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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Diego Nunes gave the Piquet GP team an impressive victory in the GP2 Asia feature race at Sepang, watched by both Nelson Piquet Sr and Jr.

There was drama even before the start when pole man Jerome D'Ambrosio returned to the pitlane after a problem with the DAMS car. He failed to make the start, leaving Nunes effectively on pole. Alongside him James Jakes got away sluggishly, while immediately behind the Briton his team-mate Javier Villa failed to get away at all.

Miraculously everybody made it past the stranded Spaniard, although there were some close calls. From 16th Giedo Van der Garde was adjudged to have jumped the start, and the iSport man soon got a drive through for his troubles.

Helped by the trouble behind, Nunes shot into the lead at the start, and soon opened a comfortable cushion over Vitaly Petrov and Kamui Kobayashi, while Jakes soon passed Yelmer Buurman and Pastor Maldonado to get into fourth.

Petrov was clearly slow, and a frustrated Kobayashi got out of his slipstream with an early stop on lap seven. Jakes then passed Petrov for second, but by then Nunes was long gone.

Petrov and Jakes both made their pitstops before leader Nunes came in on lap 13. That put Hamad Al Fardan into lead, the iSport driver having not yet stopped, and he remained in front until a relatively late stop on lap 18.

That handed the lead back to Nunes, and he stayed safely ahead to the flag, clinching his first GP2 win.

The early stop had ensured Kobayashi stayed ahead of Jakes, but the Japanese driver soon came under pressure from the Super Nova car, but Jakes couldn't quite find an opportunity to pass.

A late stop gained Roldan Rodriguez some ground and got him up to fourth, ahead of Buurman, Petrov and Maldonado. The latter had a couple of moments during a typically scrappy race, and was pushing Petrov hard in the closing stages, while Davide Velsecchi caught them both and claimed the final point after a delay in his stop.

Results to follow

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D'Ambrosio bags pole at Sepang

Jerome D'Ambrosio took pole position for the first GP2 Asia race at a hot and muggy Sepang today.

It was two-by-two in morning practice when Kamui Kobayashi edged out DAMS team mate D'Ambrosio by 0.2s, while Roldan Rodriguez and Diego Nunes were third and fourth for Piquet GP.

But D'Ambrosio showed the better form of the two DAMS drivers in the afternoon, securing pole with a lap of 1m45.410s.

Incredibly, just 0.9s covered the top 22 drivers on what is a quite a long lap, while the top 10 was within 0.4s.

Nunes will share the front row with D'Ambrosio, while James Jakes had a good run to third for Super Nova, despite a spin. Kobayashi had to be content with fourth place, ahead of Javier Villa and Vitaly Petrov.

ART had a low key day with Pastor Maldonado eighth and Sakon Yamamoto only 15th. Returning to the series, Alvaro Parente took 10th for the local Meritus outfit. Bahrain sprint race winner Sergio Perez is only 18th.

Because of the changed schedule for the grand prix, the Saturday race starts at noon local time, before the first F1 practice session, rather than after qualifying as is usual.

Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Jerome D'Ambrosio DAMS 1:45.410 2. Diego Nunes Piquet 1:45.522 +0.112 3. James Jakes Super Nova 1:45.527 +0.117 4. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 1:45.577 +0.167 5. Javier Villa Super Nova 1:45.649 +0.239 6. Vitaly Petrov Barwa Addax 1:45.720 +0.310 7. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:45.748 +0.338 8. Pastor Maldonado ART 1:45.755 +0.345 9. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet 1:45.767 +0.357 10. Alvaro Parente Meritus 1:45.816 +0.406 11. Yelmer Buurman Ocean 1:45.954 +0.544 12. Davide Rigon Trident 1:45.978 +0.568 13. Luiz Razia Arden 1:45.989 +0.579 14. Rodolfo Gonzalez FMS 1:46.053 +0.643 15. Sakon Yamamoto ART 1:46.087 +0.677 16. Giedo van der Garde iSport 1:46.105 +0.695 17. Fabrizio Crestani Ocean 1:46.108 +0.698 18. Sergio Perez Barwa Addax 1:46.169 +0.759 19. Edoardo Mortara Arden 1:46.184 +0.774 20. Michael Herck DPR 1:46.259 +0.849 21. Hamad Al-Fardan iSport 1:46.265 +0.855 22. Marco Bonanomi Meritus 1:46.315 +0.905 23. Giacomo Ricci DPR 1:46.604 +1.194 24. Ricardo Teixeira Trident 1:47.838 +2.428 25. Kevin Nai Chia Chen FMS 1:49.642 +4.232 26. Michael Dalle Stelle Durango 1:49.857 +4.447

