F2
Eng takes maiden victory at Brands Hatch
Philipp Eng added his name to the record books as a Formula Two race winner with a convincing victory today at Brands Hatch. The 19-year-old Austrian started from the pole, led throughout and finished the race 0.494 seconds ahead of Andy ...
Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:37 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Philipp Eng added his name to the record books as a Formula Two race winner with a convincing victory today at Brands Hatch. The 19-year-old Austrian started from the pole, led throughout and finished the race 0.494 seconds ahead of Andy Soucek.
"I was nervous as Andy put me under so much pressure," Eng recalled. "He was really quick in the back part of the circuit, in the fast corners, but I managed to keep my position. The key now is consistency, definitely."
"It is my first victory and it feels great," he added.
Soucek, who had started from second, had a slightly better start off the line than Eng, but couldn't quite make it into the first corner ahead of his rival. He then pressed Eng through much of the race, but could not force the Austrian to make an error. However, the pair were fast enough to stay out of the way of the next challengers, the trio of Kazim Vasiliauskas, Henry Surtees and Robert Wickens.
"I tried to put Philipp under pressure but he resisted well," Soucek confirmed. "I picked up some points over my main challengers (Wickens, Julien Jousse and Tobias Hegewald), but it is still not enough."
Vasiliauskas had made a great start from fourth, pipping Surtees into the first corner, and he held off Surtees and Wickens for much of the first half of the race. However, on the eleventh lap, Sebastian Hohenthal's car coasted to a halt on the track just before Sterlings Bend just after the Swede had managed to make his way past Carlos Iaconelli for eighth place. With the car just off the racing line, the stewards were forced to call out the safety car.
On the restart, then, Vasiliauskas ran wide at Paddock Hill Bend, his cold tires quite free of any grip, and Surtees and Wickham streamed through the wide-open door.
"It's a bit of a relief really," Surtees admitted. "I only had two points before this race even though we've had a pole and we've set fastest laps in practice. It's nice to actually finish a race!"
Wickens took fourth, just holding off Vasiliauskas, who was 0.271 seconds behind at the chequered flag. Iaconelli, Milos Pavlovic and Edoardo Piscopo took the final three points-paying positions.
With the win, Soucek reinforced his position atop the point standings: he now leads Wickens with 36 points to 31, with Jousse -- who crashed out today while trying to pass Iaconelli -- third with 25.
Soucek is well-positioned, then, for tomorrow's second race, especially as he clinched the pole position for it in this morning's second qualifying session with a time of 1:16.947, half a second faster than Eng's first-race pole-winning time.
Wickens looks to be a threat, though: the Canadian was only 0.028 seconds slower than Soucek in the session, and the race to the first corner should be close. But both Soucek and Wickens know that the most important thing at this stage is to continue scoring championship points.
"I am just happy to be on the front row for tomorrow's race," Wickens said after qualifying. "The main thing is consistency - there's no question that the pace is there because it's been there the whole year."
Tomorrow's second race will go green at 12:45 BST.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Brands Hatch: Race 2 qualifying times
Next article Brands Hatch: Series race one report
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Robert Wickens
Robert Wickens embraces last-minute call-up for IMSA Endurance debut at Road America
IMSA
IMSA
Road America
Robert Wickens embraces last-minute call-up for IMSA Endurance debut at Road America
Robert Wickens full of “gratitude” in home race return after extraordinary industry effort
IMSA
IMSA
Mosport
Robert Wickens full of “gratitude” in home race return after extraordinary industry effort
Robert Wickens set to again compete in IMSA sprint rounds with DXDT Racing
IMSA
IMSA
Robert Wickens set to again compete in IMSA sprint rounds with DXDT Racing
Latest news
Tom Cruise interested in racing ARCA car, per NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
42 min
Tom Cruise interested in racing ARCA car, per NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell
Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
3 h
Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
4 h
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 4 h
Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe