Trident eye Karthikeyan, van der Drift

GP2 team Trident Racing are hoping to run former grand prix racer Narain Karthikeyan and Chris van der Drift in the next GP2 Asia and Main Series.

The Italian team, who scored a 1-2 in the main series sprint race at Monaco this season, tried out both drivers at last week's two-day test at Paul Ricard. Van der Drift finished the test as the second fastest GP2 rookie, while Karthikeyan's best was eighth overall on the second afternoon.

Trident's managing director, Alessandro Alunni Bravi, is looking to sign Karthikeyan for the Asian series and van der Drift for next season's championship.

"Chris is one of the brightest talents in motorsport and we've been following him for a long time," said Bravi.

"He showed an outstanding ability in his debut in a GP2 car. We really hope to sign him for a full Main Series season. He's working hard to find some good sponsors and come aboard as soon as possible.

"Narain had a strong run, too. He increased his feeling with a GP2 car after two seasons in A1GP where he was used to dealing with less downforce and steel brakes. He confirmed that he's be a great driver to work with in the imminent GP2 Asia Series."

Kobayashi dominates Paul Ricard test

Victory eases pressure for U.S.

Kobayashi dominates Paul Ricard test

Kamui Kobayashi dominated the second and final day of testing at the Paul Ricard circuit, where the Japanese was quickest for the second day running.

The Toyota test driver had already topped the times yesterday and was againg fastest for DAMS in today's sessions, posting the best time in the morning with a lap of 1:12.828.

Kobayashi was also fastest in the afternoon, before a heavy rainstorm hit the track, hindering the teams' progress.

Despite the rain, some teams continued with their work on the final day of testing before next month's session at Jerez.

Andreas Zuber was second fastest for Fisichella Motor Sport, with Davide Valsecchi third quickest for Durango.

Sam Bird was the best of the rookies with the fourth quickest time in the second DAMS car, ahead of fellow debutant Chris Van der Drift.

Twelve of the 13 teams teams will now begin preparing for the start of the GP2 Asia series, travelling to Shanghai for the first race on October 9.

The next GP2 Series test will take place at Jerez at the end of October.

Morning times:Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Kamui Kobayashi Dams 1:12.828 34 2. Andreas Zuber FMS International 1:12.844 41 3. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:13.105 31 4. Sam Bird Dams 1:13.395 46 5. Chris Van der Drift Trident Racing 1:13.468 48 6. Luca Filippi DPR 1:13.483 39 7. Fabio Onidi Piquet Sports 1:13.491 33 8. Jerome D'Ambrosio Barwa Campos Team 1:13.507 34 9. Michael Herck DPR 1:13.532 47 10. Diego Nunes ART Grand Prix 1:13.587 36 11. Oliver Turvey iSport International 1:13.621 35 12. Luiz Razia Racing Engineering 1:13.796 39 13. Narain Karthikeyan Trident Racing 1:13.862 44 14. Koudai Tsukakoshi Trust Team Arden 1:13.884 53 15. Nelson Philippe ART Grand Prix 1:13.900 38 16. Carlos Iaconelli Durango 1:13.940 40 17. Alberto Valerio Super Nova Racing 1:14.063 50 18. Ho-Pin Tung Barwa Campos Team 1:14.117 30 19. Markus Niemela Racing Engineering 1:14.118 51 20. Milos Pavlovic Piquet Sports 1:14.296 44 21. Dani Clos BCN Competicion 1:14.314 45 22. Mika Maki Trust Team Arden 1:14.449 39 23. Marcus Ericsson iSport International 1:14.827 40 24. Vladimir Arabadzhiev Super Nova Racing 1:15.076 54 25. Kevin Nai Chia Chen FMS International 1:31.236 1 Afternoon times 1. Kamui Kobayashi Dams 1:13.266 25 2. Jerome D'Ambrosio Barwa Int. Campos Team 1:13.618 22 3. Luca Filippi DPR 1:13.725 26 4. Chris Van der Drift Trident Racing 1:13.761 21 5. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:13.788 23 6. Diego Nunes ART Grand Prix 1:13.852 42 7. Koudai Tsukakoshi Trust Team Arden 1:14.035 23 8. Narain Karthikeyan Trident Racing 1:14.211 18 9. Fabio Onidi Piquet Sports 1:14.220 27 10. Michael Herck DPR 1:14.268 42 11. Ho-Pin Tung Barwa Int. Campos Team 1:14.355 25 12. Marcus Ericsson iSport International 1:14.363 24 13. Mika Maki Trust Team Arden 1:14.419 23 14. Luiz Razia Racing Engineering 1:14.426 40 15. Dani Clos BCN Competicion 1:14.472 23 16. Carlos Iaconelli Durango 1:14.567 18 17. Nelson Philippe ART Grand Prix 1:14.626 29 18. Fabrizio Crestani Fisichella Motor Sport Int 1:14.638 28 19. James Jakes Dams 1:14.681 39 20. Markus Niemela Racing Engineering 1:14.745 41 21. Alberto Valerio Super Nova Racing 1:14.830 30 22. Milos Pavlovic Piquet Sports 1:14.924 23 23. Vladimir Arabadzhiev Super Nova Racing 1:15.530 14 24. Oliver Turvey iSport International 1:16.126 11

Kobayashi tops first session at Ricard

Maldonado fastest in free practice

Kobayashi stays on top at Ricard

Kamui Kobayashi continued to dominate the opening day of GP2 testing at Paul Ricard this afternoon.

The DAMS GP2 regular knocked a tenth of a second off his best time from this morning's session to defend his place at the top of the timesheet.

Alberto Valerio was again second fastest for Piquet Sports, while another experienced GP2 racer, Davide Valsecchi, climbed to third with Durango - the team he has re-signed with for next season.

Diego Nunes improved on his morning run to take fourth place for iSport, ahead of Campos Racing's Vitaly Petrov.

Briton Oliver Turvey was the fastest rookie of the day in sixth place for ART, beating fellow GP2 newcomer Paul di Resta, who finished ninth fastest in the other ART car.

The quickest of the other first time GP2 testers in action this afternoon were Sergio Perez (Campos) in eighth, and Luiz Razia (Racing Engineering), Renger van der Zande (Arden), and Sam Bird (DAMS) 10th, 11th and 12th.

The session was only interupted once when another debutant, Kevin Nai Chia Chen, crashed his FMS car at the chicane on the back straight.

This afternoon's times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 1:13.158 34 2. Alberto Valerio Piquet Sports 1:13.393 38 3. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:13.514 30 4. Diego Nunes iSport 1:13.530 38 5. Vitaly Petrov Campos 1:13.596 49 6. Oliver Turvey ART 1:13.695 40 7. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet Sports 1:13.779 38 8. Sergio Perez Campos 1:13.835 40 9. Paul di Resta ART 1:13.854 36 10. Luiz Razia Racing Engineering 1:13.878 43 11. Renger van der Zande Arden 1:13.958 42 12. Sam Bird DAMS 1:14.006 36 13. Will Bratt DPR 1:14.047 45 14. Carlos Iaconelli Durango 1:14.062 39 15. Koudai Tsukakoshi Arden 1:14.096 46 16. Nelson Philippe iSport 1:14.106 34 17. Dani Clos BCN 1:14.217 55 18. Chris van der Drift Trident 1:14.225 18 19. Fabrizio Crestani FMS 1:14.296 58 20. Michael Herck DPR 1:14.314 53 21. James Jakes Super Nova 1:14.573 50 22. Fabio Onidi BCN 1:14.626 55 23. Christian Ebbesvik Racing Engineering 1:14.692 29 24. Narain Karthikeyan Trident 1:15.025 34 25. Vladimir Arabadzhiev Super Nova 1:15.237 40 26. Kevin Nai Chia Chen FMS 1:19.179 15

Guzan hopes to seize opportunity

Maldonado fastest in free practice

Ottawa to announce MLS expansion bid

Kobayashi tops first session at Ricard

GP2 regular Kamui Kobayashi set the pace on the first morning of the series' two-day test at Paul Ricard.

The Toyota F1 test driver set a best lap of 1:13.278 in the DAMS car that he contested this year's championship in, ahead of fellow series regulars Alberto Valerio, Roldan Rodriguez, and Andi Zuber.

Briton Sam Bird and Mexican Sergio Perez were the quickest newcomers in fifth and sixth places, setting identical times for DAMS and Campos Racing respectively.

Davide Valsecchi and Michael Herck were seventh and eighth fastest, with iSport International pairing Diego Nunes and Nelson Philippe completing the top ten.

Among the other GP2 newcomers were DTM title contender Paul di Resta and British F3 championship leader Oliver Turvey, who were both in action for ART Grand Prix and finished the morning's running 12th and 13th respectively.

F3 race winners Renger van der Zande, Koudai Tsukakoshi, and James Jakes each had their first GP2 outings this morning as well.

The test continues this afternoon.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 1:13.278 25 2. Alberto Valerio Piquet Sports 1:13.586 31 3. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet Sports 1:13.648 36 4. Andi Zuber FMS 1:13.672 37 5. Sam Bird DAMS 1:14.075 42 6. Sergio Perez Campos 1:14.075 51 7. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:14.113 23 8. Michael Herck DPR 1:14.149 42 9. Diego Nunes iSport 1:14.154 43 10. Nelson Philippe iSport 1:14.203 36 11. Carlos Iaconelli Durango 1:14.588 32 12. Paul di Resta ART 1:14.620 29 13. Olivier Turvey ART 1:15.091 25 14. Bertrand Baguette BCN 1:15.125 53 15. Renger van der Zande Arden 1:15.158 32 16. Vitaly Petrov Campos 1:15.169 14 17. Koudai Tsukakoshi Arden 1:15.175 31 18. Vladimir Arabadzhiev Super Nova 1:15.334 46 19. Will Bratt DPR 1:15.340 55 20. Luiz Razia Racing Engineering 1:15.351 33 21. Fabio Onidi BCN 1:15.369 39 22. Narin Karthikeyan Trident 1:15.407 39 23. Christian Ebbesvik Racing Engineering 1:15.692 30 24. James Jakes Super Nova 1:15.722 34 25. Kevin Nai Chia Chen FMS 1:18.580 34

Barcelona tops Guadalajara in friendly

FCD’s ‘Bird Man’ starts to take flight

Turvey to test for iSport

British Formula 3 championship leader Oliver Turvey will test for GP2 team iSport International at Paul Ricard next week.

