Clarke storms to career-best second place at Brands Hatch

Brands Hatch, 16-18 July 2010


Jack Clarke celebrated the best result of his Formula Two career at his home circuit of Brands Hatch in Kent on Saturday (17th July) storming to a solid second place finish.

The young driver from Effingham qualified third on the grid for the first race of the weekend and a superb start and a brave overtaking manoeuvre on the Russian driver Sergey Afanasiev at the first corner, saw him emerge into Hailwood Hill in second place.  He was to hold his position for the long 28 lap race around the notoriously tricky Grand Prix circuit and was delighted with his performance.

“I am really pleased to get on the podium here at Brands,” said Jack. “My sponsor, KSS Design is here in force and there are loads of family and friends so it couldn’t have been a better place to do it. I had the start line move in my head and it came off. I tried to catch Dean Stoneman (the eventual winner) in the first few laps but his pace was rapid so I decided to concentrate on holding on to second. There was a lot of action going on behind me for third and fourth so it gave me some breathing space and I really enjoyed the race.”

In the second race on Sunday (18th July) Jack had a bigger problem on his hands having fallen foul of a red flag in the qualifying session and finding himself 14th on the grid.  He kept his head together and made up four places on the start and settled in to an uneventful race to reach the chequered flag in eighth place.

“I was in a bad place on the grid so I knew I had to work through the field at the start, he explained. “It is really hard to overtake at Brands so the start is vital! I had been on my fastest lap in qualifying when someone went off and the session was stopped so I had to settle for 14th but I was confident I would be able to make it into the points and I achieved that. So all in all with the second place and the points in the second race it has been a good weekend. I am looking forward to Brno in a couple of weeks. I know the win is just around the corner.”

The 2010 FIA Formula Two Championship moves back to central Europe to the Czech Republic circuit Brno in two weeks time – 30, 31 July, 1st August.