dutchman makes his return to F2 having missed Brands Hatch with a broken ankle, while championship leader Jolyon Palmer – who was fastest in opening free practice – could only manage 12th.

Interestingly, the championship’s top three runners – Palmer, Stoneman and Eng – were the only drivers to spin in the early stages, until Plamen Kralev beached his car at the exit of turn five – the session being halted as a result two minutes before the end.

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Briton pips De Marco and Bailly in Czech Republic opener

Jolyon Palmer provided a wet-weather masterclass in a treacherous opening practice session in Brno, the Briton setting a string of fastest laps to top the timesheets for almost the entire 30 minutes.

With the rain abating as the session began, the championship leader looked in good touch from the outset and was fastest after his first flying effort. As the track dried, Palmer was able to take advantage and he set about establishing a clear gap between himself and the rest of the field over the first half of the session.

"I was quick straightaway and it felt quite clam," Jolyon explained – "I just kept plugging away on the laps and I had no traffic really so it was the perfect session. Brands was my worst weekend of the year by a country mile but I’m not going to take any mad risks here – I like the track and it suits my style so hopefully it will be a good weekend."

As Palmer dominated with a string of purple sectors and fastest laps, Russia’s Sergey Afanasiev looked his main challenger but was often only able to close to within half a second of the Briton.

With just ten minutes to go, however, Italy’s Nicola De Marco – a polesitter at Brno last year – made the most of a significantly drying track to start his own charge, which eventually saw the Italian finish just two tenths shy of Palmer’s overall benchmark.

Benjamin Bailly and Will Bratt also set their fastest times as the session drew to a close, with the Belgian pipping Bratt by just five thousandths of a second to claim third. It was an impressive display by both men, both of whom finished within half a second of Palmer despite never having been to the circuit before.

Having missed out on a first win of 2010 in the last race at Brands Hatch, Kazim Vasiliauskas will be hoping to bounce back this weekend and the Lithuanian got off to a good start by finishing fifth fastest in first practice.

Kazim’s effort demoted the impressive Sergey Afanasiev into sixth, with the Russian the last driver to lap within one second of Jolyon Palmer’s best.

Both Philipp Eng and Dean Stoneman, Palmer’s two main championship rivals, could only manage seventh and eighth respectively, although Stoneman did have the difficult challenge of learning the Brno circuit for the first time in the wet.

Natalia Kowalska meanwhile was an impressive ninth, matching her best ever result in F2, while Ivan Samarin – who at one stage had matched exactly Jolyon Palmer’s best effort in sector two – rounded out the top ten. Kelvin Snoeks, returning to F2 after a broken ankle forced him to miss Brands Hatch, finished 12th fastest.

A late red flag period, brought about by a stalled engine on the test car of Steven Kane, led to the session ending five minutes early. Jack Clarke and Julian Theobald were the only spinners when the session was at its wettest, although both were able to rejoin without damage.

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