The former McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner is the clear favourite to win the British F3 title at next month's Donington Park finale and is hoping to step up to GP2 next season.

iSport have one vacant seat for this winter's Asia Series, with both seats still to be filled for next season's main championship.

"I feel like we've got a good chance of winning the F3 title and, after that, the next step is GP2," Turvey said in this week's Autosport.

"My focus is to get a drive with a top team in GP2 for next year. Asia is a possibility, but it will depend on budget."
Fellow British F3 racer Marcus Ericsson, GP2 regular Diego Nunes, and former Champ Car race winner Nelson Philippe will also test for iSport next week.

GP2 race winner Andi Zuber will test for FMS International, while another British F3 front-runner, Sergio Perez, will test for GP2 champion team Campos Racing alongside current driver Vitaly Petrov.

Fire near full strength for Rapids

Valsecchi takes first GP2 victory

After a year that has included two big shunts that put him in hospital, Davide Valsecchi scored an emotional maiden GP2 victory on home soil for Durango at Monza in the sprint race.

Starting from reverse grid pole, Valsecchi suffered huge wheelspin on the treacherously wet surface, which meant everybody started on wets.

From row two, Roldan Rodriguez made the best start, and rocketed through into the lead by the first corner, followed by Jerome d'Ambrosio.

D'Ambrosio went straight on at the first chicane, however, and Valsecchi passed him by the conclusion of the opening lap to run second. The Belgian would then lose further places to Romain Grosjean, Bruno Senna and Mike Conway in the early going.

Senna spun at Roggia, overtaking two cars backwards but continuing in fourth. That lasted only until the same corner next lap, when Lucas di Grassi slammed into the back of Conway, and Senna spun again - this time in avoidance.

At the front, Rodriguez had pulled out a 2.6-second lead, but Valsecchi began to reel him in as the track dried out slightly. He took the lead at the first chicane on lap nine, and pulled away to a nine-second victory.

Grosjean also got around Rodriguez, but lost the place almost immediately. Rodriguez then held on to finish an excellent second for FMS - by far their best result of the year - 0.5 seconds ahead of Grosjean, who was 0.6 seconds ahead of a charging Pastor Maldonado at the finish.

Newly-crowned champion Giorgio Pantano finished fifth, having dropped to 17th on the opening lap after a terrible start and a cautious first corner. D'Ambrosio clung to the final point in sixth but had to hold off Sebastien Buemi and a recovering Senna to do so.

Pantano celebrated his title by stopping at the first chicane to throw his gloves into the crowd and then getting back in his car to perform a series of doughnuts at the Roggia. Combined with Valsecchi and Durango's win, it capped a great day for Italy in GP2.

ClassifiedPos Driver Team Time 1. Davide Valsecchi Durango 38:09.871 2. Roldan Rodriguez FMS + 9.004 3. Romain Grosjean ART + 9.537 4. Pastor Maldonado Piquet Sports + 10.190 5. Giorgio Pantano Racing Engineering + 11.428 6. Jerome D'Ambrosio DAMS + 16.731 7. Sebastien Buemi Arden + 17.675 8. Bruno Senna iSport + 18.540 9. Ho-Pin Tung Trident + 32.030 10. Andreas Zuber Piquet Sports + 33.641 11. Lucas Di Grassi Campos + 42.236 12. Alvaro Parente Super Nova + 46.434 13. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS + 46.836 14. Carlos Iaconelli BCN Competicion + 51.080 15. Alberto Valerio Durango + 51.743 16. Diego Nunes DPR + 52.565 17. Michael Herck DPR + 55.792 18. Andy Soucek Super Nova + 56.456 Retirements:Driver Team Laps Sakon Yamamoto ART 14 Luca Filippi Arden 12 Marko Asmer FMS 8 Vitali Petrov Campos 6 Mike Conway Trident 3 Karun Chandhok iSport 0

Di Grassi wins, Pantano takes title

Barcelona tops Guadalajara in friendly

Senna critical of stewards' call

GP2 Series title fighter Bruno Senna has spoken out at the level of consistency of stewards' rulings over the release of cars during pitstops.

Speaking after he was given a drive-through penalty that cost him a likely race win at Spa on Saturday, Senna said he was penalised for the same situation that Felipe Massa faced in the recent European Grand Prix at Valencia and Lucas di Grassi did to him in the GP2 race at Silverstone earlier in the year.

Senna almost hit Alberto Valerio's car, which was coming into the pits for its mandatory pitstop as Senna was exiting his box.

"I feel the win was taken away," said Senna. "If you look at it, they should have taken the conditions into account. The pitlane was very wet, so it takes two or three times longer to accelerate away from your box.

"It was impossible for the team to know that I would exit close to the other car. I feel I did everything right and the team did everything right.

"I am really sad about the rules not being applied consistently. Nothing happened at Silverstone when I had to lock-up to avoid di Grassi, and Massa was only fined for what happened in Valencia."

Senna finished 12th in Saturday's race, giving him an outside shot at scoring points in Sunday's sprint race. His title rival, Giorgio Pantano, will start 21st after his own disastrous race.

Flag penalty costs Grosjean victory

Romain Grosjean was stripped of his GP2 feature race victory at Hockenheim on Saturday evening after being judged guilty of overtaking a backmarker under yellow flags.

GP2 race director Charlie Whiting ruled that Grosjean passed Marko Asmer in the stadium section of the track when yellow flags were being waved to recover several cars that went off during a rain shower towards the end of the race.

Grosjean argued that Asmer had been shown five blue flags before getting out of his way, but the incident was judged serious enough to warrant a 25-second penalty, dropping him to second place.

Series leader Giorgio Pantano inherits the victory, his fourth of the season, and extends his championship lead to 19 points over Bruno Senna.

Mike Conway, Jerome d'Ambrosio and Vitaly Petrov have also been penalised for failing to slow sufficiently for yellows and will all be demoted ten places down the grid for tomorrow's sprint race.

Senna hits trouble as Pantano flies

Bruno Senna faces an uphill battle to close the seven-point gap to GP2 Series points leader Giorgio Pantano after suffering a throttle problem during free practice in Valencia that rendered him 18th fastest, 1.8s behind the Italian.

With just 30 minutes to learn the new Spanish street circuit, Senna was waiting in a line of cars ready to go on-track when he was pushed to the side and lost 10 minutes while his iSport team went to work on the problem.

"The throttle would not go back to zero percent," said Senna. "I lost the whole part of the session when everyone was being sensible.

"When I got going there were red and yellow flags everywhere."

The session was stopped halfway through when Carlos Iachonelli hit the wall exiting one of the chicanes, while Pastor Maldonado also damaged the left rear of his car in a separate incident with the barriers.

Pantano ended the session fastest, 0.5s clear of the field, with Alvaro Parente and Karun Chandhok next up.

Once Senna did get going, he was not convinced his car was propelling him at full potential - another reason for his lowly position in the times.

"I'm not sure I had full throttle because people were pulling away on the straights in front of me," he said.

"Things have started really well, I'm only two seconds slower than Giorgio."

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Pantano Racing Engineering 1:47.340 13 2. Parente Super Nova Racing 1:47.867 + 0.527 14 3. Chandhok iSport International 1:47.898 + 0.558 13 4. Zuber Piquet Sports 1:47.922 + 0.582 14 5. Di Grassi Barwa Campos Team 1:47.933 + 0.593 15 6. Maldonado Piquet Sports 1:47.944 + 0.604 11 7. D'Ambrosio Dams 1:47.948 + 0.608 14 8. Grosjean ART Grand Prix 1:47.992 + 0.652 15 9. Filippi Trust Team Arden 1:48.362 + 1.022 13 10. Valsecchi Durango 1:48.381 + 1.041 13 11. Petrov Barwa Campos Team 1:48.477 + 1.137 13 12. Rodriguez FMS International 1:48.499 + 1.159 15 13. Valles BCN Competicion 1:48.684 + 1.344 15 14. Villa Racing Engineering 1:48.722 + 1.382 13 15. Soucek Super Nova Racing 1:48.753 + 1.413 14 16. Buemi Trust Team Arden 1:48.893 + 1.553 13 17. Conway Trident Racing 1:49.060 + 1.720 14 18. Senna iSport International 1:49.232 + 1.892 11 19. Yamamoto ART Grand Prix 1:49.459 + 2.119 14 20. Kobayashi Dams 1:49.504 + 2.164 15 21. Valerio Durango 1:49.988 + 2.648 15 22. Herck DPR 1:50.190 + 2.850 15 23. Tung Trident Racing 1:50.297 + 2.957 15 24. Nunes DPR 1:50.326 + 2.986 13 25. Iaconelli BCN Competicion 1:50.623 + 3.283 6 26. Asmer FMS International 1:50.908 + 3.568 15

Di Grassi wins Hungary feature

Lucas di Grassi held off a sustained challenge from Andi Zuber to win Saturday's tense GP2 Series feature race at the Hungaroring.

Since returning to the GP2 Series mid-season, last year's runner-up di Grassi has finished second on three occasions, but finally went one step higher after a tremendous start from third on the grid took him into a first corner braking battle with front row starter Zuber.

Zuber looked to have the lead, but missed the apex and slid wide, allowing di Grassi to nip past him. Di Grassi's Campos team-mate, Vitaly Petrov, then shoved Zuber towards the grass on the run to Turn 2, where he grabbed second position. Petrov gave the place back, however, by running wide at Turn 2 on lap four.

Di Grassi had a healthy two-second lead when Zuber pitted for his mandatory stop on lap 14. Di Grassi had to respond by pitting a lap later, which was a good thing as Zuber had produced a stunning out lap and was right on his tail after he did so.

The pair remained closely matched thereafter, with Zuber only dropping back to a maximum of 1.4 seconds behind when he ran wide at Turn 4 on lap 23. At the flag, they were separated by just 0.7 seconds.

The big news was the championship fight taking an intriguing twist. Series leader Giorgio Pantano was punted into a spin on the opening lap by Romain Grosjean, who understeered wide at Turn 4 and hit Pantano, who appeared to be driving around the outside of him quite cleanly, at the following corner.

With Pantano finishing out of the points, Bruno Senna took a bite out of his championship lead with third place. Senna was lucky that Petrov retired with gearbox failure on lap 23 when running ahead of him, but could look back on a brilliant start that catapulted him from eighth to fourth on the opening lap.

Karun Chandhok finished fourth, ahead of the star of the race: Pastor Maldonado. After missing qualifying due to a big crash in free practice, the Venezuelan stormed from the back of the grid and, by delaying his pitstop, led the race for 20 laps. He rejoined fifth, where he would finish, but ran out of laps to catch Chandhok despite lapping much faster on fresh rubber.

