Bacheta retains the championship lead as Fontana and Pommer share the winners’ spot.

19/09/2012

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It was, to be sure, an immensely frustrating weekend for him, but with just two races to go at Monza on September 28th/29th, Comma sponsored Luciano Bacheta still tops the FIA Formula Two leader board by what should be a comfortable enough 33.5 points margin to carry him to the 2012 title and the coveted Williams F1 official test drive awarded to the championship winner.

Of all the circuits on the Formula 1 calendar, only Monaco places a higher premium on starting grid positions than the HungaroRing - passing opportunities in a race situation here are very, very few. In official practice, there were signs that Luciano and his nearest rival for the F2 title, Swiss teenager Mathéo 'The Kid' Tuscher, were both somewhat off their customary pace. When it came to qualifying for Race 1 though, Tuscher managed to nail a second row spot behind Germany's Marcus Pommer and Poland's Kevin Mirocha. But things were not looking good for Luchi who was no nearer to finding an ideal set-up and finished over half a second adrift of pole in seventh place on the grid, separated from Tuscher by Alex Fontana, Mihai Marinescu and fellow Brit, Daniel McKenzie.

The race, however, dealt both the main championship protagonists very contrasting hands. Second place was already Tuscher's and sixth place Bacheta's when Pommer pulled into the pits at the end of the formation lap. McKenzie then gifted Luchi another place by running wide on the opening lap, and two laps later, Marinescu made a complete hash of trying to overtake Tuscher, running into the back of the young Swiss and eliminating himself on the spot. Suddenly, Tuscher was playing catch-up from near the back of the field, and Luchi was sitting in an untroubled third place, with none of his other championship rivals looking like a threat. Fontana meanwhile had avoided any trouble, found a way past Mirocha and quickly scuttled off into a comfortable, race-winning lead. And that's the way the race ran out, with Fontana returning to the podium for the first time since the opening rounds at Silverstone back in April, and a very relieved Bacheta now needing just three more points to wrap up the title in Sunday's Race 2.

As if! Once again, neither Bacheta nor Tuscher could find the 'sweet spot' in qualifying, both drivers finding themselves even farther down the grid than in Race 1 – Tuscher fourth and Bacheta eighth. At the front, Pommer, Fontana and Marinescu occupied the top three grid spots, while the ever-improving Brit, Dino Zamparelli, Switzerland's Christopher Zanella and Kevin Mirocha sat on the grid between Tuscher and Bacheta.

Putting his Race 1 problems behind him, Pommer stormed away to an unchallenged lead which he extended effortlessly to win by a huge margin of over 16 seconds. Tuscher made a great start, annexing second place which he held throughout to finish ahead of Zamparelli who had also found a way past Fontana and Marinescu in the opening laps. Bacheta meanwhile had his hands full with McKenzie who had started just behind him and snatched eight place on lap 13 before Luchi fought back and reclaimed it shortly afterwards.

So, in the final analysis, Tuscher's second place took a painful – though by no means mortal - 14 points bite out of Bacheta's championship lead, and Pommer elevated himself to being the only other driver within a (very theoretical) grasp of the Formula Two title. Cool heads and steely nerve from the three of them will be the order of the day when they re-convene for the final, high speed showdown at Monza. It's still looking very good for Luchi in his Comma sponsored car, but neither of his challengers is going to give him an easy ride.

In addition to sponsoring Luciano Bacheta's No 4 car in the series, Comma has been Technical Partner to FIA Formula Two, and the exclusive supplier of engine oils, coolants and maintenance chemicals to the championship since it was launched in 2009. All of the identical 500bhp Williams F1 designed Formula Two race cars are lubricated, cooled and serviced with maintenance products supplied by Comma.

You can read detailed race reports, view the complete championship standings and keep up with all the other latest FIA Formula Two news at the excellent official Formula Two website.