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Kobayashi tops Malaysia practice

GP2 Asia Series leader and Toyota Formula 1 test driver Kamui Kobayashi set the pace in practice for rounds nine and ten of the series in Malaysia on Friday morning.

The Japanese driver set a time of 1:46.432, 0.15 seconds faster than team-mate Jerome d'Ambrosio as the DAMS squad locked out the top spots ahead of Piquet GP's Roldan Rodriguez and Diego Nunes.

Vitaly Petrov was fifth for Barwa, while David Valsecchi ensured the top six were covered by less than half a second.

Alvaro Parente placed seventh for Meritus, though his team-mate Marco Bonanomi endured a miserable session, completing just one lap following an electrical problem.

Edoardo Mortara, Sergio Perez and series returnee Pastor Maldonado completed the top ten.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Kobayashi Dams 1:46.432 15 2. D'Ambrosio Dams 1:46.667 + 0.235 14 3. Rodriguez Piquet GP 1:46.717 + 0.285 15 4. Nunes Piquet GP 1:46.742 + 0.310 14 5. Petrov Barwa International Campos 1:46.760 + 0.328 12 6. Valsecchi Durango 1:46.843 + 0.411 15 7. Parente My Team Qi-Meritus Mahara 1:46.912 + 0.480 7 8. Mortara Trust Team Arden 1:46.984 + 0.552 14 9. Perez Barwa International Campos 1:47.036 + 0.604 13 10. Maldonado ART Grand Prix 1:47.156 + 0.724 13 11. Villa Super Nova Racing 1:47.287 + 0.855 16 12. Razia Trust Team Arden 1:47.471 + 1.039 14 13. Al Fardan GFH Team iSport 1:47.667 + 1.235 14 14. Jakes Super Nova Racing 1:47.701 + 1.269 12 15. Rigon Trident Racing 1:47.831 + 1.399 15 16. Buurman Ocean Racing Technology 1:47.840 + 1.408 15 17. Van der Garde GFH Team iSport 1:47.843 + 1.411 14 18. Yamamoto ART Grand Prix 1:47.948 + 1.516 13 19. Crestani Ocean Racing Technology 1:48.097 + 1.665 16 20. Gonzalez Fisichella Motor Sport 1:48.374 + 1.942 10 21. Ricci DPR 1:48.417 + 1.985 15 22. Herck DPR 1:48.498 + 2.066 15 23. Teixeira Trident Racing 1:49.649 + 3.217 14 24. Dalle Stelle Durango 1:50.036 + 3.604 16 25. Nai Chia Chen Fisichella Motor Sport 1:50.413 + 3.981 10 26. Bonanomi My Team Qi-Meritus Mahara No time 1

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Parente rejoins Meritus for Sepang

Alvaro Parente is to rejoin the Meritus team for the forthcoming Sepang GP2 Asia races.

The Portuguese driver has been invited back after a one-off outing in the Qatar night event last month, where he set a fastest lap despite various dramas confining him to the midfield in both races.

"I am very pleased to have the opportunity to drive again for My Team Qi-Meritus.Mahara at its home race," said Parente.

"I last drove on the Malaysian track in 2005 in the first season of A1GP. I have a record to set straight though after a flat tyre ruined my strong race then."

He is confident that he can get Meritus amongst the front-runners at Sepang.

"This race I want to fight for the front of the grid and for the win," he said.

Parente has already signed for Ocean Racing Technology for this year's main GP2 Series, and was fastest on the second day of this week's Barcelona test.

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Villa quickest as Barcelona test ends

Javier Villa topped the final day of the last GP2 pre-season test at Barcelona today.

