WILL Bratt is chasing the race win that has eluded him all season as he gears up for the finale of the FIA Formula 2 Championship next weekend at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo Circuit.

Running at the front throughout his maiden season of F2 competition, the 22-year-old Banbury racer has enjoyed podium success on three occasions. On his return to Spain though for rounds 17 and 18, he’s hungrier than ever to push for that first Formula 2 victory.

During his championship-winning Euroseries 3000 campaign last year, Bratt won two of the three races staged in Valencia so has very fond memories of the 2.5-mile track.

Bratt said: “We have to be aiming for wins in Valencia. It’s been quite a frustrating season so I want to end the year showing precisely what we can do.

“My aim all season has been to be on the podium at each event but, for a variety of reasons, it hasn’t worked out that way. Qualifying has been our main issue this year, for whatever reason we’ve struggled to put a quick lap together.

“Our race pace has been good but we’ve started the races from too far back and have then been caught up in other people’s incidents a few times too.

“It’s disappointing not to be in the fight for the title, especially after such a successful year in 2009 in the bigger F3000 car, but the championship top three is still achievable so I’m going all out to secure that.”

Heading into the last two races of the season, the fight over third place in the standings couldn’t be closer with just 13 points separating the five contenders – Bratt, Russia’s Sergei Afanasiev, Austrian Philipp Eng, Lithuanian Kazim Vasiliauskas and Belgium’s Benjamin Bailly.