JACK Clarke finished his first year of the FIA Formula Two Championship with a double header at the famous Circuit de Cataluña near Barcelona.

The 21-year-old from Effingham was hoping to move into the off-season on a real high and a strong testing performance earlier in the week indicated that he was on track for a strong result.

But a spin in the first qualifying session on Friday afternoon put him on the back foot and he was unable to make up the ground on what is a notoriously unforgiving track.

He left with a 14th place finish under his belt on a track where overtaking is a rarity.

"I was confident of a strong performance in Barcelona," said Clarke. "I have never raced here before but with a day's testing on Monday for all of us I felt I had some preparation.

"But it is a very tricky circuit and although I showed pace in testing, we lost our way a little in the qualifying and I had a huge battle on my hands to recover in the race.

"Technically this is a really hard track to gauge and I think we went the wrong way in terms of setting and I felt I was on the back foot all weekend. It is also really hard to overtake on this track and the qualifying performance is more important than anywhere else I have raced."

Despite this, Clarke has emerged from his first year in the FIA Formula Two Championship as the top British driver and is determined to find the sponsorship to continue his dream of Formula One with a second season of Formula Two in 2010.

He added: "It was a huge step up for me from Formula Palmer Audi to Formula Two. But you have to take risks in this sport and I have had some really good weekends.

"Clearly I wanted to finish on a high and felt after Monday's test that I had it in me to finish on the podium, but sometimes in racing you trip up once and the whole weekend suffers.

"I have to concentrate now on trying to raise the money to compete in Formula Two again in 2010.

"It was always a two year programme and I am expecting to be one of the front runners next year.

"There is some testing over the winter and I hope to be back in a car in less than a month."

For further information on the young racer go to www.jackclarkeracing.co.uk