Mike Conway drove a strong race to finish sixth, holding off a charging Sebastien Buemi. Andy Soucek finished eighth for reverse grid pole, after putting up a stern defence to Jerome d'Ambrosio.

Classified: Pos Driver Team Time 1. Di Grassi Campos 1:04:35.028 2. Zuber Piquet Sports + 0.711 3. Senna iSport + 3.611 4. Chandhok iSport + 19.046 5. Maldonado Piquet Sports + 21.883 6. Conway Trident + 33.375 7. Buemi Arden + 33.621 8. Soucek Super Nova + 36.911 9. d'Ambrosio Dams + 37.211 10. Yamamoto ART + 48.359 11. Kobayashi Dams + 49.634 12. Nunes DPR + 56.490 13. Villa Racing Engineering + 57.463 14. Pantano Racing Engineering + 1:01.492 15. Filippi Arden + 1:11.941 16. Parente Super Nova + 1:29.672 17. Grosjean ART + 1 Lap 18. Asmer FMS + 1 Lap 19. Rodriguez FMS + 1 Lap Not classified: Driver Team On lap Petrov Campos 23 Herck DPR 13 Valsecchi Durango 7 Tung Trident 1 Valles BCN Competicion 1 Iaconelli BCN Competicion 0 Valerio Durango 0 Fastest lap: Grosjean, 1:29.793 on lap 17

Three injured in DPR bus smash

Three mechanics from GP2 Series squad DPR were hospitalised in Budapest on Saturday morning when the minibus in which they were travelling to the Hungaroring rolled into a ditch on the motorway.

None of the three crew members have been seriously hurt, but they will all be kept in overnight for observation. Their minibus appears to have been sideswiped by a local car as it changed lanes, causing it to swerve off the road and into the ditch, where it rolled to a halt.

The accident has caused traffic chaos on the main road to the circuit, which was totally closed off to allow a helicopter to land. None of the injured required airlifting, and all journeyed to the hospital in an ambulance.

DPR will race on in today's feature event, but will have to shuffle its pit crew around to make up for the loss in numbers.

Team principal Dave Price could even be drafted in for the tyre stops of Diego Nunes, who starts a respectable 13th, and Michael Herck.

Grosjean wins chaotic Spa race

Romain Grosjean atoned for some recent mistakes and misfortune by claiming a well-judged GP2 feature race victory at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday.

The Frenchman passed Alvaro Parente with five laps remaining to claim victory. After that, and a third safety car period, Grosjean streaked away to a 4.1sec win. Grosjean's victory moves him back into third place in the points table.

"The conditions were very tricky at the start, but the car was very good in the dry," said Grosjean. "It was a good fight with Parente, and then we had another safety car, so I had to do it all again."

The race was led in its early stages by pole-sitter Bruno Senna, but he was given a drive-through penalty after he was released from his mandatory pitstop in an 'unsafe manner' according to the stewards. His iSport car narrowly missed Alberto Valerio's Durango machine, which was coming in for his stop.

Senna would finish 12th, after his penalty dropped him to last place, but he was fortunate that his championship opponent, series leader Giorgio Pantano, also suffered a disastrous race.

Pantano had looked set to inherit Senna's win, but his engine reverted to safe mode during a safety car period when its water temperature got too cold. He dropped to 10th, but had recovered to eighth, and the coveted reverse grid pole position, when he spun at La Source with just four laps to go.

He continued in 10th place, but would crash out at La Source on the final lap when he tried to pass Roldan Rodriguez but hit Lucas di Grassi instead. He has been summoned to the stewards room and could face a further grid penalty for tomorrow's race.

Piquet Sports duo Andi Zuber and Pastor Maldonado finished third and fourth, but swapped the position on numerous occasions in the closing stages. Vitaly Petrov finished fifth, ahead of Sebastien Buemi, Andy Soucek and Mike Conway.

Davide Valsecchi suffered no major injuries in his shunt that caused the second safety car on lap 10 when he went straight on at Stavelot and crashed into the tyre wall at high speed. He has been flown to hospital, but has no broken bones.

The race started under the safety car, after a rain shower soaked the track just before the start, meaning everyone started on wets. They all switched to slicks during the mandatory stops.

Pos Driver Tea Time 1. Grosjean ART 1h02:33.710 2. Parente Super Nova + 4.139 3. Zuber Piquet Sports + 5.744 4. Maldonado Piquet Sports + 6.308 5. Petrov Campos + 6.783 6. Buemi Arden + 8.711 7. Soucek Super Nova + 8.939 8. Conway Trident + 9.549 9. D'Ambrosio DAMS + 10.846 10. Kobayashi DAMS + 12.790 11. Chandhok iSport + 13.048 12. Senna iSport + 13.383 13. Nunes DPR + 14.176 14. Valles BCN Comp. + 14.903 15. Herck DPR + 16.537 16. Tung Trident + 17.315 17. Asmer FMS + 17.935 18. Villa Racing Eng. + 18.204 19. Yamamoto ART + 19.705 20. Filippi Arden + 43.184 21. Pantano Racing Eng. + 1:16.651 Retirements: Driver Team Laps Di Grassi Campos 25 Rodriguez FMS 25 Valerio Durango 21 Valsecchi Durango 9 Iaconelli BCN Comp. 3 Fastest lap: Grosjean, 1:59.529 on lap 26

Pantano excluded from Spa races

GP2 Series championship leader Giorgio Pantano has been excluded from the Spa-Francorchamps races as a punishment for his collision with Lucas di Grassi at the end of today's feature race.

Pantano had been on course to win the race and extend his championship lead until an engine problem during a safety car period dropped him to 10th.

He then lost further places with a spin, and collided with di Grassi in a botched overtaking move on the final lap, ending both their races.

The Italian was called to see the stewards, who decided not only to disqualify him from the first race, but to bar him from participating in tomorrow morning's sprint race, citing "reckless driving and unsportsmanlike behaviour", and adding that he had also overtaken during a safety car period.

Pantano's title rival Bruno Senna had earlier lost a chance to win the race when he was given a drive-through penalty for being released from his pitstop into the path of Alberto Valerio. He went on to finish 12th, and currently trails Pantano by 13 points with three races remaining.

Third place finisher Andreas Zuber has also been disqualified from the feature race results due to "unauthorised repairs" to his Piquet Sports car.

His removal from the results elevates his teammate Pastor Maldonado to third, and means that DAMS' Jerome d'Ambrosio moves up to eighth and pole position for the reverse grid sprint race.

Kobayashi stripped of Spa point

DAMS driver Kamui Kobayashi lost his point for sixth place in Sunday's GP2 sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps when race stewards gave him a 25-second penalty for cutting the Bus Stop chicane.

Kobayashi used the short-cut to grab sixth place from Davide Valsecchi of Durango on the final lap, but the penalty drops him to 14th place.

The move gives Valsecchi a point, despite the fact he spent the night in hospital after a heavy shunt in Saturday's event.

Kobayashi said: "I got back up to sixth place and I thought I scored a point until I was called to see the stewards. I accept their decision but overall I'm disappointed with my weekend."

Maldonado takes last-gasp victory

Pastor Maldonado nicked a last-lap GP2 sprint race victory from home hero Jerome d'Ambrosio at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday morning.

D'Ambrosio led for 17-and-a-half of the 18 laps, only for Maldonado to blast past him into Les Combes to record a fine win from sixth on the grid.

D'Ambrosio, who took reverse grid pole thanks to the exclusion of Andi Zuber from yesterday's race, had fended off the early challenge of Andy Soucek, who would later crash out at Stavelot.

Maldonado had to work his way past Alvaro Parente - who would also crash heavily at the Bus Stop- Vitaly Petrov, Sebastien Buemi and Soucek before he made his crucial final move on d'Ambrosio.

D'Ambrosio finished second, ahead of Petrov, Buemi and Lucas di Grassi. Kamui Kobayashi crossed the line sixth, but stole the final point from Davide Valsecchi by cutting the Bus Stop on the final lap.

Yesterday's winner Romain Grosjean spun at Stavelot and could only finish 10th.

Title protagonist Bruno Senna blew his chance to eat into the absent Giorgio Pantano's title lead. He spun at the Bus Stop after clipping Buemi just as he was poised to enter the point-paying positions, and retired with a broken front wing.

Senna will go into the Monza finale 11 points behind Pantano.

Pos Driver Team Time 1. Maldonado Piquet Sports 39:35.698 2. D'Ambrosio Dams + 1.256 3. Petrov Barwa Campos Team + 5.439 4. Buemi Trust Team Arden + 6.390 5. Di Grassi Barwa Campos Team + 7.222 6. Kobayashi Dams + 7.890 7. Valsecchi Durango + 8.213 8. Chandhok iSport International + 8.767 9. Villa Racing Engineering + 12.199 10. Grosjean ART Grand Prix + 16.317 11. Tung Trident Racing + 17.065 12. Herck DPR + 18.351 13. Iaconelli BCN Competicion + 20.023 14. Valles BCN Competicion + 20.350 Retirements: Driver Team Laps Soucek Super Nova Racing 15 Filippi Trust Team Arden 12 Asmer FMS International 10 Senna iSport International 9 Nunes DPR 7 Parente Super Nova Racing 5 Valerio Durango 5 Conway Trident Racing 4 Rodriguez FMS International 4 Yamamoto ART Grand Prix 2 Zuber Piquet Sports 1 Fastest lap: Maldonado, 1:58.860 on lap 5

Pantano raves about 'perfect lap'

GP2 Series leader Giorgio Pantano expressed his delight at extending his advantage by scoring two points for pole position at Hockenheim on Friday.

The Italian outpaced his opposition by almost three tenths of a second, and said that changes made by his Racing Engineering team had been key to his dominance.

"We did a good job after free practice," said Pantano. "I had a good feeling in the car and drove a perfect lap. We were even able to save some of the tyres for the race, so that is good too."

His closest rival, Romain Grosjean of ART, admitted: "Giorgio was better than us today. I made a little mistake at the final corner on my first run, and got onto the grass, and the track wasn't so fast for my second run. I was fractions faster, but I needed to find a lot more time to challenge Giorgio."

Third fastest qualifier Andi Zuber has sounded a note of caution after recent performances by Piquet Sports have flattered to deceive after qualifying - especially on the medium compound Bridgestone tyres.

