Race 2
Pointless weekend for Minardi Piquet
India's Karun Chandhok scored the biggest victory of his
career by winning the GP2 sprint race at Spa on Sunday, after pulling off a
stunning move on Andy Soucek to take the lead. Meanwhile, the title race
took another bizarre twist, when points leader Timo Glock (iSport) was taken
out by Trident's Ricardo Risati on the warm-up lap, and failed to start.
Lucas di Grassi's third place means he goes into the Valencia finale just
two points behind. Soucek (DPR) grabbed the lead at turn one, when pole
sitter Ho-Pin Tung (BCN) locked up and ran wide, allowing Chandhok and
Javier Villa (Racing Engineering) past him. Villa fell back soon after,
however, to fifth place - but would soon be out of the frame after receiving
a drive-through penalty.After pulling out a lead of as much as 1.5 seconds,
Soucek was reeled in by Chandhok. Karun attacked him at Les Combes, using
the tow to draw alongside and then passing him around the outside of the
right-hander in sensational style.Chandhok then pulled away to a 1.5 seconds
win over Soucek. Di Grassi just held a late charge from Tung at bay to
finish third, while Mike Conway overcame Super Nova teammate Luca Filippi to
take fifth. Adam Carroll finished sixth, after also passing Filippi at Les
Combes.Yesterday's winner Nicolas Lapierre scored the point for fastest lap
after stalling at the start.
|
1 |
K. Chandhok |
Durango |
- |
|
2 |
A. Soucek |
DPR |
00'01"531 |
|
3 |
L. Di Grassi |
ART |
00'02"682 |
|
4 |
H. Tung |
BCN Comp. |
00'02"975 |
|
5 |
M. Conway |
Super Nova |
00'03"728 |
|
6 |
A. Carroll |
FMS |
00'05"636 |
|
7 |
L. Filippi |
Super Nova |
00'06"707 |
|
8 |
B. Senna |
Arden |
00'08"837 |
|
9 |
K. Nakajima |
DAMS |
00'09"305 |
|
10 |
R. Rodriguez |
Minardi |
00'12"919 |
|
11 |
V. Petrov |
Campos |
00'20"241 |
|
12 |
A. Zuber |
iSport |
00'20"379 |
|
13 |
K. Hirate |
Trident |
00'21"096 |
|
14 |
G. Pantano |
Campos |
00'22"765 |
|
15 |
J. Villa |
Racing Eng. |
00'23"033 |
|
16 |
A. Negrão |
Minardi |
00'28"532 |
|
17 |
B. Garcia |
Durango |
00'34"522 |
|
18 |
R. Risatti |
Trident |
00'40"017 |
|
19 |
A. Zaugg |
Arden |
00'53"408 |
|
20 |
J. Tahinci |
FMS |
01'01"477 |
|
21 |
N. Lapierre |
DAMS |
01'40"001 |
|
22 |
C. Bakkerud |
DPR |
- |
|
23 |
S. Buemi |
ART |
- |
|
24 |
M. Martinez |
Racing Eng. |
- |
|
25 |
N. Markus |
BCN Comp. |
- |
|
26 |
T. Glock |
iSport |
- |
Race 1
Nicolas Lapierre scored his second GP2 Series victory of
the season at Spa-Francorchamps today, dominating the feature race after
holding on to the lead from the start. Lapierre (DAMS) had to hold off the
challenge of Lucas di Grassi (ART) and Luca Filippi (Super Nova) at the
first corner. For a moment, they were almost three abreast, but Lapierre
clung on to the inside line, while Filippi brushed wheels with di Grassi and
ran wide, losing a place to Adam Carroll (FMS). Left stranded on the grid
were series leader Timo Glock, iSport teammate Andreas Zuber, third-placed
qualifier Bruno Senna (Arden) and Kazuki Nakajima (DAMS). Yet despite four
cars stalling within three rows of each other, no one collected them. Di
Grassi attacked Lapierre at La Source on lap eight, drawing alongside. But
Lapierre held on to the outside line and got better drive off the corner to
make sure he was still in front by Eau Rouge. The leaders pitted together a
lap later, as the pursuing Carroll and Filippi had a lap earlier. Lapierre
just beat di Grassi out of his pit box, but Filippi, who had passed Carroll
in the stops, got a great run on di Grassi on the exit of Eau Rouge, and
towed past him into second at Les Combes.
Carroll then pounced on di Grassi on the run to Pouhon,
when the Brazilian had a poor exit from the left-hander-with-no-name.
Lapierre made a break, which he would turn into a 4.8-second victory, as
Filippi and Carroll battled over second. That ended on lap 19, when Carroll
clipped the kerb on the inside of Pouhon and spun into the barriers on the
inside of the ultra-quick corner. He was unhurt. That promoted di Grassi
back on to the podium, and was another twist in the title battle between him
and Glock. Just as it seemed di Grassi would make a seven-point inroad into
Glock's lead, the delayed German set fastest lap, extending his lead back to
six points instead of five. The score is now Glock 79, di Grassi 73. Javier
Villa (Racing Engineering) grabbed fourth with a great move on Mike Conway
(Super Nova), the latter paying late on for a very early pitstop.
