Jack Clarke turned his back on months of bad luck and mechanical gremlins at the Zolder track in Belgium yesterday (20th June 2010) storming to second in qualifying – just four one hundredths of a second off the pole time – and finishing the day with a hard fought fourth place finish in a high pressure race which wowed the huge on-site crowd and live TV audience via Eurosport.

The weekend seemed to start with more bad luck when Jack was picked up by a spinning Philip Eng while running seventh in the first race on Saturday. The young driver from Effingham in Surrey was the innocent victim in the German driver’s misfortune and at the end of Saturday Jack was left wondering if his luck would ever change...

Sunday dawned with new horizons as qualifying and the race were on the same day and Clarke was immediately on the pace in qualifying, holding on to the pole slot for most of the 30 minute session, just to be pipped by a fraction by local Belgium driver Ben Bailly.

From second Jack found himself on the very dirty side of the track and went into the infamous first corner in third place with Jolyon Palmer taking advantage of the clean side of the track to pass him. Palmer managed to hold onto second despite a hard charging Clarke hassling him throughout the 35 minute race. This battle allowed the front running Bailly to make a break and Dean Stoneman to catch up with the battle for second and third.

“I was a bit quicker than Palmer, “said Jack, “but this circuit is so hard to overtake that it was always going to be really difficult. This meant that Stoneman caught us up and sadly had more boosts left than me and managed to just grab me on the penultimate lap. I am sorry to have missed out on a podium here, but my pace was very fast and very consistent and I am leaving Zolder in very confident mood. It is just two weeks to Portimao in Portugal and I am feeling very strong. After so much bad luck I think I have drawn a line under this and feel great for Portugal.”

The 2010 FIA Formula Two Championship moves to Portimao in the Algarve in two weeks time – July 2,3,4 2010