Wickens doubles up in Barcelona
Canadian takes fifth pole of season ahead of Soucek and Eng
Robert Wickens clinched his fifth pole of the year in Barcelona,
setting a benchmark time of 1:38.096s in the final few minutes of
the session.
He will again be joined on the front row by Andy Soucek, who
held top spot until Wickens' late effort. Philipp Eng and Nicola De
Marco will start from the second row after impressive late
runs.
A brief shower in the morning meant the track continued to dry
and improve as the session wore on. Mikhail Aleshin made the most
of the early conditions, dominating the opening ten minutes and
bettering his own provisional pole time on three
occasions.
Tobias Hegewald, Robert Wickens and Philipp Eng remained in
close proximity to Aleshin, whilst De Marco and Jack Clarke both
recovered from spins during an early flying lap.
Almost every car pitted for new tyres with a little over ten
minutes remaining and the session would develop into a dramatic
final dash for pole. Aleshin was the first to complete a flying lap
on fresh rubber and the 22-year-old immediately improved to set a
1:38.470s lap time - the quickest of the weekend so far.
The decision to come out early seemed to have cost
Aleshin, however, as Soucek bettered the Red Bull-backed
driver just a few moments later.
Almost every driver improved their times late on as De Marco,
Hegewald and Kazim Vasiliauskas moved into fourth, fifth
and sixth respectively. Wickens was the last man to bolt on
new tyres and make a final attempt for pole, and the Canadian timed
it perfectly to set a phenomenal time of 1:38.096s and clinch his
fifth pole of the season.
"I am delighted," said Wickens. "It goes to show that the
championship wasn't lost through my lack of speed. Since Donington
Park the championship has been out of reach and since
then I have just been trying to maintain second. It's good coming
into the weekend with a nine point advantage and a win this
afternoon will clinch it for me. I went for an aggressive strategy
in qualifying and took my third pole position in a row, which is
pretty good!"
Several drivers made another attempt on their second lap but
none of the notable front-runners improved, as Soucek and Eng held
on to take second and third.
"It reminds me a lot of Valencia when Robert took two pole
positions and I couldn't get him," noted Soucek. "This time it
is a lot closer however, I have much better pace and I'm sure I can
challenge for the win."
"It was quite a crazy session actually," said Eng. "I had a
lot of traffic on my second lap which would have been even quicker,
but to finish just behind Robert and Andy is a good result."
Aleshin had been bumped down to seventh at the finish, ahead of
further impressive runs from debutant Tristan Vautier and Indian
pilot Armaan Ebrahim.
Julien Jousse rounded out the top ten although the Frenchman
encountered traffic on his final run, as both Pietro Gandolfi and
Jens Hoing were ahead of him on the track.
Jason Moore and Jolyon Palmer again showed well as the two young
British drivers improved to take 11th and 12th - a fitting way of
ending qualifying in their first campaign of international
racing.
Mirko Bortolotti and Miloš Pavlović are still
in the race for second and third in the championship, and the prize
of qualification for an FIA Superlicense, but their hopes were
seriously dented in qualifying two. The pair could only manage 13th
and 14th, ahead of a spirited run from Natacha Gachnang.
FIA Formula Two Championship - Qualifying
Two - Barcelona:
1. Robert Wickens, 1:38.096s
2. Andy Soucek, +0.067s
3. Philipp Eng, +0.105s
4. Nicola De Marco, +0.223s
5. Tobias Hegewald, +0.247s
6. Kazim Vasiliauskas, +0.318s
7. Mikhail Aleshin, +0.374s
8. Tristan Vautier, +0.392s
9. Armaan Ebrahim, +0.430s
10. Julien Jousse, +0.511s
Click here to
download the full classification.
The final round of the 2009 FIA Formula Two
Championship is taking place at the Circuit de Catalunya, home
of the Spanish Grand Prix, this weekend (29 October - 1 November).
Both races will be screened live on Eurosport and at the official
website www.formulatwo.com, with live timing and text commentary
available for all practice sessions, qualifying sessions and
races.