Mikhail Aleshin scores maiden F2 win
Russian fends off Soucek and Jousse to clinch victory
Mikhail Aleshin scored his maiden victory in Formula Two in the
second race at Oschersleben today (Sunday), although he had to fend
off the attentions of Andy Soucek and Julien Jousse for the entire
race.
The Russian made a decent start from pole but he had Jousse
challenging his lead into the first corner. Jousse made a
failed attempt down the inside and then lost momentum through turn
two, which allowed Andy Soucek to sneak through into
second.
Mirko Bortolotti failed to get away cleanly from fourth on the
grid, the Italian dropping down the order as a result. Robert
Wickens inherited fourth but was unable to challenge the lead trio,
instead having to protect his position from a charging Nicola De
Marco.
The opening lap drama didn't happen at the expected first
corner, but it arrived at the exit of turn nine when Philipp Eng
barrel rolled his car at high speed after contact with another
driver. The Austrian was completely uninjured during the
spectacular looking accident.
The lead trio of Aleshin, Soucek and Jousse proceeded to open a
small gap over Wickens in fourth. Soucek was able to put Aleshin
under heavy pressure throughout, but he also had his mirrors full
of Jousse behind. The Spaniard had a few exploratory looks
down the inside of Aleshin, but he was unable to make any real
attempt to pass. He also made a small mistake when running wide on
the penultimate lap, and subsequently settled for second. When the
chequered flag fell, the top three drivers were separated by just
over one second.
Wickens hung on to fourth, ahead of De Marco and Tobias
Hegewald. Alex Brundle held seventh position briefly after holding
off Kazim Vasiliauskas, but the Lithuanian got by on lap five.
Edoardo Piscopo was making a great charge from 14th on the grid and
after making an impressive move on Sebastian Hohenthal at the
exit of turn two, he then set about catching Brundle. He eventually
made his move past the Englishman across the start/finish line on
lap 11 after getting a perfect run out of the final
corner. He went on to comfortably clinch the final point,
ahead of Hohenthal and Carlos Iaconelli, who both jumped Brundle
late on. Jason Moore made a stellar start and held eighth on
the opening lap until an unfortunate spin left him way down the
order.
Aleshin's first F2 win promotes him to second in the
championship standings, having jumped his Red Bull Junior team
mates Wickens and Bortolotti. "It's incredible," said
Aleshin. "It was one of the most difficult races in my life I
would say. I had a problem with the gearbox and couldn't shift down
properly - I was losing a lot of time, especially in the first
corner. Well I was pushing and I didn't make any mistakes, and
that's why I'm sitting here in the middle! I want to say thanks to
my mechanic and engineer for all their help."
Soucek now holds a 32 point advantage with only 40 available
points remaining at Imola and Barcelona: "That was not the best
start I have done," said the Spaniard. "I saw the two guys fighting
in front of me so I broke a bit earlier and I used the opportunity
on the second corner where they were parallel fighting together,
and I went a bit inside. Julien was quite fair to me and didn't
close, otherwise we would have probably crashed. It was a bit of a
risk for the championship, but it went well. It was kind of
impossible to overtake though, so I thought about the championship
and I think eight points are very important now."
Jousse completed the podium, but the Frenchman is not hopeful of
challenging for the championship: "For me the championship is
finished for sure, but I will fight the maximum for second
position," he said. Soucek can clinch the title with race victory
in the opening contest at Imola in two weeks time.
Race 2 - Oschersleben - Provisional
Classification:
1. Mikhail Aleshin, 18 laps
2. Andy Soucek, +0.479s
3. Julien Jousse, +1.061s
4. Robert Wickens, +2.914s
5. Nicola De Marco, +3.642s
6. Tobias Hegewald, +4.427s
7. Kazim Vasiliauskas, +5.381s
8. Edoardo Piscopo, +13.290s
9. Sebastian Hohenthal, +15.193s
10. Carlos Iaconelli, +17.116s