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Andy Soucek on top in pre race test

FIA Formula Two Championship leader Andy Soucek has set the ultimate pace during an official test session at Donington Park today (Tuesday).

After nearly four hours of potential running, Soucek set a time of 1:23.053s during the closing moments of the final afternoon session. "Today was a good day," the Spaniard enthused. "We made progress with the car, and came away with a very good time compared to the rest of the field. We tried a lot of things with the set up and finally ended up with a great car, but there is still work to do.

"It wasn't really a surprise to set such a good time as we were very quick in the morning on old tyres, but for sure it's not going to be as comfortable for me on the weekend. Everything can still change, but today gives me a lot of confidence before the races and hopefully I can extend my championship lead."

Miloš Pavlović moved into second on his final flying lap of the day, having previously been at the lower end of the top ten.

Julien Jousse set the third quickest time as the majority of drivers improved late on after switching to fresh Avon tyres for the first time. Earlier pace setter Edoardo Piscopo ended up just 0.005s behind Jousse in fourth, whilst Red Bull-backed Mikhail Aleshin rounded out the top five.

Carlos Iaconelli, Sebastian Hohenthal and Mirko Bortolotti were sixth, seventh and eighth respectively, ahead of top Briton Jason Moore. The 20-year-old driver from Bedfordshire impressed on a circuit where he won twice during his 2008 Formula Palmer Audi Championship winning season.

Lithuanian Kazim Vasiliauskas had earlier been one of only two drivers to set a time inside the 1:23s bracket, but he failed to improve during the final session and ended up tenth overall. Vasiliauskas and Bortolotti were the busiest drivers on the day, having completed 77 laps, whilst Natacha Gachnang completed 76.

Previous race winners Tobias Hegewald, Robert Wickens and Philipp Eng will have all been disappointed to have finished outside the top ten in 11th, 14th and 15th respectively, whilst British pair Jolyon Palmer and Alex Brundle were sandwiched between them.

In a largely incident free day of running, there were brief spins for the likes of Germán Sánchez, Pietro Gandolfi and Tom Gladdis.

Pos Driver Time Gap
1. Andy Soucek 1m23.053s
2. Milos Pavlovic 1m23.344s +0.291
3. Julien Jousse 1m23.606s +0.553
4. Edoardo Piscopo 1m23.611s +0.558
5. Mikhail Aleshin 1m23.633s +0.580
6. Carlos Iaconelli 1m23.707s +0.654
7. Sebastian Hohenthal 1m23.770s +0.717
8. Mirko Bortolotti 1m23.853s +0.800
9. Jason Moore 1m23.856s +0.803
10. Kazim Vasiliauskas 1m23.883s +0.830
11. Tobias Hegewald 1m23.930s +0.877
12. Jolyon Palmer 1m23.977s +0.924
13. Alex Brundle 1m24.068s +1.015
14. Robert Wickens 1m24.150s +1.097
15. Philipp Eng 1m24.291s +1.238
16. Armaan Ebrahim 1m24.387s +1.334
17. German Sanchez 1m24.456s +1.403
18. Tom Gladdis 1m24.564s +1.511
19. Jens Hoing 1m24.570s +1.517
20. Jack Clarke 1m24.579s +1.526
21. Henri Karjalainen 1m24.590s +1.537
22. Nicola De Marco 1m24.716s +1.663
23. Natacha Gachnang 1m24.948s +1.895
24. Pietro Gandolfi 1m25.832s +2.779

Written: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:03:49