Andy Soucek had failed to get a foot in the door of Formula 1 after two years in GP2, and saw Formula Two as his next best chance. It worked: he won the championship, and today received his prize of a day testing for Williams.

What’s more, he topped the timesheets at Jerez. Admittedly it’s a young driver test, so there are no hugely experienced Formula 1 hands to compare him against, but I think it’s a significant achievement nonetheless.

He was more than two-tenths faster than anyone else, which is a pretty good start. Those he was faster than included Gary Paffett in a McLaren, and Mike Conway in a Brawn, both of whom have tested for those teams before.

Nico Hulkenberg – GP2 champion and regular Williams driver for 2010 – will be in the car for the remaining two days of testing. It will be interesting to see how his times compare to Soucek’s.

So where will Formula Two success lead for Soucek? Today could give him a chance of a Formula 1 test role. Perhaps it will convince a front-running GP2 team to sign him up.

But it’s important for Formula Two that it leads somewhere. There wouldn’t be much prestige associated with the championship if the best Soucek gets is a season in Superleague Formula.