Mikhail Aleshin Scores Maiden F2 Win at Oschersleben
Mikhail Aleshin scored his maiden victory in Formula Two in the second race at Oschersleben today, although he had to fend off the attentions of Andy Soucek and Julien Jousse for the entire race.
The Russian made a decent start from pole but he had Jousse challenging his lead into the first corner. Jousse made a failed attempt down the inside and then lost momentum through turn two, which allowed Andy Soucek to sneak through into second.
Mirko Bortolotti failed to get away cleanly from fourth on the grid, the Italian dropping down the order as a result. Robert Wickens inherited fourth but was unable to challenge the lead trio, instead having to protect his position from a charging Nicola De Marco.
The opening lap drama didn’t happen at the expected first corner, but it arrived at the exit of turn nine when Philipp Eng barrel rolled his car at high speed after contact with another driver. The Austrian was completely uninjured during the spectacular looking accident.
The lead trio of Aleshin, Soucek and Jousse proceeded to open a small gap over Wickens in fourth. Soucek was able to put Aleshin under heavy pressure throughout, but he also had his mirrors full of Jousse behind. The Spaniard had a few exploratory looks down the inside of Aleshin, but he was unable to make any real attempt to pass. He also made a small mistake when running wide on the penultimate lap, and subsequently settled for second. When the checkered flag fell, the top three drivers were separated by just over one second.
Wickens hung on to fourth, ahead of De Marco and Tobias Hegewald. Alex Brundle held seventh position briefly after holding off Kazim Vasiliauskas, but the Lithuanian got by on lap five. Edoardo Piscopo was making a great charge from 14th on the grid and after making an impressive move on Sebastian Hohenthal at the exit of turn two, he then set about catching Brundle.
He eventually made his move past the Englishman across the start/finish line on lap 11 after getting a perfect run out of the final corner. He went on to comfortably clinch the final point, ahead of Hohenthal and Carlos Iaconelli, who both jumped Brundle late on. Jason Moore made a stellar start and held eighth on the opening lap until an unfortunate spin left him way down the order.
Aleshin’s first F2 win promotes him to second in the championship standings, having jumped his Red Bull Junior team mates Wickens and Bortolotti. “It’s incredible,” said Aleshin. “It was one of the most difficult races in my life I would say. I had a problem with the gearbox and couldn’t shift down properly - I was losing a lot of time, especially in the first corner. Well I was pushing and I didn’t make any mistakes, and that’s why I’m sitting here in the middle! I want to say thanks to my mechanic and engineer for all their help.”
Soucek now holds a 32 point advantage with only 40 available points remaining at Imola and Barcelona: “That was not the best start I have done,” said the Spaniard. “I saw the two guys fighting in front of me so I broke a bit earlier and I used the opportunity on the second corner where they were parallel fighting together, and I went a bit inside. Julien was quite fair to me and didn’t close, otherwise we would have probably crashed. It was a bit of a risk for the championship, but it went well. It was kind of impossible to overtake though, so I thought about the championship and I think eight points are very important now.”
Jousse completed the podium, but the Frenchman is not hopeful of challenging for the championship: “For me the championship is finished for sure, but I will fight the maximum for second position,” he said. Soucek can clinch the title with race victory in the opening contest at Imola in two weeks time.
Race 2 - Oschersleben - Provisional Classification:
1. Mikhail Aleshin, 18 laps
2. Andy Soucek, +0.479s
3. Julien Jousse, +1.061s
4. Robert Wickens, +2.914s
5. Nicola De Marco, +3.642s
6. Tobias Hegewald, +4.427s
7. Kazim Vasiliauskas, +5.381s
8. Edoardo Piscopo, +13.290s
9. Sebastian Hohenthal, +15.193s
10. Carlos Iaconelli, +17.116s
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Aleshin had some decent results in WSbR & Red Bull have kept him on the books……GP2 next year?
Be nice change to see a Russian in the upper levels of the sport. It gets damn tiresome seeing all the Spaniards, Italians and Germans etc.
Red Bull clearly thinks he is worth the investment……. & Dr Marko has signed & dropped more drivers from RB’s books than I have had vegemite sandwiches.
Wickens seems to be making a name for himself, he had a great run in A1GP & now F2, a stint in GP2 may be on the cards.
Have you seen the rumors Lotus is making a bid to buy the BMW outfit?
GP Week is also reporting a group of Indian investors are looking to do the same and placing Neel Jani in the seat.
The “Hulk” Hulkenberg claims he will “definitely” have an F1 seat in 2010.
Well Hulkenberg seems certain to be at Williams next year, maybe even with a Mercedes engine.
With the current engine power parity rules everybody wants one of those light weight, tightly packaged blocks. So, Rosberg to McLaren & a Merc to Frank?
As for Lotus, who knows? I would have thought raising capital would be tough at the moment.
Did you see that Mercedes has taken equity in Brawn? I’m seeing a return to the CART days where many of Mercedes engine cars had silver engine covers. What a slap in the face for McLaren!
The M-B Brawn deal is still a rumor. A scare tactic to light the fire under Whitmarsh’s ass for another win this year. A reigning WC at the wheel, a great KERS device, and one win to show? A not to subtle message that M-B have alternatives.
I predict a return of Ron Dennis to McLaren F1 upon the demise of Max Mosley. McMaren seem to have lost the plot without Ron at the helm. If they lose M-B as an active equity partner it will be big trouble for the team.
I also read they want a piece of Red Bull just to display the star logo on their car.
Come-on George, you know we live on rumors and unsubstantiated BS.
Without them we’d have nothing.
This hardly unsubstantiated.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78399
Anyway, lets see how it pans out. One thing is certain, everybody wants a customer Merc in the back of their car. The unit is small, great for packaging the rear end, it runs cool, meaning smaller radiators & more flexibility with side pod aero.
Maybe M-B wants to become like Honda in the IRL? Sole engine suppliers to the field of F1? That would be in keeping with Max’s global economy vision thing. Although I think the current regs limit an engine Mfg to four teams. But everything is changeable isn’t it?