Sweden’s Pierre Lundin took a giant step closer to securing the 2015 UIM F2 World Championship crown when he secured his third victory of the season in what many of the drivers described as the roughest conditions they have ever raced in.
Boating on Lake Lugano on a very hot August afternoon might have a tranquil sound to it but that was far from the reality that twenty four drivers faced as they left the start pontoon. Within minutes of the red lights going out the fleet were once again lining up for a second start. Nick Bisterfeld’s weekend to forget came to a sudden halt when he clashed with Stain Slaattedalen at the far demarcation buoy. Thankfully both drivers emerged ok from their upturned hulls.
As the red start light went out for the second time of asking Lundin made another lightning bolt start off the dock closely followed by Alex Carella and Stefan Hagin. Meanwhile things were about to get interesting in the mid-pack when Erik Edin and Konstantin Ustinov clashed at the top turn, that had seen many of the drivers struggle with all weekend. Edin then lost control with a broken steering arm and spun in front of Bimba Sjoholm, with no where to go she flew off Edin’s deck but was able to carry on. Ustinov though collided with Owen Jelf smashing a hole in the sponson of his BaBa hull. Jelf was unaware of the damage at the time but was soon forced to retire back to the pits.
Out in front Lundin was opening up a short gap between himself and Carella, Hagin though in third place was about to see his day come to a premature end. As he was lapping Sjoholm her Molgaard hull was feeling the effects after her clash with Edin and she was unable to avoid the fast charging German.
By now the race had reached half distance and it was Matt Palfreyman who was battling with Johan Osterberg for third place. The Swedish driver was finding the going tough in his Molgaard and spun out allowing Palfreyman to challenge the leading pair. With perhaps the heaviest boat in the fleet the British driver was unable to make any inroads on Carella and Lundin, plus his race was compromised when he lost over fifteen seconds trying to past a backmarker.
Lundin though was having no such problems and collected his third maximum score of the season.
“It’s fun to drive here” said the Swede as he collected the chequered flag, “There are incidents happening all the time. I lost some acceleration towards the end; I think there was a problem with my propeller which made the going really tough. Plus when you have an extremely quick driver like Carella filling your mirrors there is no let up.”
For Carella it was a fantastic return to F2 and one he toughly enjoyed.
“That was hard” said the local hero, “I didn’t want to let Lundin go, so I took a few risks to keep up with him, he’s going to make a great champion. I’m so happy we took the late decision to race here, though looking at the blisters on my hands I might not think that come Monday morning.”
After his third consecutive visit to the podium Palfreyman now moves up to second in the championship and the next stop will be his home Grand Prix in Nottingham, so will he feel any added pressure?
“Racing at Nottingham won’t really worry me” he said after the prize ceremony, “there won’t be any pressure there, racing a three world F1 champion now that’s real pressure.”
The UIM F2 World Championship now heads to Nottingham for the British Grand Prix, which will take place over the last weekend of September.
