Dean Stoneman has taken the lead of the Formula Two standings after taking the victory in wet conditions during Race One at Oschersleben.
Stoneman dominated F2's first wet race of the season, after making an amazing start that saw him take the lead at the first corner, having started the race in fifth on the grid. Stoneman gradually extended his lead throughout the race, taking the checkered flag more than 15 seconds clear of second-placed Kazim Vasiliauskas.
Stoneman's championship rival Jolyon Palmer finshed third after a superb drive through the field. The Briton passed Mihai Marinescu, Jack Clarke, and Benjamin Bailly in the early stages of the race, before catching and passing Sergey Afanasiev to take third place. Palmer attempted to take second place from Vasiliauskas, but the Lithuanian defended well to keep him at bay.
Afanasiev finished in fourth, ahead of Bailly and Will Bratt. Philipp Eng had been running sixth towards the end of the race, but slid out with two laps to go, under pressure from Bratt. Eng took seventh place, but only after resisting pressure from Nicola De Marco on the final lap. De Marco had started third but struggled to get away from the line and dropped well down the field before making a comeback in the second half of the race. The Italian had caught up on to the back of Eng's car after the Austrian had gone off the track, and attempted to pass him on the final corner. However, he ran wide, clipping the wall. He dropped to ninth, Kelvin Snoeks taking advantage of the situation to finish eighth. Angolan driver Ricardo Texeira took tenth place.
Stoneman now holds a six-point lead over Palmer in the points. After the race, Stoneman said “I don’t know what I did at the start but it was a bit special. After that I just had to keep it smooth and stay consistent.”
Although disappointed to lose the series lead, Palmer was happy to have moved up through the field. “I wasn’t in a great position after the start but I was confident in the wet. I was happy to pull off a few moves and limit the damage to Dean.”
