Sunday, April 5, 2009

Petrov wins wet Sepang GP2 sprint

Petrov wins wet Sepang GP2 sprint

Vitaly Petrov put in a faultless performance to win a tricky wet GP2 Asia sprint race at Sepang.

The start was delayed by around half an hour after a monsoon swept across the track as the cars went to the grid. The race was eventually started behind the safety car, with Sakon Yamamoto having been pushed into the pitlane failing to get away.

The field ran a full four laps under caution before it was released on a track that was still well and truly soaked.

Pastor Maldonado gave pole man David Valsecchi a tap at the last corner even before they took the green flag, but both survived and Valsecchi held on to the lead in the difficult conditions. James Jakes was an early victim of the conditions, spinning off on the first flying lap.

On the second racing lap both Maldonado and Vitaly Petrov slipped past Valsecchi, and the pair gradually dropped the Italian.

Petrov then took the lead in a neat move, and with the track gradually drying out, he stayed there to the flag, steadily edging away until the race was ended a couple of laps early when the time limit clicked in.

Behind Maldonado and Valsecchi, Saturday sprint winner Diego Nunes moved up from eighth on the grid to fourth, while Hamad Al Fardan put in a solid drive to fifth.

The final point went to Sergio Perez, who snuck ahead of Kamui Kobayashi in a cheeky move at the last corner.

Pos Driver Team Time 1. Vitaly Petrov Barwa Campos 45:41.349 2. Pastor Maldonado ART + 2.914 3. Davide Valsecchi Durango + 4.339 4. Diego Nunes Piquet + 6.357 5. Hamad Al Fardan iSport + 21.539 6. Sergio Perez Barwa Campos + 24.489 7. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS + 24.522 8. Rodolfo Gonzalez FMS + 26.108 9. Alvaro Parente Qi-Meritus + 26.956 10. Giedo van der Garde iSport + 35.725 11. Yelmer Buurman ORT + 37.306 12. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet + 37.683 13. Davide Rigon Trident + 44.390 14. Marco Bonanomi Qi-Meritus + 46.358 15. Giacomo Ricci Trident + 47.818 16. Fabrizio Crestani ORT + 48.476 17. Edoardo Mortara Arden + 48.640 18. Javier Villa Super Nova +1:09.849 19. Ricardo Teixeira Trident +1:21.557 20. Michael Dalle Stelle Durango +1:56.537 RetirementsDriver Team Laps Jerome D'Ambrosio DAMS 14 Sakon Yamamoto ART 14 Michael Herck DPR 9 Luiz Razia Arden 9 Kevin Nai Chia Chen FMS 5 James Jakes Super Nova 4

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