"The car is very difficult to drive," said Zuber. "And after two or three laps, the tyres are finished. We saw it at Silverstone, and we're working hard to solve it. I made a slight mistake in the final corner on my quickest lap, but Giorgio did a very good time - I couldn't do that today."

Chandhok rues grid penalty plunge

GP2 front-runner Karun Chandhok said he had no choice but to improve his laptime while there were yellow flags being waved at Spa on Friday, or else he would have been forced to start at the back of the grid anyway.

In the final moments of the session, Chandhok set the fastest time despite waved yellows to retrieve Luca Filippi's car from the Pouhon tyre wall.

He was always going to get a 10-place grid penalty for an incident at Valencia two weeks ago, but said setting the pole position time eased that blow.

"The circuit was getting quicker and quicker," said Chandhok. "I knew the track would get drier, so we waited a bit before going out. But after the [mid-session] red flag, people were going off all over the place.

"I was P12 with a 10-place penalty, so I had to do a decent laptime or else I'd be at the back anyway.

"I got it all hooked up and it worked out okay. Pole was the best I could do with a 10-place penalty hanging over me."

Chandhok was called before the stewards to explain his pace under yellow flags, along with Arden's Sebastien Buemi, who should start sixth in tomorrow's race. A decision has yet to be made on any further penalties.

GP2 drivers to race on Valencia streets

Nine current GP2 racers will enter this weekend's GT races on the Valencia street circuit to learn the track ahead of the Formula One feeder series rounds at the new venue next month.

Championship leader Giorgio Pantano (Racing Engineering), Trident Racing pairing Mike Conway and Ho-Pin Tung, Pastor Maldonado (Piquet Sports) and Jerome d'Ambrosio (DAMS) will all drive Dodge Vipers.

GP2 race winner Luca Filippi (Arden) will drive an Aston Martin DBRS9, while Javier Villa (Racing Engineering) and Vitaly Petrov (Campos Racing) will share a Ferrari 430 GTS and Roldan Rodriguez (FMS) will drive a GT2 Ferrari 430GT.

"It should be a lot of fun, although the serious business is to learn the track," Conway told this week's Autosport. "I bet the regulars (GT drivers) are worried about us coming, it'll probably be a bit mad in the early laps. But it's important to keep the car in one piece so we can maximise our track time."

Maldonado said: "Although it's a street track, it's going to be a lot faster than somewhere like Monaco. It looks like it will be a real challenge."

His co-driver for next weekend, d'Ambrosio, added: "It will be strange that Pastor will be my teammate rather than my rival. If we all get together I think it'll be like a kart race, only with bumpers."

The GP2 drivers have been banned from competing in the Spanish Formula 3 rounds on the street circuit on the same weekend, but Super Nova's Andi Zuber will drive in the free practice sessions, believing that track time to be more valuable than GT races.

"This means I get an hour and three quarters of free practice time in a single-seater, that's like a week of going around in a GT car," he said.

Chandhok rues grid penalty plunge

GP2 front-runner Karun Chandhok said he had no choice but to improve his laptime while there were yellow flags being waved at Spa on Friday, or else he would have been forced to start at the back of the grid anyway.

In the final moments of the session, Chandhok set the fastest time despite waved yellows to retrieve Luca Filippi's car from the Pouhon tyre wall.

He was always going to get a 10-place grid penalty for an incident at Valencia two weeks ago, but said setting the pole position time eased that blow.

"The circuit was getting quicker and quicker," said Chandhok. "I knew the track would get drier, so we waited a bit before going out. But after the [mid-session] red flag, people were going off all over the place.

"I was P12 with a 10-place penalty, so I had to do a decent laptime or else I'd be at the back anyway.

"I got it all hooked up and it worked out okay. Pole was the best I could do with a 10-place penalty hanging over me."

Chandhok was called before the stewards to explain his pace under yellow flags, along with Arden's Sebastien Buemi, who should start sixth in tomorrow's race. A decision has yet to be made on any further penalties.

Senna critical of stewards' call

GP2 Series title fighter Bruno Senna has spoken out at the level of consistency of stewards' rulings over the release of cars during pitstops.

Speaking after he was given a drive-through penalty that cost him a likely race win at Spa on Saturday, Senna said he was penalised for the same situation that Felipe Massa faced in the recent European Grand Prix at Valencia and Lucas di Grassi did to him in the GP2 race at Silverstone earlier in the year.

Senna almost hit Alberto Valerio's car, which was coming into the pits for its mandatory pitstop as Senna was exiting his box.

"I feel the win was taken away," said Senna. "If you look at it, they should have taken the conditions into account. The pitlane was very wet, so it takes two or three times longer to accelerate away from your box.

"It was impossible for the team to know that I would exit close to the other car. I feel I did everything right and the team did everything right.

"I am really sad about the rules not being applied consistently. Nothing happened at Silverstone when I had to lock-up to avoid di Grassi, and Massa was only fined for what happened in Valencia."

Senna finished 12th in Saturday's race, giving him an outside shot at scoring points in Sunday's sprint race. His title rival, Giorgio Pantano, will start 21st after his own disastrous race.

Flag penalty costs Grosjean victory

Romain Grosjean was stripped of his GP2 feature race victory at Hockenheim on Saturday evening after being judged guilty of overtaking a backmarker under yellow flags.

GP2 race director Charlie Whiting ruled that Grosjean passed Marko Asmer in the stadium section of the track when yellow flags were being waved to recover several cars that went off during a rain shower towards the end of the race.

Grosjean argued that Asmer had been shown five blue flags before getting out of his way, but the incident was judged serious enough to warrant a 25-second penalty, dropping him to second place.

Series leader Giorgio Pantano inherits the victory, his fourth of the season, and extends his championship lead to 19 points over Bruno Senna.

Mike Conway, Jerome d'Ambrosio and Vitaly Petrov have also been penalised for failing to slow sufficiently for yellows and will all be demoted ten places down the grid for tomorrow's sprint race.

Di Grassi wins, Pantano takes title

Lucas di Grassi won an absorbing GP2 Series feature race at Monza on Saturday, but it will be remembered for Giorgio Pantano winning the championship - in not altogether straightforward style.

In a race that started in wet conditions under the safety car, Pantano looked to be cruising to the title with a dominant race win from pole position. He suffered a few straightline moments at the chicanes, but so did just about everyone else.

He led by as much as three seconds at one point, but always had di Grassi and Pastor Maldonado, who passed Sebastien Buemi for third on lap four, for company.

Di Grassi got very close just after half distance, as Pantano got stuck lapping Luca Filippi - the first man to pit for slick tyres as the track dried.

Pantano came in for new slicks of his own on lap 25, and rejoined in the lead with seven laps to go. However, he made a massive error by driving straight over the white line as he tried to warmup his new rubber, for which he received a drive-through penalty with five laps to go.

Di Grassi had already passed him for the lead, however, going into the Parabolica just before the Italian took his penalty. Maldonado then exerted huge pressure on di Grassi to the finish, having passed him with 10 laps to go, only for Lucas to outbrake him at the first chicane six laps later. It was to prove the decisive moment of his race victory.

Buemi finished a distant third, having shown great pace in the 'crossover' conditions, but fell back towards the end. Romain Grosjean just held Bruno Senna at bay for fourth, Senna not managing to muster enough points to keep himself in with a shout of the title. The Brazilian drove a great race, though, from his lowly 12th starting spot.

Roldan Rodriguez finished an impressive sixth for FMS, ahead of Jerome d'Ambrosio and Davide Valsecchi, who will start Sunday's reverse grid race from pole. Mike Conway scored a point for fastest lap, battling back after making an extra pitstop.

Pantano finished 10th but, despite failing to score a point in a race he had pretty much dominated, it didn't really matter.

Pos Driver Team Time 1. Di Grassi Barwa Campos Team 1h00:23.203 2. Maldonado Piquet Sports + 0.736 3. Buemi Trust Team Arden + 6.785 4. Grosjean ART Grand Prix + 17.789 5. Senna iSport International + 18.324 6. Rodriguez FMS International + 20.488 7. D'ambrosio Dams + 22.709 8. Valsecchi Durango + 24.826 9. Soucek Super Nova Racing + 32.866 10. Pantano Racing Engineering + 34.682 11. Chandhok iSport International + 35.259 12. Valerio Durango + 45.567 13. Conway Trident Racing + 59.501 14. Iaconelli BCN Competicion + 111.344 15. Asmer FMS International + 1 lap 16. Filippi Trust Team Arden + 2 laps Retirements: Driver Team Laps Yamamoto ART Grand Prix 27 Tung Trident Racing 26 Herck DPR 22 Parente Super Nova Racing 19 Nunes DPR 16 Kobayashi Dams 15 Petrov Barwa Campos Team 3 Zuber Piquet Sports 3 Villa Racing Engineering 3 Fastest lap: Conway, 1:35.456 on lap 32

Senna pushing hard to catch Pantano

GP2 Series title contender Bruno Senna admitted to "one of the scariest moments of my life" on his way to narrowing the gap to championship leader Giorgio Pantano at Spa-Francorchamps in qualifying on Friday afternoon.

Senna said the sideways moment, which happened at the daunting Eau Rouge section, was the result of him trying to take the compression "almost flat" despite the wet conditions.

Despite his effort, which meant he improved his first sector time, Senna had to bin the laptime due to yellow flags further around the track.

"It was a very fast moment," said Senna. "It was one of the scariest experiences of my life... I don't want to repeat that!

"It was a shame about the yellows. It was very difficult to get a lap in this situation. Fortunately I had done a good time earlier, but it's a bit sad you can't get into a rhythm around here, because it's such a great track."

Thanks to his two points for pole position, Senna is now 11 points behind Pantano in the points race.

He said of his rival, who starts fourth tomorrow: "The pressure is on Giorgio, not me. If nothing bizarre happens tomorrow, like has happened a lot to me this year, we should be fine to keep chipping away at his lead this weekend. Then we will go to Monza, and it should be a real thriller."

Zuber quickest in Hungary practice

In an up and down GP2 free practice session for Piquet Sports, Andi Zuber set the fastest time on Friday afternoon but teammate Pastor Maldonado crashed heavily.

Zuber lapped the Hungaroring in 1:28.797, just 0.023 seconds faster than series leader Giorgio Pantano (Racing Engineering). Lucas di Grassi was third fastest for Campos, and he was closely followed by Romain Grosjean (ART) and Karun Chandhok (iSport).

Vitaly Petrov made it two Campos cars in the top six, ahead of Javier Villa (Racing Engineering), Jerome d'Ambrosio (DAMS) and Sebastien Buemi (Arden).

