Home comfort for cool Clarke

JACK Clarke celebrated the best result of his Formula Two career at his home circuit of Brands Hatch on Saturday, storming to a solid second place finish.

The young Effingham driver qualified third on the grid for the first race of the weekend and a superb start and a brave overtaking manoeuvre on Russian driver Sergey Afanasiev at the first corner, saw him emerge into Hailwood Hill in second place.

He was to hold his position for the long 28 lap race around the notoriously tricky Grand Prix circuit and was delighted.

"I am really pleased to get on the podium here at Brands," he said. "My sponsor, KSS Design is here in force and there are loads of family and friends so it couldn't have been a better place to do it.

"I had the start line move in my head and it came off. I tried to catch Dean Stoneman in the first few laps but his pace was rapid so I decided to concentrate on holding on to second. There was a lot of action going on behind me for third and fourth so it gave me some breathing space and I really enjoyed the race."

In the second race, Jack had a bigger problem on his hands having fallen foul of a red flag in the qualifying session and finding himself 14th on the grid. He kept his head and made up four places on the start and settled in to an uneventful race to reach the chequered flag in eighth place.

"I was in a bad place on the grid so I knew I had to work through the field at the start," he explained. "It is really hard to overtake at Brands so the start is vital. I had been on my fastest lap in qualifying when someone went off and the session was stopped so I had to settle for 14th but I was confident I would be able to make it into the points and I achieved that.

"So all in all with the second place and the points in the second race it has been a good weekend. I am looking forward to Brno in a couple of weeks. I know the win is just around the corner."

The 2010 FIA Formula Two Championship moves back to Europe to Czech Republic circuit Brno in two weeks' time on July 30 and 31 and August 1.

Formula Two standings (after round 12): 1. Jolyon Palmer, 186pts; 2. Dean Stoneman, 181; 3. Phillip Eng, 114; 4. Will Bratt, 107; 5. Sergey Afanasiev, 83; 6. Benjamin Bailly, 82; 7. Kazim Vasiliauskas, 77; 8. JACK CLARKE, 61.