Palmer clinches maiden F2 victory

The son of series boss and former F2 champion Jonathan Palmer dominated from start to finish after making a sound start and commanding the 40-minute race throughout.

Dean Stoneman made a quick getaway from third on the grid and followed Palmer closely for the first half of the race. But a 360-degree spin at Becketts on lap 14 cost him four seconds and gave the leader a comfortable margin to the end.

Johan Jokinen, Philipp Eng and the fast-starting Sergei Afanasiev went three wide into Copse at the start, and Jokinen lost out as the trio headed into Becketts and he was forced with onto the grass. The Dane dropped to 13th place and then went missing for good on the third lap.

That left Afanasiev in third and for the first couple of laps a train formed behind him as Eng, Kazim Vasiliauskas and Will Bratt heaped on the pressure. Afanasiev eventually settled and drew clear to claim a podium on his series debut.

Eng, Vasiliauskas, Bratt finished in order behind, with Mihai Marinescu, Armaan Ebrahim, Nicola de Marco and Benjamin Lariche completing the top 10.

Russian rookie Ivan Samarin was black-flagged mid-way through the race after he stalled on the formation lap and resumed his original grid position for the start. Jack Clarke didn't start at all, his transmission failing as the lights went out.

Pos Driver                     Time/Gap
 1. Jolyon Palmer            38m16.660s
 2. Dean Stoneman                +3.011
 3. Sergei Afanasiev             +7.084
 4. Philipp Eng                  +9.932
 5. K.Vasiliauskas              +11.581
 6. Will Bratt                  +12.383
 7. Mihai Marinescu             +23.825
 8. Armaan Ebrahim              +26.881
 9. Nicola de Marco             +31.843
10. Benjamin Lariche            +34.242
11. Benjamin Bailly             +35.835
12. Kelvin Snoeks               +37.416
13. Paul Rees                   +45.008
14. Natalia Kowalska            +49.185
15. Plamen Kralev             +1:05.155
16. P.Sureshwaren             +1:22.842
17. Ricardo Teixeira             +1 lap
18. Ajith Kumar                  +1 lap

Not classified

    Ivan Samarin                12 laps
    Johan Jokinen                2 laps
    Tom Gladdis                   1 lap
    Jack Clarke                  0 laps


Fastest lap, Palmer 1m38.985s