With 10 minutes of the session to go, Maldonado had his big shunt, understeering into tyre wall. He appeared to turn in too sharply to a fast left-hander, caught the initial slide but simply skipped across the gravel trap and thumped the wall hard.

The impact removed both the front and rear right-side wheels, and the chances of his team repairing the damage in time for qualifying in three and a half hours looks remote. He was tenth quickest in the session.

Besides that shunt, the session was relatively quiet. Marco Asmer had a quick spin early on, while Grosjean, di Grassi, Villa and Petrov all ran wide but continued.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Zuber Piquet Sports 1:28.797 14 2. Pantano Racing Engineering 1:28.820 + 0.023 14 3. Di Grassi Barwa Campos Team 1:28.913 + 0.116 16 4. Grosjean ART Grand Prix 1:28.941 + 0.144 14 5. Chandhok iSport International 1:28.983 + 0.186 15 6. Petrov Barwa Campos Team 1:29.030 + 0.233 16 7. Villa Racing Engineering 1:29.112 + 0.315 14 8. D'ambrosio Dams 1:29.327 + 0.530 14 9. Buemi Trust Team Arden 1:29.343 + 0.546 16 10. Maldonado Piquet Sports 1:29.398 + 0.601 9 11. Senna iSport International 1:29.495 + 0.698 16 12. Soucek Super Nova Racing 1:29.496 + 0.699 16 13. Conway Trident Racing 1:29.533 + 0.736 16 14. Parente Super Nova Racing 1:29.587 + 0.790 16 15. Nunes DPR 1:29.744 + 0.947 16 16. Valles BCN Competicion 1:29.880 + 1.083 18 17. Tung Trident Racing 1:30.129 + 1.332 16 18. Valsecchi Durango 1:30.197 + 1.400 16 19. Filippi Trust Team Arden 1:30.223 + 1.426 15 20. Valerio Durango 1:30.334 + 1.537 17 21. Yamamoto ART Grand Prix 1:30.470 + 1.673 15 22. Kobayashi Dams 1:30.516 + 1.719 12 23. Rodriguez FMS International 1:30.676 + 1.879 15 24. Herck DPR 1:31.213 + 2.416 17 25. Iaconelli BCN Competicion 1:31.755 + 2.958 18 26. Asmer FMS International 1:31.988 + 3.191 14

Pantano storms to Hockenheim pole

Giorgio Pantano produced a lap that his GP2 rivals had absolutely no answer to in qualifying at Hockenheim on Friday afternoon, taking pole by over a quarter of a second.

Pantano (Racing Engineering) regards Hockenheim as one of his favourite tracks, and was at the head of the times from the early going until Romain Grosjean (ART) lapped in 1:21.977 - despite tank-slapping across the finish line after running wide at the final corner.

For a while at least, Grosjean headed the times by 1.3 seconds, but Pantano had something in reserve. Halfway through the session the Italian unleashed a 1:21.650, faster than the rest by some three tenths of a second.

Grosjean tried to reassert himself, but ran wide at Turn 1 at his first attempt and only lowered his time to 1:21.934 on his final effort, which wasn't enough.

Andreas Zuber will start third for Piquet Sports, just missing out on the 1:21s club by four thousandths of a second. He was over a tenth clear of Sebastien Buemi (Arden), who was a thousandth quicker than fifth-placed man Lucas di Grassi (Campos).

Title challenger Bruno Senna had a disappointing session for iSport, and his recent streak of poles ended with sixth place, some six tenths off the pace.

Alvaro Parente will start seventh for Super Nova, ahead of Kamui Kobayashi (DAMS) who was unable to repeat his front-running form of free practice.

Javier Villa, who bounced back from an engine problem in practice for Racing Engineering, and Vitaly Petrov (Campos) rounded out the top 10.

Just outside it was Karun Chandhok (iSport) and perhaps the surprise of the session: Sakon Yamamoto (ART) outqualified Luca Filippi (Arden) in the drive Filippi had walked away from.

Pastor Maldonado was 15th for Piquet Sports, after another terribly scrappy session, and Mike Conway was 20th after Trident did a good job of rebuilding his car after he crashed in free practice.

The weather forecast for tomorrow's feature race is rain.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Pantano Racing Engineering 1:21.650 14 2. Grosjean ART Grand Prix 1:21.934 + 0.284 13 3. Zuber Piquet Sports 1:22.004 + 0.354 14 4. Buemi Trust Team Arden 1:22.171 + 0.521 15 5. Di Grassi Barwa Campos Team 1:22.172 + 0.522 14 6. Senna iSport International 1:22.216 + 0.566 16 7. Parente Super Nova Racing 1:22.391 + 0.741 15 8. Kobayashi Dams 1:22.459 + 0.809 17 9. Villa Racing Engineering 1:22.560 + 0.910 16 10. Petrov Barwa Campos Team 1:22.587 + 0.937 12 11. Chandhok iSport International 1:22.759 + 1.109 17 12. Yamamoto ART Grand Prix 1:22.788 + 1.138 17 13. Filippi Trust Team Arden 1:22.802 + 1.152 15 14. D'ambrosio Dams 1:22.907 + 1.257 18 15. Maldonado Piquet Sports 1:22.969 + 1.319 17 16. Soucek Super Nova Racing 1:22.992 + 1.342 17 17. Tung Trident Racing 1:23.264 + 1.614 16 18. Valsecchi Durango 1:23.320 + 1.670 15 19. Valerio Durango 1:23.378 + 1.728 18 20. Conway Trident Racing 1:23.433 + 1.783 19 21. Nunes DPR 1:23.434 + 1.784 14 22. Rodriguez FMS International 1:23.497 + 1.847 15 23. Iaconelli BCN Competicion 1:23.913 + 2.263 16 24. Asmer FMS International 1:24.011 + 2.361 16 25. Valles BCN Competicion 1:24.273 + 2.623 12 26. Herck DPR 1:24.641 + 2.991 16

Di Grassi wins Hungary feature

Lucas di Grassi held off a sustained challenge from Andi Zuber to win Saturday's tense GP2 Series feature race at the Hungaroring.

Since returning to the GP2 Series mid-season, last year's runner-up di Grassi has finished second on three occasions, but finally went one step higher after a tremendous start from third on the grid took him into a first corner braking battle with front row starter Zuber.

Zuber looked to have the lead, but missed the apex and slid wide, allowing di Grassi to nip past him. Di Grassi's Campos team-mate, Vitaly Petrov, then shoved Zuber towards the grass on the run to Turn 2, where he grabbed second position. Petrov gave the place back, however, by running wide at Turn 2 on lap four.

Di Grassi had a healthy two-second lead when Zuber pitted for his mandatory stop on lap 14. Di Grassi had to respond by pitting a lap later, which was a good thing as Zuber had produced a stunning out lap and was right on his tail after he did so.

The pair remained closely matched thereafter, with Zuber only dropping back to a maximum of 1.4 seconds behind when he ran wide at Turn 4 on lap 23. At the flag, they were separated by just 0.7 seconds.

The big news was the championship fight taking an intriguing twist. Series leader Giorgio Pantano was punted into a spin on the opening lap by Romain Grosjean, who understeered wide at Turn 4 and hit Pantano, who appeared to be driving around the outside of him quite cleanly, at the following corner.

With Pantano finishing out of the points, Bruno Senna took a bite out of his championship lead with third place. Senna was lucky that Petrov retired with gearbox failure on lap 23 when running ahead of him, but could look back on a brilliant start that catapulted him from eighth to fourth on the opening lap.

Karun Chandhok finished fourth, ahead of the star of the race: Pastor Maldonado. After missing qualifying due to a big crash in free practice, the Venezuelan stormed from the back of the grid and, by delaying his pitstop, led the race for 20 laps. He rejoined fifth, where he would finish, but ran out of laps to catch Chandhok despite lapping much faster on fresh rubber.

Mike Conway drove a strong race to finish sixth, holding off a charging Sebastien Buemi. Andy Soucek finished eighth for reverse grid pole, after putting up a stern defence to Jerome d'Ambrosio.

Classified: Pos Driver Team Time 1. Di Grassi Campos 1:04:35.028 2. Zuber Piquet Sports + 0.711 3. Senna iSport + 3.611 4. Chandhok iSport + 19.046 5. Maldonado Piquet Sports + 21.883 6. Conway Trident + 33.375 7. Buemi Arden + 33.621 8. Soucek Super Nova + 36.911 9. d'Ambrosio Dams + 37.211 10. Yamamoto ART + 48.359 11. Kobayashi Dams + 49.634 12. Nunes DPR + 56.490 13. Villa Racing Engineering + 57.463 14. Pantano Racing Engineering + 1:01.492 15. Filippi Arden + 1:11.941 16. Parente Super Nova + 1:29.672 17. Grosjean ART + 1 Lap 18. Asmer FMS + 1 Lap 19. Rodriguez FMS + 1 Lap Not classified: Driver Team On lap Petrov Campos 23 Herck DPR 13 Valsecchi Durango 7 Tung Trident 1 Valles BCN Competicion 1 Iaconelli BCN Competicion 0 Valerio Durango 0 Fastest lap: Grosjean, 1:29.793 on lap 17

Kobayashi stripped of Spa point

DAMS driver Kamui Kobayashi lost his point for sixth place in Sunday's GP2 sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps when race stewards gave him a 25-second penalty for cutting the Bus Stop chicane.

Kobayashi used the short-cut to grab sixth place from Davide Valsecchi of Durango on the final lap, but the penalty drops him to 14th place.

The move gives Valsecchi a point, despite the fact he spent the night in hospital after a heavy shunt in Saturday's event.

Kobayashi said: "I got back up to sixth place and I thought I scored a point until I was called to see the stewards. I accept their decision but overall I'm disappointed with my weekend."

Chandhok wins Hockenheim sprint

Karun Chandhok overcame Lucas di Grassi and a strong challenge from Andi Zuber to win the GP2 sprint race at Hockenheim.

Although Chandhok started from pole, di Grassi made a rocket start from fourth on the grid and drove around the outside of the front row to take a commanding early lead.

But after two laps in front, di Grassi appeared to lose pace on the straights - possibly due to a recurrence of the gearbox problem that cost him fifth gear in yesterday's race. Chandhok drafted past him at the Parabolika, but di Grassi responded at the Spitzkehre and retook the lead.