Xandi Negrao would have been next up, but his
Minardi/Piquet car died with two laps to go,
promoting Andy Soucek to sixth, giving DPR their first points of the season.
Karun Chandhok (Durango) and Ho-Pin Tung were next up, meaning BCN not only
scored its first point of the year, but also has a reverse grid pole on
Sunday. In the battle for third in the championship, Filippi took a huge
jump ahead of Giorgio Pantano (Campos), whose clutch exploded on the opening
lap.
|
1 |
N. Lapierre |
DAMS |
- |
|
2 |
L. Filippi |
Super Nova |
00'04"836 |
|
3 |
L. Di Grassi |
ART |
00'07"994 |
|
4 |
J. Villa |
Racing Eng. |
00'08"782 |
|
5 |
M. Conway |
Super Nova |
00'17"157 |
|
6 |
A. Soucek |
DPR |
00'29"016 |
|
7 |
K. Chandhok |
Durango |
00'30"418 |
|
8 |
H. Tung |
BCN Comp. |
00'31"899 |
|
9 |
V. Petrov |
Campos |
00'42"753 |
|
10 |
S. Buemi |
ART |
00'48"106 |
|
11 |
N. Markus |
BCN Comp. |
00'48"665 |
|
12 |
C. Bakkerud |
DPR |
00'57"134 |
|
13 |
A. Zaugg |
Arden |
01'02"351 |
|
14 |
J. Tahinci |
FMS |
01'08"875 |
|
15 |
R. Rodriguez |
Minardi |
01'13"823 |
|
16 |
B. Garcia |
Durango |
01'15"661 |
|
17 |
T. Glock |
iSport |
01'30"586 |
|
18 |
A. Zuber |
iSport |
- |
|
19 |
A. Negrão |
Minardi |
- |
|
20 |
R. Risatti |
Trident |
- |
|
21 |
A. Carroll |
FMS |
- |
|
22 |
K. Nakajima |
DAMS |
- |
|
23 |
M. Martinez |
Racing Eng. |
- |
|
24 |
B. Senna |
Arden |
- |
|
25 |
G. Pantano |
Campos |
- |
|
26 |
K. Hirate |
Trident |
- |
Qualifying
Negrao 11th, Rodriguez 19th
Nicolas Lapierre will start Saturday's GP2 Series feature
race from pole position after a surprise, last-gasp lap knocked Luca Filippi
off the top spot.Lapierre (DAMS), who started the first-ever GP2 race from
pole at Imola in 2005, saved his best run until last, demoting Filippi
(Super Nova) with just three minutes remaining. The Bahrain sprint race
winner will start from his first feature race pole of the season.Filippi sat
on pole for most of the session, and looked set to stay there despite a
fracas with Markus Niemela (BCN), who balked him through Stavelot, after
which Filippi showed his frustration by drawing alongside him.
Bruno Senna will start third for Arden, but hampered his
own chances by spinning at the final chicane and stalling his engine. That
meant he didn't get a run on his second set of tyres.Senna will start
alongside title protagonist Lucas di Grassi (ART), who did a great job after
contact with Mike Conway (Super Nova) at the chicane just as he was starting
his flying laps. Even with an evil handling car, di Grassi was less than a
quarter of a second off pole in fourth.Andi Zuber will start fifth for
iSport, bouncing back after his session-stopping shunt this morning. He will
share the third row with series leading teammate Timo Glock, who looked set
for an attack on pole only to be balked at the final corner by Christian
Bakkerud (DPR). He had to settle for sixth. Adam Carroll (FMS) will start
seventh, ahead of Kazuki Nakajima (DAMS), Campos twins Vitaly Petrov and
Giorgio Pantano. Conway, who lost his front wing in his collision with di
Grassi, lost any chance of improving and will start down in 12th. The
biggest moments of the session befell Ho-Pin Tung, who spun exiting Stavelot
in his BCN car, and Karun Chandhok (Durango), who suffered a lurid slide at
Pouhon which ended in the tyre wall. He was unhurt.
|
position |
pilote |
team |
gap |
laps |
best time |
|
1 |
N. Lapierre |
DAMS |
- |
13 |
01'56"884 |
|
2 |
L. Filippi |
Super Nova |
00'00"011 |
10 |
01'56"896 |
|
3 |
B. Senna |
Arden |
00'00"221 |
5 |
01'57"105 |
|
4 |
L. Di Grassi |
ART |
00'00"247 |
11 |
01'57"132 |
|
5 |
A. Zuber |
iSport |
00'00"336 |
11 |
01'57"220 |
|
6 |
T. Glock |
iSport |
00'00"373 |
12 |
01'57"258 |
|
7 |
A. Carroll |
FMS |
00'00"406 |
12 |
01'57"291 |
|
8 |
K. Nakajima |
DAMS |
00'00"453 |
13 |
01'57"338 |
|
9 |
V. Petrov |
Campos |
00'00"525 |
10 |
01'57"410 |
|
10 |
G. Pantano |
Campos |
00'00"740 |
11 |
01'57"625 |
|
11 |
A. Negrão |
Minardi |
00'01"048 |
12 |
01'57"933 |
|
12 |
M. Conway |
Super Nova |
00'01"081 |
9 |
01'57"966 |
|
13 |
H. Tung |
BCN Comp. |
00'01"090 |
11 |
