Vasiliauskas wins at Imola, Soucek claims F2 championship

Date published : 19 Sep 2009 - 12:50:00

Formula Two newsnew fadeshow(fadeimages, 468, 234, 0, 3500, 1) Vasiliauskas wins at Imola, Soucek claims F2 championship 19 September 2009 / Results / PhotosAndy Soucek will follow in the footsteps of Mike Thackwell as the brand-new Formula Two champion. The Spaniard claimed his championship title at Imola on Saturday by finishing third. Kazim Vasiliauskas won the race. if (typeof getAdLinkAdTag =='function') getAdLinkAdTag( '468x60' ); Pole-sitter Vasiliauskas got a clean getaway, but he almost threw it away after running wide on the run to Tamburello for the first time. The youngster was able to rejoin just in front of second placed Mirko Bortolotti and maintain the lead, although under intense pressure. There was trouble behind as Julien Jousse, Tobias Hegewald and Nicola De Marco all made contact as they came through Tamburello - the result was a spectacular barrel roll for Hegewald, whilst De Marco ended in the barriers. Jousse was able to continue after a brief trip to the pitlane. The safety car was deployed to retrieve the stricken cars and Vasiliauskas was again under pressure from a gaggle of cars at the restart. Bortolotti had Wickens all over him, who in turn had a fast starting Soucek behind. Vasiliauskas soon found his rhythm and the youngster pulled away from the rest and took a phenomenal victory by more than seven seconds. It is Kazim's first full season of single seater racing and he becomes the first Lithuanian to take an international race victory. Bortolotti maintained second, but there was action behind as Soucek simply needed to beat Wickens and Aleshin to guarantee taking the title. Aleshin was already out of the picture after the Russian got a terrible start and also spun later in the race. Now Soucek was chasing down Wickens and the Spaniard got his man with a stunning move on the run down the back straight. Wickens had no answer and Soucek went on to pressure Bortolotti until the finish, taking his eighth podium of the season and with it, the championship. Wickens took fourth ahead of Philipp Eng and Milos Pavlovic, and the recovering Aleshin was some way back in seventh. German Sanchez continued with his impressive weekend and deservedly scored his first points of the season after fighting off Sebastian Hohenthal. The Spaniard also made a stellar pass on Natacha Gachnang early in the race, who was also fighting for her maiden points finish. Tom Gladdis and Jack Clarke both recovered from an off-track moment, whilst Jens Hoing crashed out on lap four. Ollie Hancock's race was ruined on the first lap after a poor start was added to when Pietro Gandolfi spun into the Englishman - both drivers were immediately out on the spot.