FIA Formula 2 Championship front-runner Will Bratt secured a second row start for the first of this weekend’s two races at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit following a tense qualifying session at the 2.3-mile track this afternoon, Friday, 16th July. Having delivered an outstanding performance during official testing at the Kent venue on Tuesday of this week – where he was fastest in two of the three sessions and second quickest in the third – the reigning Euroseries 3000 Champion carried his impressive form forward to today’s track action. Lapping within 0.2 seconds of the pace during this morning’s opening practice to end the session in the top seven, Banbury-based Will opted to save a fresh set of tyres from the second outing for qualifying but still managed to post the second quickest time. Round 11 qualifying started well for the 22-year-old when, on his third flying lap, he shot to the top of the times with a lap of 1m16.595 seconds. Although he continued to improve his sector times and reduced his quickest lap to a mark of 1m16.267 seconds, Will eventually slipped to fourth fastest. “I’m fairly happy to be on the second row for tomorrow’s race”, said the Briton, “Fourth fastest is competitive but I am a bit frustrated not to have been able to take pole today as we’ve been really strong throughout testing. I feel as though pole has slipped through our fingers. “The first set of tyres were good and I was pretty satisfied to be in the top three after the opening runs but when we changed to the second set, the car started to understeer quite a lot – the balance just wasn’t the same so I wasn’t able to improve. We can definitely race well from the second row though so I’m fully focused on pushing for the podium tomorrow.” With this weekend’s action highly important in terms of the championship, Will knows a pair of consistent podium finishes would do his points total the world of good as he strives to remain in touch with the top two in the driver standings – Dean Stoneman, who is on pole position for round 11, and current series leader Jolyon Palmer, who lines up seventh on the grid for Saturday’s race. Round 11 will get underway at approximately 11.45 tomorrow, Saturday, 17th July, with round 12 qualifying following at 15.50. On Sunday, 18th July, the second Brands Hatch GP race will begin at around 13.05. For full details regarding television coverage on the British Eurosport network, please check listings. Live streaming of the race action will be available at www.formulatwo.com 2010 FIA Formula 2 Championship Driver Standings (after Rd10):
1st Jolyon Palmer, 182pts; 5th Will Bratt, 78pts