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Vitaly Petrov has taken his first GP2 Series victory in today’s race at
Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia, leading home his team-mate Giorgio
Pantano to record a famous result for Campos Grand Prix on home soil.
The duo overcame the inclement weather at the track to beat poleman
Kazuki Nakajima into third position.
Race Report: A rain shower shortly before the start
of the race caught everyone unawares. As championship leader Timo Glock
looked to the sky and pondered how many more twists this season could
take before its end, the GP2 Series teams were hastily choosing whether
to go out on wet or dry tyres, with the majority opting for the safer
option.
As the lights went out, Vitaly made an astonishing start
from eighth to sit second at the first corner, as Kazuki kept first
position from pole. From out of nowhere however popped Roldan Rodriguez
in the lead to Nakajima’s surprise. Roldan had got a bit lost and
somehow cut out half the circuit, but despite letting almost everybody
back past him, he was soon handed a drive-through penalty.
The
opening laps were as confusing as they were enthralling, with the order
changing corner by corner as drivers slipped and skidded on the wet
track. Incredibly, on the third lap, both Luca Filippi and Lucas di
Grassi pitted for slick tyres. It was a bold move, and ultimately was
to prove their undoing as moments later it started to rain again.
Nevertheless they both held on.
Up at the sharp end, Giorgio
moved into third position with a great move on Kohei Hirate, as behind
them Marcos Martinez had made a blistering start to his race to sit
fifth with Timo Glock eighth. At the front however, Kazuki was finding
it tough to lap Mikhail Aleshin’s ART car and on lap 7 Vitaly and
Giorgio took their chances and passed the Japanese driver. And then
came a potentially championship deciding moment as Lucas di Grassi, on
slick tyres, hit a damp patch of the track and spun into the gravel.
Bogged down in the sand, his race was over.
As the race wore on
the track started to dry and the leaders opted to change onto slicks.
They emerged in the order they had entered the pits, with Vitaly still
leading Giorgio, Kazuki, Marcos (who had risen to fourth after Kohei
had spun out) and Luca. But Luca’s car was ailing, and he started to
lose time – almost four seconds a lap. He was passed first by Borja
Garcia, then Andy Soucek and finally Timo Glock. Luca was eighth when
he spun out at the final corner, and watched helplessly as Giorgio drew
to within one point of him and third in the championship.
And so
it ended with Vitaly deliriously happy to take his first win on his
team’s home circuit. Giorgio completed a perfect day for Campos in
second with Kazuki third, Marcos fourth, Borja fifth, Andy sixth, Timo
seventh and Javier Villa eighth. Fastest lap went to Karun Chandhok.
1st Vitaly Petrov: Campos Grand Prix. 1:05:20.497
The start was really incredible. I was really lucky, it was incredible
the start and I passed a lot of cars. I was really happy, because its
the first time I won a race. And I was really happy because my team was
happy. My team won this and I give it to them.
2nd Giorgio Pantano: Campos Grand Prix. +2.495
We did a very good job this year. We are on the last race now and also
Vitaly has won with Campos. I think we both did a very good job for
them and the team now is coming up on the top and the question is we
both improve and we did a good job for them.
3rd Kazuki Nakajima : Dams. +2.541
Because of traffic I lost my place and it was a shame, but I’m happy to
be back on the podium again in the last event and I think the team did
a good job. It’s a shame to miss the win but we showed the pace in
qualifying and it’s good to survive such a crazy race.
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