Emotions run high at Brands Hatch

28/07/2010

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The continuing battle between Jolyon Palmer and Dean Stoneman for dominance of the 2010 FIA Formula Two championship was played out over the July 16^th/18^th weekend. Palmer's rich run of points harvesting hit the buffers for the first time since Marrakech in early May.

After a barren spell, Austria's Philipp Eng got his championship challenge firmly back on track after a hard-fought victory in Race 2, and Tom Gladdis made a welcome and very impressive return for the first time since the season opener at Silverstone. If he can find the sponsorship to see out the remaining six races, expect to see the 19 year old Brit challenging again for podium finishes. Lithuania's Kazim Vasiliauskas was the unluckiest driver of the weekend, gear box problems eliminating him from what looked sure to be a race-winning lead in Race 2.

Dashed expectations

Having posted the fastest lap time (1m 16.111sec) in a pre-event official test session on Tuesday 13^th, Jolyon Palmer had every reason to feel optimistic going into the formal proceedings of the weekend. However, he was not entirely happy with his Comma-sponsored car's set-up in qualifying for Race 1, and a red flag delay just before the end of the session scuppered his trade-mark last minute dash for pole position, which his rival Dean Stoneman secured. Jolyon was in seventh place on the grid, with plenty of hard chargers around him to deal with before any hopes of a podium finish could be achieved.

Stoneman was immediately off and quickly out of reach, building an untouchable lead with a crushing succession of fastest laps before easing back to win by just over 8 seconds at the chequered flag. It was a truly impressive performance, and the most convincing race win of the season to date - no doubt about that. Jolyon got jumped by Nicola Demarco early on and despite several attempts to reverse the situation, could not improve upon eighth place at the finish. At the sharp end of the field, Jack Clarke confirmed his welcome return to form with a solid second place on the podium from third on the grid and Ivan Samarin went from sixth at the start to occupy the remaining step on the podium. All in all, not the most captivating race of the series so far, but that hardly seemed to matter. All the talk was of Stoneman and what anyone could do to contain him in Race 2.

If the grid for Race 2 looked a little unusual, it was because the red flag again interrupted qualifying - twice! This totally unsettled the plans and strategy of several drivers, not least Jolyon who was twice building towards his own best effort when proceedings were halted.

Controversy in the 'Big Event'.

With Vasiliauskas claiming pole and Philipp Eng on the front row, Jolyon had first to deal with Tom Gladdis (third) and Sergey Afanasiev (fourth) before he could think about getting to the two top qualifiers. This was going to be interesting. And it was, with the opening laps showcasing Formula Two at its best. The front two got away cleanly and in formation, but Gladdis made a hesitant start and lost position to both Afanasiev and Jolyon in the first lap. Jolyon then passed Afanasiev for third place, and set a new fastest lap going into lap 4. Stoneman also dealt with Afanasiev and was following Jolyon as they ran towards Paddock Hill bend. All eyes - including a host of Comma's invited guests seated in the Paddock Hill Grandstand! - were now focused on the two charging championship leaders. Jolyon claimed the one true racing line as the two cars approached the right handed, reverse camber descent. Stoneman braked late, ducked for the inside and inevitably lost front end grip as he came alongside Jolyon. Locked together, the two cars drifted out towards the sand trap at the bottom of the hill, Jolyon ending up beached and out of the race and Stoneman just staying on the tarmac to continue - now in fourth place, Gladdis having re-passed him in the clash - in pursuit of the leaders. That his move can best be seen as extreme rather than audacious was confirmed when the Stewards announced that Stoneman was under investigation. Meanwhile, Vasiliauskas was making a steady get-away in the lead until he suddenly ran wide at Surtees. What seemed at first to be a simple mistake rapidly dropped him back until the cause of his error was revealed as gearbox failure and he was cruelly sidelined on the next lap. With Eng inheriting the lead, Gladdis now came under intense pressure for second place from Stoneman, but despite the Southampton driver banging in the fastest lap of the race, Gladdis defended brilliantly all the way to the chequered flag and earned a well deserved runner-up spot just over half a second behind Eng. Ultimately, Stoneman seemed to settle for the points rather than risk any further scrutiny by the Stewards and eased back a couple of seconds behind Gladdis.

The podium and post-race press conference formalities took place with the results still listed as 'Provisional' pending the Stewards' enquiry, who checked "all the available evidences" and deliberated for two hours and forty minutes before imposing a 20 second race time penalty on Stoneman for "a breach of the regulations". While they also decided that "this incident does not constitute an unsporting manoeuvre," it nevertheless relegated him to twelfth place and out of the points. Jolyon was not immediately available for comment.                    

Visit www.formulatwo.com for total coverage and live streaming of every Formula Two event, plus a wealth of background stories on the drivers and other essential features to keep you fully informed on the championship. It's the best, most comprehensive motor sport site on the internet. There is also complete HD TV screening of every race on Eurosport and Eurosport 2. Don't miss a minute of the action. 

In addition to sponsorship of Jolyon Palmer's car, Comma is also the official Technical Partner to the FIA Formula Two Championship. All 24 of the identical 480bhp Williams F1 designed JPH1B cars competing in the series use engine oils, coolants and maintenance products supplied by Comma.