Donington: Julien Jousse event summary

Maiden F2 win for Julien Jousse at Donington Beat all Jousse One pole position, one win and two fastest lap times! Just a fortnight after notching up his first success in endurance racing at the wheel of the Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette in ...

Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:21 PM

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Maiden F2 win for Julien Jousse at Donington

Beat all Jousse

One pole position, one win and two fastest lap times! Just a fortnight after notching up his first success in endurance racing at the wheel of the Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette in the Algarve 1000km race, Julien Jousse was in crushing form as he dominated the 10th round of the FIA Formula Two championship in Donington. The second half of the season started brilliantly for the man from the sunny south of France, as he eased into 3rd in the drivers' standings. Of course, the more you have the more you want so he won't rest on his laurels!

A full day for testing was set aside by the race organisers on the Tuesday before the meeting took place. Clocking the 9th fastest time in that session might seem a modest achievement but it paved the way for Julien to attack the weekend in great shape. His groundwork was good and he proved himself perfectly at ease at the wheel of what is a rather out of the ordinary car. In fact, the Williams-Audi turbo F2 car is similar to the current crop of F1 cars in that you can control the down force of the front wing from the cockpit. This gives you more control over the balance of the car, especially going through the faster sections of the circuit.

The idea was to build on this confidence during qualifying. In the first session Julien clocked the 4th fastest lap, just 31/1000ths behind the 2nd- placed man. He pulled out all the stops in the second session in which an impeccably managed drive earned him his first-ever pole position in Formula 2 racing.

Julien will want to forget Race 1 for the mishap with the pit limiter in lap 2 and a contact with Hohenthal. On the plus side, a climb from 12th to 7th place, three clean passing manoeuvres and the fastest lap of the race put a smile back on his face. Race 2 went a lot more smoothly. Julien led the race from lap 1 to 25 with disconcerting ease. His closest rival came home a massive 15 seconds behind him at the finish! This is far and away the biggest winning margin to date this season.

"My main worry was getting off to a good start. This time I used my boost, unlike in race 1. I started to pull away from the field only for the safety car to bunch everyone up again. After doing well at the restart I opened up a lead again. I made sure I maintained my rhythm until the end of the race but I didn't want to settle for just a few seconds lead. It felt so good in this car that I attacked even harder, victory in itself was not enough!" Three laps from the end Julien shaved a revelatory 7/10ths off the fastest lap in the race. He was also fastest through all three segments of the track! He now has Wickens firmly in his sights just two points ahead of him in the championship, although Soucek is still a clear leader. But where there's a will there's a way!

Before heading off to Oschersleben next September 5-6 for the next Formula 2 rendezvous Julien will continue an eclectic season by taking the wheel of the Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6.R in the 1000-km Nürburgring endurance race, next August 23. Julien came 2nd in the GT1 category in the Le Mans 24-Hour race and the team has invited him back to stand in for Luc Alphand, who is out of action following a motorbike accident early last July. The Clairay/Goueslard/Jousse crew is hoping for a repeat of its win in Portimao which would wrap up an early title in the Le Mans Series. What a glorious present that would make for the former skiing champion as he celebrates his 44th birthday!

-credit: jjPR/frc

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