Palmer and Stoneman renew their championship battle in Portugal… but this time it’s Comma’s man who monopolises the points haul

05/07/2010

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Jolyon Palmer chalked up another superb win and a second place in the double-header FIA Formula Two Championship races at the Portimão circuit in the Algarve, Portugal over the weekend of July 3^rd/4^th. Displaying a growing mastery of what is effectively now an F1 style one lap 'shoot-out', Jolyon piloted his Comma sponsored car to pole position for both races, the best insurance against getting unwittingly involved in any of the 'red mist' racing spats that occasionally break out further down the field.

One such occurred in Saturday's race. It involved Austria's Philipp Eng and Jolyon's implacable rival and fellow Brit, Dean Stoneman, who had started sixth and ninth respectively on the grid. These two 'have previous' as they say, dating back to a similar coming-together at Monza in May, and the beef between them seems to have lost none of its chill in the interim. Their first lap incident in Portugal drew the inevitable attention of the Stewards who ruled most severely against Eng - already under a suspended sentence from an incident at Zolder in June - slapping him with a 20 second penalty in the race and a ten place grid demotion for Race 2. Both drivers were also placed under a suspended ten place grid demotion for the remainder of the season after they engaged in a bout of unseemly hand-bagging on the slowing down lap, resulting in Stoneman taking a trip across the grass and Eng being stranded out on the circuit.

The bottom line was that they both dealt themselves a severe blow to their championship ambitions, since neither of them finished in the Race 1 points. Jolyon, meanwhile, commanded the race from lights to flag, finishing ahead of Zolder Race 2 winner Benjamin Bailly and Briton Jack Clarke, who was enjoying his first Formula Two podium and a welcome return to something like his true form after a confidence-sapping first half of the season. 

Qualifying for Race 2 was a cliff-hanger. Stoneman waited until almost half way through the 30 minute session when most of the other cars were already in the pits changing to fresh rubber before making his big challenge on a clear track and knocking over two tenths off Jolyon's pole time for Race 1. Could anyone do better? True to the script, Eng and Jolyon were among those who thought they could, and an intriguing scenario quickly developed with half a dozen drivers taking a crack at Stoneman's target. Eventually, Jolyon prevailed, bettering his Q1 time by just over half a second. On paper, Eng had earned himself the other front row slot, but his grid penalty bounced him down to the sixth row. So who should Jolyon now have for front row company? Stoneman of course.  With less than half a second covering the first three rows and less than a second blanketing the top ten qualifiers (eleven if you included Eng!), Race 2 was set to be very competitive.

Stoneman is sometimes a very good starter, and got the jump on Jolyon - no slouch himself at the start - off the line and into the first corner when the red lights went out. Just like Race 1 at Zolder, Stoneman steadily built and maintained a small comfort zone between himself and Jolyon, who on this occasion was hobbled by an unexplained steering problem. It was revealed later to be a loose left front wheel nut.   

"I didn't know what it was, I just realised that I wasn't steering straight: I was actually steering straight through the last corner. It was fine on the reccy lap from the track to the grid, but obviously something's happened when we were parked on the grid and it was a nightmare throughout the race. I just couldn't wait to see the chequered flag", said Jolyon, who was fortunate that the battle behind him between Nicola De Marco and Benjamin Bailly kept them too pre-occupied to mount a telling challenge to his second place. As things transpired, De Marco was handed a 20 second penalty after the race for driving outside the track limits while defending his (temporary) third place, so Bailly eventually inherited those points while Nicola was relegated to seventh in the race results.

So, after all that, let's take a look at the championship situation ahead of Comma's big event of the year at Brands Hatch on the July 17^th/18^th weekend. On points, Jolyon has stretched ahead of Stoneman once more, with Comma's man on 182 and Stoneman's Silver Lining sponsored challenge on 156. That's only one point more than a race win in hand for Jolyon, nothing like a comfortable margin with eight races to go and a theoretical 200 race winning points still to play for. However, the chasing bunch now have their work seriously cut out, and if they are to mount any sort of meaningful championship challenge to the leading pair, they'd better get on with it, and soon. Eng, Bailly, Will Bratt and Kazim Vasiliauskas - covered by just 11 points (77 to 88) in third to sixth positions in the table - are all more than capable of winning races or at least being on the podium, which is where the big points live. But consistency is the key, and for various reasons, none of them has hit that rhythm so far this year. 

By contrast, Jolyon is the examplar. Except for Marrakech - where engine failure robbed him of second place and 18 points in Race 1 and he had to battle his way from ninth on the grid to fifth at the flag in Race 2 - he has finished first or second in every race so far this season. Maintaining that sort of form would surely put him beyond the reach of all but Stoneman, so that's where this intriguing championship battle continues to focus. Whatever you do, don't miss their 'local Derby' confrontation at Brands Hatch in just under two weeks time.    

Visit www.formulatwo.com for total coverage and live streaming of every Formula Two event, plus a wealth of background stories on the drivers and other essential features to keep you fully informed on the championship. It's the best, most comprehensive motor sport site on the internet. Honest! There's also complete HD TV screening of every race on Eurosport and Eurosport 2. Don't miss a minute of the action. 

In addition to sponsorship of Jolyon Palmer's car, Comma is also the official Technical Partner to the FIA Formula Two Championship. All 24 of the identical 480bhp Williams F1 designed JPH1B cars competing in the series use engine oils, coolants and maintenance products supplied by Comma.