Will Bratt secured his fourth podium of the 2011 FIA Formula 2 Championship during round eight of the season at the Nurburgring this afternoon, Sunday, 3rd July – a well deserved second place finish, from third on the grid, further boosting his title credentials.
With only three weeks to go until the category returns to the UK for the second British round of the year, at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit, Banbury-based Will is fourth in the driver standings but has closed the gap to third placed Miki Monras to a mere four points.
“I’m very happy to have finished second today to get back on the podium”, said Will, “It’s good for the championship position and a positive way to end the weekend after the problems in Saturday’s race. Three podiums from the last four races is a pretty good haul, I’m pleased with that.”
This morning’s qualifying session was unbelievably close with the 23-year-old just missing out on pole position by a miniscule 0.016 seconds, a lap of 1m47.992 seconds (171.72mph) placing him third on the grid. In total, the first two rows were covered by only 0.036 seconds.
Making a great start, Will immediately pounced to move ahead of second placed qualifier Tobias Hegewald and set about chasing down championship leader Mirko Bortolotti. By lap five, the Oxon racer was just 1.1 seconds adrift having posted what would prove to be his best lap of the race on the fourth tour – a time of 1m50.700 seconds (160.93 km/h).
On lap eight, the Safety Car was deployed to facilitate the recovery of Johannes Theobold’s stricken car but the cautionary period only lasted a single lap. At the re-start, Will was a mere 0.386 seconds behind Bortolotti over the line but he wasn’t quite able to get close enough to try a passing move and that’s the way the order remained to the chequered flag on lap 20.
“I got an average start really but used the boost and stuck my car around the outside through the first corner, it was a good move and great to get up into second so quickly”, explained Will, “There were a few little opportunities during the race but the track had rubbered-in a lot more today. Plus, our set-up was compromised as we lost a lot of valuable time due to Saturday’s damage issues.
“Even so, our pace was reasonably good and he (Bortolotti) was only able to pull away right at the end when my tyres had gone. It’s very difficult to follow so closely when you’re so evenly matched, I showed the nose a few times but in the end second is a decent result.”
Following two back-to-back weekends of racing in Europe, the FIA Formula 2 Championship now makes a welcome return to the UK for rounds nine and 10 of the season which will take place at Brands Hatch in Kent over the weekend 23rd/24th July.
Provisional 2011 FIA Formula 2 Championship Standings (after Rd8):
1st Mirko Bortolotti, 159pts; 4th Will Bratt, 92pts