Formula Two news

Soucek fastest in Barcelona test

Champion Andy Soucek topped Barcelona's single day of testing on Monday ahead of the weekend's season finale. In his home country, the Spaniard comfortably lapped the Circuit de Catalunya quicker than second-placed Miloš Pavlovic as Robert Wickens rounded out the top three. German Sanchez, the second Spanish driver in the field, ended the day in 17th place as Jason Moore led the way for Britain in 10th.

The Spaniard ran in the top five for most of the day but he left it until the final ten minutes of the final session to set his unbeatable benchmark time. The champions effort relegated Miloš Pavlovic; down to second after the Serbian had held top spot for much of the final hour.

"I knew we had good pace but I wasn't expecting to be that fast," said Soucek. "I am still really fired up for this weekend - people are maybe expecting me to just relax and take it easy but I want to win both races for the first time. There is a lot of work to do, but I am fully focussed on taking each session as it comes later in the week."

Robert Wickens attacked Soucek's time in the final moments and set his fastest lap of the day on his final tour of the 2.9 mile Grand Prix circuit. The Canadian fell short of the ultimate pace but he set an impressive time on his seventh lap on new tyres, which left him third overall.

"I have had a really good day," said Wickens. "We have accomplished everything and more in terms of our test programme and I am feeling really confident for the weekend. My best lap was set on the seventh lap with those tyres and I didn't use the boost so things are looking good for the weekend."

Julien Jousse ended up fourth having set the pace during the morning sessions, whilst Mikhail Aleshin improved late on to take fifth. The Russian recovered well following two spins earlier in the day and his effort was good enough to relegate Philipp Eng down to sixth.

Debutant Tristan Vautier remained the star of the show however, as the young Frenchman finished every session inside the top ten. The 20-year-old, who has won six Formula Palmer Audi races during the season, settled for an impressive seventh at the end of the day. Kazim Vasiliauskas and Mirko Bortolotti were eighth and ninth, while Jason Moore rounded out the top ten after a productive day of set-up work for the Briton.

Nicola De Marco was again just outside the top ten and double race winner Tobias Hegewald had to settle for 12th. Jolyon Palmer moved up the order late on to claim 13th ahead of Sebastian Hohenthal.

There were several minor spins throughout the day with Jack Clarke, Jens Höing and Pietro Gandolfi all recovering from wild moments during the final session.

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