Chandhok wasn't to be denied, however, and got him back again with a brave move at the kink before the Mercedes Arena. Zuber wasted little time in doing likewise, passing di Grassi at the same place a lap later.

Zuber closed the gap to Chandhok, but despite 19 laps of pressure, the Indian didn't look like cracking under pressure and clinched his first win of the year.

In fact, Bruno Senna came closer to Zuber than he was to Chandhok at the finish, Senna having charged past Alvaro Parente at the Spitzkehre on lap four.

It was also good news for Bruno in the championship: series leader Giorgio Pantano made a brilliant start, gaining two places at the start and another two at the hairpin on the opening lap. But his race was ended by broken steering after a collision with Andy Soucek at Spitzkehre on lap three.

"It was only the lightest of touches, I don't know why it broke," shrugged the Italian.

Di Grassi's race was ruined by an outrageous punt from behind by Pastor Maldonado at Spitzkehre, sending him spinning off the track at high speed.

That promoted Senna to third, and he spent the rest of the race catching Zuber. Romain Grosjean finished fourth after an awful first lap, which saw him drop as low as 10th. Javier Villa finished fifth, ahead of Parente.

Senna has closed the gap to Pantano in the championship to 15 points with four race weekends remaining.

Pos Driver Team Time 1. Karun Chandhok iSport International 38:27.955 2. Andreas Zuber Piquet Sports + 0.702 3. Bruno Senna iSport International + 1.274 4. Romain Grosjean ART Grand Prix + 4.947 5. Javier Villa Racing Engineering + 10.893 6. Alvaro Parente Super Nova Racing + 16.383 7. Ho-Pin Tung Trident Racing + 17.423 8. Sebastien Buemi Trust Team Arden + 18.364 9. Mike Conway Trident Racing + 21.808 10. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS + 22.554 11. Jerome D'Ambrosio DAMS + 27.503 12. Vitaly Petrov Barwa Campos Team + 28.832 13. Marko Asmer FMS International + 34.160 14. Davide Valsecchi Durango + 34.854 15. Alberto Valerio Durango + 35.468 16. Roldan Rodriguez FMS International + 36.769 17. Carlos Iaconelli BCN Competicion + 41.765 18. Pastor Maldonado Piquet Sports + 46.526 19. Andy Soucek Super Nova Racing + 1 lap 20. Diego Nunes DPR + 1 lap Retirements:Driver Team Laps Sakon Yamamoto ART Grand Prix 20 Adrian Valles BCN Competicion 9 Lucas Di Grassi Barwa Campos Team 7 Giorgio Pantano Racing Engineering 2 Michael Herck DPR 0 Luca Filippi Trust Team Arden 0

Pantano excluded from Spa races

GP2 Series championship leader Giorgio Pantano has been excluded from the Spa-Francorchamps races as a punishment for his collision with Lucas di Grassi at the end of today's feature race.

Pantano had been on course to win the race and extend his championship lead until an engine problem during a safety car period dropped him to 10th.

He then lost further places with a spin, and collided with di Grassi in a botched overtaking move on the final lap, ending both their races.

The Italian was called to see the stewards, who decided not only to disqualify him from the first race, but to bar him from participating in tomorrow morning's sprint race, citing "reckless driving and unsportsmanlike behaviour", and adding that he had also overtaken during a safety car period.

Pantano's title rival Bruno Senna had earlier lost a chance to win the race when he was given a drive-through penalty for being released from his pitstop into the path of Alberto Valerio. He went on to finish 12th, and currently trails Pantano by 13 points with three races remaining.

Third place finisher Andreas Zuber has also been disqualified from the feature race results due to "unauthorised repairs" to his Piquet Sports car.

His removal from the results elevates his teammate Pastor Maldonado to third, and means that DAMS' Jerome d'Ambrosio moves up to eighth and pole position for the reverse grid sprint race.

Grosjean wins hectic rain-affected race

Romain Grosjean claimed his maiden GP2 Series feature race win by staying out on slick tyres and passing series leader Giorgio Pantano at Hockenheim on Saturday.

Grosjean, who won the sprint race in Turkey, won by 10 seconds but only hit the front with four laps remaining when a brief but heavy rain shower made the circuit incredibly treacherous. Pantano, who had a championship to think about, elected not to fight him too hard and risk crashing out.

Grosjean made his winning move, having tracked Pantano's every move for the first 35 and a half laps of dry action, at the Mercedes Arena. As the rain fell, some chose to switch to wet tyres, which was a very marginal decision.

This was proved by Javier Villa, who crashed out of third place just a couple of hundred yards from the finish having also elected to stay on dry tyres. He was joined seconds later by Andi Zuber, also on slicks, and joined a graveyard of cars that included long-time third placed runner Sebastien Buemi.

Alvaro Parente finished third, thanks to a sensational last lap, which included him losing the position to Bruno Senna when he ran wide at Spitzkehre, but grabbing it back later around the lap.

Senna, who had survived a massive spin at Mobil as the rain fell, finished fourth and the first of the wet-tyred runners, ahead of Lucas di Grassi (on wets) and Pastor Maldonado, who were neck and neck as they crossed the line.

Andy Soucek and Karun Chandhok (on wets) rounded out the point scorers.

Pos Driver Team Time 1. Romain Grosjean ART 58:52.430 2. Giorgio Pantano Racing Engineering +10.996 3. Alvaro Parente Super Nova +54.244 4. Bruno Senna iSport +56.654 5. Lucas di Grassi Campos +60.201 6. Pastor Maldonado Piquet Sports +60.406 7. Andy Soucek Super Nova +61.764 8. Karun Chandhok iSport +79.413 9. Alberto Valerio Durango +1:07.474 10. Javier Villa Racing Engineering +1 lap 11. Andi Zuber Piquet Sports +1 lap 12. Sakon Yamamoto ART +1 lap 13. Ho-Pin Tung Trident +1 lap 14. Marko Asmer FMS +1 lap 15. Adrian Valles BCN +1 lap 16. Carlos Iaconelli BCN +1 lap 17. Michael Herck DPR +1 lap 18. Roldan Rodriguez FMS +2 laps Retirements Sebastien Buemi Arden 35 laps Mike Conway Trident 35 laps Vitaly Petrov Campos 35 laps Jerome d'Ambrosio DAMS 35 laps Luca Filippi Arden 33 laps Diego Nunes DPR 33 laps Davide Valsecchi Durango 23 laps Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 0 laps Fastest lap, Pantano 1:24.454 on lap 28

Three injured in DPR bus smash

Three mechanics from GP2 Series squad DPR were hospitalised in Budapest on Saturday morning when the minibus in which they were travelling to the Hungaroring rolled into a ditch on the motorway.

None of the three crew members have been seriously hurt, but they will all be kept in overnight for observation. Their minibus appears to have been sideswiped by a local car as it changed lanes, causing it to swerve off the road and into the ditch, where it rolled to a halt.

The accident has caused traffic chaos on the main road to the circuit, which was totally closed off to allow a helicopter to land. None of the injured required airlifting, and all journeyed to the hospital in an ambulance.

DPR will race on in today's feature event, but will have to shuffle its pit crew around to make up for the loss in numbers.

Team principal Dave Price could even be drafted in for the tyre stops of Diego Nunes, who starts a respectable 13th, and Michael Herck.

Grosjean grabs first pole in Hungary

Asia Series champion Romain Grosjean scored the first pole position of his main GP2 Series career at the Hungaroring on Friday afternoon, just beating Andi Zuber and Lucas di Grassi by fractions of a second in a thrilling session.

Grosjean lapped his ART Grand Prix car in 1:27.762, which was 0.082 seconds quicker than Zuber's Piquet Sports car, and Zuber was just 0.002 seconds faster than di Grassi's Campos-run machine.

The Frenchman timed his run perfectly, setting the time with less than 60 seconds on the clock. He had a scare early on as he encountered a slow BCN car on the exit of the flat-out Turn 3, and had to pass it on the grass.

Vitaly Petrov (Campos) left it even later and set his time after the clock had zeroed, so the Russian will start fourth.

Karun Chandhok (iSport), who had spent much of the session second, fell to fifth in the closing moments. He was powerless to respond to the late improvements as he spun off overtaking the touring Jerome d'Ambrosio (DAMS) and stalled.

Mike Conway will start sixth for Trident Racing, ahead of championship protagonists Giorgio Pantano (Racing Engineering) and Bruno Senna (iSport) - the latter almost half a second off the leading pace just when he needs to eat into Pantano's convincing points lead.

Senna had been P2 at the halfway point, but didn't improve his time enough to stay with the leaders.

Pastor Maldonado's Piquet Sports car was unable to be repaired in time for qualifying after his free practice shunt, so he will start Saturday's race from the back of the grid.

Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Romain Grosjean ART 1:27.782 2. Andi Zuber Piquet Sports 1:27.864 +0.082 3. Lucas di Grassi Campos 1:27.866 +0.084 4. Vitaly Petrov Campos 1:28.035 +0.253 5. Karun Chandhok iSport 1:28.062 +0.280 6. Mike Conway Trident 1:28.123 +0.341 7. Giorgio Pantano Racing Engineering 1:28.203 +0.421 8. Bruno Senna iSport 1:28.237 +0.455 9. Jerome d'Ambrosio DAMS 1:28.413 +0.631 10. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 1:28.513 +0.731 11. Sebastien Buemi Arden 1:28.562 +0.780 12. Sakon Yamamoto ART 1:28.730 +0.948 13. Andy Soucek Super Nova 1:28.750 +0.968 14. Diego Nunes DPR 1:28.756 +0.974 15. Alvaro Parente Super Nova 1:28.921 +1.139 16. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:28.926 +1.144 17. Ho-Pin Tung Trident 1:29.010 +1.228 18. Javier Villa Racing Engineering 1:29.094 +1.312 19. Adrian Valles BCN 1:29.188 +1.406 20. Roldan Rodriguez FMS 1:29.458 +1.676 21. Luca Filippi Arden 1:29.876 +2.094 22. Michael Herck DPR 1:30.021 +2.239 23. Carlos Iaconelli BCN 1:30.220 +2.438 24. Marko Asmer FMS 1:30.258 +2.476 25. Alberto Valerio Durango no time 26. Pastor Maldonado Piquet Sports no time

Senna hits trouble as Pantano flies

Bruno Senna faces an uphill battle to close the seven-point gap to GP2 Series points leader Giorgio Pantano after suffering a throttle problem during free practice in Valencia that rendered him 18th fastest, 1.8s behind the Italian.

