A Czech in F1? Roman Staněk on a late-season surge in Formula 2
Czech racing driver Roman Staněk is on a hot streak in the Formula 2 championship, one step below the elusive Formula 1. The 21-year-old secured his maiden feature race win and first pole position in two consecutive weeks, propelling him into 8th in the overall standings.
On the weekend, Roman Staněk qualified in first place for the feature race around the Hungaroring, in the outskirts of Budapest. It marked a career first for the young driver, who came just short of winning on two consecutive Formula 2 race weekends.
Staněk remained in the lead of the race from lights-out until pitting on lap 15. His teammate at Invicta Racing, Leonardo Fornaroli dove into the pits a lap later, but had a superior out lap and emerged back on the track ahead of Staněk.
nThe Italian did receive a five-second time penalty for crossing the speed limit in the pit lane, but took the checkered flag a sufficient seven seconds ahead of Roman Staněk. The native from Valašské Meziříčí fended off Jak Crawford in 3rd, as many Czech fans looked on from the grandstands.
The 21-year-old driver took his podium tally up to four for the season. He finished third in the sprint races in Austria and the UK. The highlight of his season so far, however, came on the last weekend of July. At the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, Staněk secured his first ever Formula 2 feature race victory.
Despite finishing third on track, Staněk got promoted into first place after post-race penalizations for Alex Dunne and Arvid Lindblad, who had crossed the finish line ahead of him. Staněk entered this year’s Formula 2 season with only a single sprint race victory to his name. In March last year, he inherited the victory in Melbourne, Australia – this time from current F1 driver Isack Hadjar.
The recent results launch Roman Staněk into 8th place with 77 points in the Formula 2 standing. His teammate Leonardo Fornaroli sits on 154 points, holding onto the overall lead in the championship. Both drivers joined Invicta Racing at the start of the year, replacing last year’s Formula 2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto, now racing in F1, and his Indian colleague Kush Maini.
The current Formula 2 season has four more races left on the calendar, as Roman Staněk will look to continue his good run of form. The ultimate objective remains a place in the pinnacle of motorsport –Formula 1. At the moment, Tomáš Enge is the only Czech driver to ever achieve that exploit.
Enge took part in the last three Formula 1 races of the 2001 season, replacing the injured Luciano Burti at Prost Acer, a team owned by four-time Formula 1 champion Alain Prost. He only finished two of the three races, in 12th and 14th.
In the International Formula 3000 championship, the predecessor of Formula 2, Enge scored 8 pole positions, 6 race victories, and 16 podiums, between the years 1998 and 2004. Staněk becomes the second Czech driver to achieve all these feats at the penultimate step of single-seater Formula racing.
