Luciano Bacheta secures F2 Portimão pole 28.04.2012: Brit takes maiden front-row start ahead of Pommer and Tuscher Luciano Bacheta will start from pole for today's (Saturday) FIA Formula Two race at Portimão with Markus Pommer

Brit takes maiden front-row start ahead of Pommer and Tuscher


Luciano Bacheta will start from pole for today's (Saturday) FIA Formula Two race at Portimão with Markus Pommer alongside him on the front row.


The 22-year-old Brit set his best time two thirds through the session in dry, sunny  conditions - the first time this weekend - before sitting the remainder of the session out. German Pommer was his closest rival with the 21-year-old lapping a mere 0.021s adrift with Swiss teenager Mathéo Tuscher, who secured pole last time out at Silverstone, in third.


Just a handful of the 17 drives took to the track when the 30-minute session got underway. By the halfway stage all but Mihai Marinescu were out with Daniel McKenzie the early pace-setter and already just a few tenths off Pommer's best time from yesterday's free practice. Tuscher then went top with Kevin Mirocha in third and Bacheta fourth with Marinescu only taking to the track with a little over 10 minutes left on the clock.


With around five minutes to go Bacheta went quickest before pitting shortly after and waiting to see if his time would be good enough for his maiden pole. Despite some strong pace from Pommer it would be, with Mirocha and McKenzie continuing their good form to complete the top five.


2011 F2 runner-up Christopher Zanella finished sixth with front-runners Alex Fontana and Mihai Marinescu, who both secured podiums last time out, in seventh and ninth respectively. Chinese racer David Zhu was eighth with McLaren Autosport Award finalist Dino Zamparelli putting in a last lap dash to secure tenth.


"We always planned for just one run unless it started to rain. I was pretty relived to get pole because, as with Silverstone, I wasn't sure we would be that strong and that we had the pace. I made a small mistake too so it wasn't the cleanest of sessions for me but we had the car set up really well. It did just start to rain at the end so I think we timed it all quiet well!"  


Today’s F2 race gets underway at 13:45 (local time) with full coverage, including live streaming, on the F2 website www.formulatwo.com.  


F2 Results: Portugal Qualifying 1:


1. Luciano Bacheta, 1:34.135s
2. Markus Pommer, +0.021s 
3. Mathéo Tuscher, +0.182s
4. Kevin Mirocha, +0.186s
5. Daniel McKenzie, +0.298s
6. Christopher Zanella, +0.321s
7. Alex Fontana, +0.398s
8. David Zhu, +0.419s
9. Mihai Marinescu, +0.437s
10. Dino Zamparelli, +0.636s

....        


-Tom Phillips, photo Formula2