Banbury driver Will Bratt made a good start to his FIA Formula 2 Championship career at Snetterton with a strong showing during a two-day official test outing.

The 21-year-old, who moves into F2 after contesting the recent GP2 Asia Series which formed part of his prize for winning the 2009 Party Poker Racing Euroseries 3000 title, enjoyed his maiden run at the wheel of the Williams JPH1B car he will pilot throughout the 2010 season.

Marking the first official test for the newchampionship intake, Bratt ended the two days with a best lap of 59.230 secs – just seven tenths of a second shy of the outright pace on the 1.95-mile Norfolk circuit.

On day one, he was second fastest during the last session and on day two, second again in the rain-affected final run.

In the top six for the majority of the test, he was pleased to do most of his running on a single set of tyres. In addition, he chose not to use the ‘overboost’ facility – which provides drivers with an additional 55bhp – when it became available during the wet final session on Wednesday, but still managed to be second fastest in session.

“I’m pretty happy with our first test inF2,” said the British Racing Drivers’ Club’s (BRDC) rising star.

“I think we laid some good foundations which we can build on at Silverstone next week.”

“Unfortunately, we didn’t have chance to benefit from our final new tyre run as it started raining just as I got out on track.

“F2 is certainly shaping up to be very competitive this year. I’m delighted to be part of such a fantastic championship.”

His next test outing comes at Silverstone on Monday ahead of the first two rounds of the Formula 2 Championship at the Northamptonshire track the following weekend.