With just 30 minutes to learn the new Spanish street circuit, Senna was waiting in a line of cars ready to go on-track when he was pushed to the side and lost 10 minutes while his iSport team went to work on the problem.

"The throttle would not go back to zero percent," said Senna. "I lost the whole part of the session when everyone was being sensible.

"When I got going there were red and yellow flags everywhere."

The session was stopped halfway through when Carlos Iachonelli hit the wall exiting one of the chicanes, while Pastor Maldonado also damaged the left rear of his car in a separate incident with the barriers.

Pantano ended the session fastest, 0.5s clear of the field, with Alvaro Parente and Karun Chandhok next up.

Once Senna did get going, he was not convinced his car was propelling him at full potential - another reason for his lowly position in the times.

"I'm not sure I had full throttle because people were pulling away on the straights in front of me," he said.

"Things have started really well, I'm only two seconds slower than Giorgio."

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Pantano Racing Engineering 1:47.340 13 2. Parente Super Nova Racing 1:47.867 + 0.527 14 3. Chandhok iSport International 1:47.898 + 0.558 13 4. Zuber Piquet Sports 1:47.922 + 0.582 14 5. Di Grassi Barwa Campos Team 1:47.933 + 0.593 15 6. Maldonado Piquet Sports 1:47.944 + 0.604 11 7. D'Ambrosio Dams 1:47.948 + 0.608 14 8. Grosjean ART Grand Prix 1:47.992 + 0.652 15 9. Filippi Trust Team Arden 1:48.362 + 1.022 13 10. Valsecchi Durango 1:48.381 + 1.041 13 11. Petrov Barwa Campos Team 1:48.477 + 1.137 13 12. Rodriguez FMS International 1:48.499 + 1.159 15 13. Valles BCN Competicion 1:48.684 + 1.344 15 14. Villa Racing Engineering 1:48.722 + 1.382 13 15. Soucek Super Nova Racing 1:48.753 + 1.413 14 16. Buemi Trust Team Arden 1:48.893 + 1.553 13 17. Conway Trident Racing 1:49.060 + 1.720 14 18. Senna iSport International 1:49.232 + 1.892 11 19. Yamamoto ART Grand Prix 1:49.459 + 2.119 14 20. Kobayashi Dams 1:49.504 + 2.164 15 21. Valerio Durango 1:49.988 + 2.648 15 22. Herck DPR 1:50.190 + 2.850 15 23. Tung Trident Racing 1:50.297 + 2.957 15 24. Nunes DPR 1:50.326 + 2.986 13 25. Iaconelli BCN Competicion 1:50.623 + 3.283 6 26. Asmer FMS International 1:50.908 + 3.568 15

Di Grassi completes Campos double

Lucas di Grassi made it a double success for the Campos team at Valencia on Sunday, matching his teammate Vitaly Petrov's success from yesterday with victory in the Sunday morning sprint race.

Di Grassi inherited the win when longtime leader Luca Filippi punted off Romain Grosjean at Turn 2, who had just passed him for the lead at the final corner on the lap before.

Grosjean was forced out after being shoved into the tyrewall, and was livid with the Italian's driving.

Filippi had led for the first nine laps, but despite his collision with Grosjean, clung on to second to the finish under pressure from third-placed Jerome d'Ambrosio. But it was in vain because the stewards slapped him with a 25-second penalty, which dropped him to 13th place.

Di Grassi, meanwhile, nipped ahead while Filippi was hitting Grosjean, and took the lead that he would hold to the end, despite a brief safety car period.

It was a hugely significant race for the title battle, as Bruno Senna looked set to eat into Giorgio Pantano's series lead. But after getting up to fourth from ninth on the grid, Senna shunted his iSport car into the wall.

It was a race he could have finished second in, and he rued afterwards: "I've let the team down."

The main beneficiaries were d'Ambrosio and Pantano, who finished third and fourth, with Diego Nunes scoring his first points of the year in fifth, ahead of Javier Villa.

Yesterday's winner Petrov had a ragged race, straightlining a chicane on the opening lap and ultimately getting punted into a spin by Karun Chandhok.

Pantano gained another three points over Senna today, taking his points tally to 70 to Senna's 58.

Pos Driver Team Time 1. Di Grassi Barwa Campos Team 43:01.131 2. D'Ambrosio Dams + 6.456 3. Pantano Racing Engineering + 7.545 4. Nunes DPR + 12.039 5. Villa Racing Engineering + 12.674 6. Kobayashi Dams + 13.201 7. Valsecchi Durango + 15.394 8. Conway Trident Racing + 17.496 9. Tung Trident Racing + 20.072 10. Rodriguez FMS International + 22.960 11. Iaconelli BCN Competicion + 24.716 12. Valerio Durango + 25.933 13. Filippi Trust Team Arden + 29.213 14. Herck DPR + 1 Lap 15. Petrov Barwa Campos Team + 1 lap Retirements: Driver Team Laps Chandhok iSport International 18 Asmer FMS International 12 Grosjean ART Grand Prix 11 Soucek Super Nova Racing 7 Senna iSport International 7 Yamamoto ART Grand Prix 4 Valles BCN Competicion 3 Buemi Trust Team Arden 3 Maldonado Piquet Sports 2 Parente Super Nova Racing 0 Zuber Piquet Sports 0 Fastest lap: Di Grassi, 1:47.712 on lap 18

Pantano raves about 'perfect lap'

GP2 Series leader Giorgio Pantano expressed his delight at extending his advantage by scoring two points for pole position at Hockenheim on Friday.

The Italian outpaced his opposition by almost three tenths of a second, and said that changes made by his Racing Engineering team had been key to his dominance.

"We did a good job after free practice," said Pantano. "I had a good feeling in the car and drove a perfect lap. We were even able to save some of the tyres for the race, so that is good too."

His closest rival, Romain Grosjean of ART, admitted: "Giorgio was better than us today. I made a little mistake at the final corner on my first run, and got onto the grass, and the track wasn't so fast for my second run. I was fractions faster, but I needed to find a lot more time to challenge Giorgio."

Third fastest qualifier Andi Zuber has sounded a note of caution after recent performances by Piquet Sports have flattered to deceive after qualifying - especially on the medium compound Bridgestone tyres.

"The car is very difficult to drive," said Zuber. "And after two or three laps, the tyres are finished. We saw it at Silverstone, and we're working hard to solve it. I made a slight mistake in the final corner on my quickest lap, but Giorgio did a very good time - I couldn't do that today."

Maldonado takes last-gasp victory

Pastor Maldonado nicked a last-lap GP2 sprint race victory from home hero Jerome d'Ambrosio at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday morning.

D'Ambrosio led for 17-and-a-half of the 18 laps, only for Maldonado to blast past him into Les Combes to record a fine win from sixth on the grid.

D'Ambrosio, who took reverse grid pole thanks to the exclusion of Andi Zuber from yesterday's race, had fended off the early challenge of Andy Soucek, who would later crash out at Stavelot.

Maldonado had to work his way past Alvaro Parente - who would also crash heavily at the Bus Stop- Vitaly Petrov, Sebastien Buemi and Soucek before he made his crucial final move on d'Ambrosio.

D'Ambrosio finished second, ahead of Petrov, Buemi and Lucas di Grassi. Kamui Kobayashi crossed the line sixth, but stole the final point from Davide Valsecchi by cutting the Bus Stop on the final lap.

Yesterday's winner Romain Grosjean spun at Stavelot and could only finish 10th.

Title protagonist Bruno Senna blew his chance to eat into the absent Giorgio Pantano's title lead. He spun at the Bus Stop after clipping Buemi just as he was poised to enter the point-paying positions, and retired with a broken front wing.

Senna will go into the Monza finale 11 points behind Pantano.

Pos Driver Team Time 1. Maldonado Piquet Sports 39:35.698 2. D'Ambrosio Dams + 1.256 3. Petrov Barwa Campos Team + 5.439 4. Buemi Trust Team Arden + 6.390 5. Di Grassi Barwa Campos Team + 7.222 6. Kobayashi Dams + 7.890 7. Valsecchi Durango + 8.213 8. Chandhok iSport International + 8.767 9. Villa Racing Engineering + 12.199 10. Grosjean ART Grand Prix + 16.317 11. Tung Trident Racing + 17.065 12. Herck DPR + 18.351 13. Iaconelli BCN Competicion + 20.023 14. Valles BCN Competicion + 20.350 Retirements: Driver Team Laps Soucek Super Nova Racing 15 Filippi Trust Team Arden 12 Asmer FMS International 10 Senna iSport International 9 Nunes DPR 7 Parente Super Nova Racing 5 Valerio Durango 5 Conway Trident Racing 4 Rodriguez FMS International 4 Yamamoto ART Grand Prix 2 Zuber Piquet Sports 1 Fastest lap: Maldonado, 1:58.860 on lap 5

Maldonado fastest in free practice

Pastor Maldonado set the pace in the 30 minutes of free practice ahead of qualifying for the GP2 Series round at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.

The Venezuelan lapped the track in 1:57.055 in his Piquet Sports-run car, just 0.048 seconds quicker than series leader Giorgio Pantano (Racing Engineering).

Making Pantano's morning even better, his nearest title rivals Bruno Senna and Lucas di Grassi were down in 15th and 14th respectively after a troubled session.

Valencia winner Vitaly Petrov was third fastest for Campos, ahead of Sebastien Buemi (Arden), the surprisingly rapid Davide Valsecchi (Durango) and Karun Chandhok (iSport).

Andi Zuber (Piquet), Andy Soucek (Super Nova), Kamui Kobayashi (DAMS) - who ended his session in the gravel - and his teammate Jerome d'Ambrosio rounded out the top 10.

As well as Senna and di Grassi, also outside the top 10 was Romain Grosjean, who spun his ART car to a halt and ended the session 16th. His teammate, Sakon Yamamoto, also had a wild spin, while Petrov got away with straight-lining Les Combes without spinning.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Maldonado Piquet Sports 1:57.055 12 2. Pantano Racing Engineering 1:57.103 + 0.048 10 3. Petrov Barwa International Campos 1:57.219 + 0.164 11 4. Buemi Trust Team Arden 1:57.333 + 0.278 12 5. Valsecchi Durango 1:57.537 + 0.482 13 6. Chandhok iSport International 1:57.558 + 0.503 11 7. Zuber Piquet Sports 1:57.576 + 0.521 12 8. Soucek Super Nova Racing 1:57.644 + 0.589 12 9. Kobayashi Dams 1:57.661 + 0.606 11 10. D'Ambrosio Dams 1:57.681 + 0.626 13 11. Parente Super Nova Racing 1:57.760 + 0.705 12 12. Rodriguez FMS International 1:57.803 + 0.748 14 13. Yamamoto ART Grand Prix 1:57.874 + 0.819 9 14. Di Grassi Barwa International Campos 1:57.905 + 0.850 11 15. Senna iSport International 1:57.998 + 0.943 11 16. Grosjean ART Grand Prix 1:58.265 + 1.210 10 17. Filippi Trust Team Arden 1:58.420 + 1.365 12 18. Tung Trident Racing 1:58.476 + 1.421 12 19. Nunes DPR 1:58.494 + 1.439 13 20. Conway Trident Racing 1:58.611 + 1.556 13 21. Asmer FMS International 1:58.960 + 1.905 11 22. Valerio Durango 1:59.127 + 2.072 12 23. Villa Racing Engineering 1:59.146 + 2.091 10 24. Valles BCN Competicion 1:59.148 + 2.093 13 25. Herck DPR 1:59.416 + 2.361 11 26. Iaconelli BCN Competicion 1:59.487 + 2.432 13

Chandhok fastest, but Senna on pole

Karun Chandhok set the fastest time in GP2 Series qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps on Friday afternoon, but his iSport teammate Bruno Senna will start Saturday's feature race from pole as Chandhok has a 10-place grid penalty for a collision in the previous race.

A cloudbust just before the session sent the teams into a frenzy of set-up changes in the pitlane, as it was evident the wet conditions would remain throughout the 30 minutes.

Chandhok left it until the very final seconds of qualifying to set the quickest time, his 2:15.489 just 0.061 quicker than his teammate Senna, who had led the way for much of the session.

But his 10-place grid penalty, incurred when he punted Vitaly Petrov into a spin in the Valencia sprint race, will drop the Indian down the order to 11th.

The destiny of the two points for pole position, however, caused some paddock debate. GP2 has ruled that Senna will receive them, so he moves two points closer to series leader Giorgio Pantano - the gap between them now 11 points.

Alvaro Parente was also very impressive throughout the session, and will start alongside Senna on the front row in his Super Nova entry. Romain Grosjean was next up for ART Grand Prix, and was another to improve on his final lap despite waved yellow flags for Luca Filippi's Arden car, which was buried in the Pouhon tyre wall.

Series leader Giorgio Pantano was fifth fastest, and so will start fourth, ahead of Andi Zuber (Piquet Sports), Sebastien Buemi (Arden), Mike Conway (Trident), Andy Soucek (Super Nova) and Pastor Maldonado (Piquet).

Maldonado was fastest when he caused a red flag halfway through the session when he spun into the barriers on the exit of Malmedy, damaging his left-rear corner. He will start ninth.

Others to crash out included Lucas di Grassi (on his out lap), Sakon Yamamoto (ART) and Kamui Kobayashi (DAMS). Roldan Rodriguez (FMS) spun at Pouhon while marshals were retrieving Filippi's car, so the stewards' room is likely to be a busy place for the next couple of hours while incidents are investigated.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Chandhok iSport International 2:15.489 11 2. Senna iSport International 2:15.550 + 0.061 11 3. Parente Super Nova Racing 2:16.100 + 0.611 11 4. Grosjean ART Grand Prix 2:16.280 + 0.791 12 5. Pantano Racing Engineering 2:16.291 + 0.802 9 6. Zuber Piquet Sports 2:16.370 + 0.881 9 7. Buemi Trust Team Arden 2:16.786 + 1.297 11 8. Conway Trident Racing 2:16.853 + 1.364 12 9. Soucek Super Nova Racing 2:16.958 + 1.469 11 10. Maldonado Piquet Sports 2:17.310 + 1.821 4 11. Petrov Barwa Campos Team 2:17.374 + 1.885 7 12. Valerio Durango 2:17.587 + 2.098 13 13. Valsecchi Durango 2:17.757 + 2.268 13 14. Nunes DPR 2:17.857 + 2.368 13 15. Asmer FMS International 2:17.969 + 2.480 13 16. Valles BCN Competicion 2:18.097 + 2.608 11 17. Rodriguez FMS International 2:18.170 + 2.681 11 18. Herck DPR 2:18.206 + 2.717 12 19. Tung Trident Racing 2:18.836 + 3.347 12 20. Filippi Trust Team Arden 2:19.174 + 3.685 6 21. D'ambrosio Dams 2:19.394 + 3.905 9 22. Villa Racing Engineering 2:21.482 + 5.993 12 23. Iaconelli BCN Competicion 2:22.089 + 6.600 12 24. Yamamoto ART Grand Prix 2:22.764 + 7.275 5 25. Kobayashi Dams 2:24.020 + 8.531 3 Outside 107% Di Grassi Barwa Campos Team 2:30.459 + 14.970 2

Grosjean wins chaotic Spa race

Romain Grosjean atoned for some recent mistakes and misfortune by claiming a well-judged GP2 feature race victory at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday.

The Frenchman passed Alvaro Parente with five laps remaining to claim victory. After that, and a third safety car period, Grosjean streaked away to a 4.1sec win. Grosjean's victory moves him back into third place in the points table.

"The conditions were very tricky at the start, but the car was very good in the dry," said Grosjean. "It was a good fight with Parente, and then we had another safety car, so I had to do it all again."

The race was led in its early stages by pole-sitter Bruno Senna, but he was given a drive-through penalty after he was released from his mandatory pitstop in an 'unsafe manner' according to the stewards. His iSport car narrowly missed Alberto Valerio's Durango machine, which was coming in for his stop.

Senna would finish 12th, after his penalty dropped him to last place, but he was fortunate that his championship opponent, series leader Giorgio Pantano, also suffered a disastrous race.

Pantano had looked set to inherit Senna's win, but his engine reverted to safe mode during a safety car period when its water temperature got too cold. He dropped to 10th, but had recovered to eighth, and the coveted reverse grid pole position, when he spun at La Source with just four laps to go.

He continued in 10th place, but would crash out at La Source on the final lap when he tried to pass Roldan Rodriguez but hit Lucas di Grassi instead. He has been summoned to the stewards room and could face a further grid penalty for tomorrow's race.

Piquet Sports duo Andi Zuber and Pastor Maldonado finished third and fourth, but swapped the position on numerous occasions in the closing stages. Vitaly Petrov finished fifth, ahead of Sebastien Buemi, Andy Soucek and Mike Conway.

Davide Valsecchi suffered no major injuries in his shunt that caused the second safety car on lap 10 when he went straight on at Stavelot and crashed into the tyre wall at high speed. He has been flown to hospital, but has no broken bones.

The race started under the safety car, after a rain shower soaked the track just before the start, meaning everyone started on wets. They all switched to slicks during the mandatory stops.

Pos Driver Tea Time 1. Grosjean ART 1h02:33.710 2. Parente Super Nova + 4.139 3. Zuber Piquet Sports + 5.744 4. Maldonado Piquet Sports + 6.308 5. Petrov Campos + 6.783 6. Buemi Arden + 8.711 7. Soucek Super Nova + 8.939 8. Conway Trident + 9.549 9. D'Ambrosio DAMS + 10.846 10. Kobayashi DAMS + 12.790 11. Chandhok iSport + 13.048 12. Senna iSport + 13.383 13. Nunes DPR + 14.176 14. Valles BCN Comp. + 14.903 15. Herck DPR + 16.537 16. Tung Trident + 17.315 17. Asmer FMS + 17.935 18. Villa Racing Eng. + 18.204 19. Yamamoto ART + 19.705 20. Filippi Arden + 43.184 21. Pantano Racing Eng. + 1:16.651 Retirements: Driver Team Laps Di Grassi Campos 25 Rodriguez FMS 25 Valerio Durango 21 Valsecchi Durango 9 Iaconelli BCN Comp. 3 Fastest lap: Grosjean, 1:59.529 on lap 26

Petrov inherits victory in Valencia

Vitaly Petrov won Saturday's GP2 Series feature race in bizarre circumstances at Valencia when series leader Giorgio Pantano, who dominated the event, ran out of fuel in the final corners of the race.

Amazingly, title rival Bruno Senna also ran out of gas and coasted over the finish line in ninth place - just missing out on reverse grid pole for Sunday's sprint.

Before the race, teams acknowledged that the new Valancia street track was high on fuel consumption, and most cars completed the bare minimum of installation laps and were topped up with fuel on the grid, but they believed the situation would be offset by multiple safety cars.

However, only one safety car was required, when Ho-Pin Tung and Kamui Kobayashi hit the wall exiting Turn 2 on the opening lap, and it was only on track for a lap.

Pantano had led from the start of the 34-lap event but his Racing Engineering machine began to splutter as it approached the hairpin on the final lap. Petrov jumped ahead of him, and just beat Pastor Maldonado to the finish line by less than a second.

Romain Grosjean finished third, four seconds back, while Lucas di Grassi had a huge fright when he came across coasting cars in the flat-out final sequence of bends, but bounced across the kerbs to miss them and jumped up to fourth as a result.

The points finishers were completed by Jerome d'Ambrosio, Sebastien Buemi, Andy Soucek and Luca Filippi. Senna coasted across the line ninth, while Pantano could only make it to the final corner, where he stopped.

Others to run out of fuel included Karun Chandhok and Carlos Iaconalli.

Pos Driver Team Time 1. Petrov Barwa Campos Team 1h03:25.719 2. Maldonado Piquet Sports + 0.868 3. Grosjean ART Grand Prix + 4.447 4. Di Grassi Barwa Campos Team + 28.038 5. D'ambrosio Dams + 28.736 6. Buemi Trust Team Arden + 28.855 7. Soucek Super Nova Racing + 36.960 8. Filippi Trust Team Arden + 45.390 9. Senna iSport International + 48.177 10. Nunes DPR + 56.935 11. Valles BCN Competicion + 59.149 12. Herck DPR + 63.604 13. Iaconelli BCN Competicion + 72.716 14. Pantano Racing Engineering + 1 lap 15. Chandhok iSport International + 1 lap 16. Parente Super Nova Racing + 2 laps Retirements: Driver Team Laps Valsecchi Durango 29 Zuber Piquet Sports 24 Yamamoto ART Grand Prix 9 Conway Trident Racing 1 Villa Racing Engineering 0 Rodriguez FMS International 0 Tung Trident Racing 0 Valerio Durango 0 Kobayashi Dams 0 Asmer FMS International 0 Fastest lap: Pantano, 1:46.791 on lap 33