The Spaniard, who is beginning his fourth year of GP2, has switched from Racing Engineering to Super Nova for 2009 and set the best time of the day, ahead of former Super Nova racer Alvaro Parente, who set the pace yesterday following his move to Ocean Racing.

"The morning session was very good, we all went out to do qualifying simulations and I set the best time," said Villa. "In the afternoon we did a race simulation and some pit stop tests to finish the test.

"I think that we have worked very well throughout these days and to finish with the best time, and always being ahead, proves it."

Fellow fourth year GP2 racers Lucas di Grassi and Luca Filippi were third and fourth quickest respectively for Racing Engineering and Super Nova, with Romain Grosjean (Barwa Addax) and Roldan Rodriguez (Piquet GP) completing the top six.

Giedo van der Garde was first of the Main Series rookies in seventh, ahead of Asia Series championship leader Kamui Kobayashi.

Pos Driver Team Time 1. Javier Villa Super Nova 1:26.696 2. Alvaro Parente Ocean 1:26.735 3. Lucas di Grassi Racing Engineering 1:26.858 4. Luca Filippi Super Nova 1:26.882 5. Romain Grosjean Barwa Addax 1:26.903 6. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet GP 1:26.913 7. Giedo van der Garde iSport 1:27.026 8. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 1:27.088 9. Sergio Perez Arden 1:27.155 10. Jerome d'Ambrosio DAMS 1:27.247 11. Nico Hulkenberg ART 1:27.316 12. Andi Zuber FMS 1:27.349 13. Vitaly Petrov Barwa Addax 1:27.369 14. Edoardo Mortara Arden 1:27.525 15. Michael Herck DPR 1:27.665 16. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:27.673 17. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1:27.699 18. James Jakes DPR 1:27.796 19. Alberto Valerio Piquet GP 1:27.877 20. Davide Rigon Trident 1:27.899 21. Nelson Panciatici Durango 1:27.995 22. Pastor Maldonado ART 1:28.033 23. Diego Nunes iSport 1:28.127 24. Karun Chandhok Ocean 1:28.273 25. Luiz Razia FMS 1:28.609 26. Ricardo Teixeira Trident 1:29.728

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Parente dominates Barcelona test

Portuguese Alvaro Parente dominated the second day of GP2 testing at the Barcelona circuit on Tuesday.

On a sunny day at the Spanish track, Parente finished on top of the times both in the morning and the afternoon sessions, showing strong form in his first test as an official driver for the Ocean Racing Technology team.

Parente finished ahead of yesterday's pace-setter Lucas di Grassi, who was just 0.032 seconds slower in the Racing Engineering car.

Italian Davide Valsecchi was third fastest for Durango, with ART's Nico Hulkenberg and iSport's Giedo Van der Garde completing the top five.

The ORT team completed a good day thanks to Karun Chandhok finishing in sixth ahead of rookie Dani Clos.

A total of 18 drivers finished within a second of each other.

The three-day test comes to an end tomorrow.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Alvaro Parente Ocean Racing Technology 1:26.948 23 2. Lucas Di Grassi Racing Engineering 1:26.980 +0.032 31 3. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:27.101 +0.153 19 4. Nico Hulkenberg ART Grand Prix 1:27.116 +0.168 30 5. Giedo Van der Garde iSport International 1:27.269 +0.321 20 6. Karun Chandhok Ocean Racing Technology 1:27.309 +0.361 36 7. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1:27.350 +0.402 22 8. Pastor Maldonado ART Grand Prix 1:27.394 +0.446 31 9. Jerome D Ambrosio Dams 1:27.407 +0.459 23 10. Luca Filippi Super Nova Racing 1:27.534 +0.586 32 11. Kamui Kobayashi Dams 1:27.553 +0.605 30 12. Romain Grosjean Barwa Campos Team 1:27.634 +0.686 27 13. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet GP 1:27.686 +0.738 23 14. Edoardo Mortara Telmex Arden International 1:27.686 +0.738 27 15. Javier Villa Super Nova Racing 1:27.744 +0.796 31 16. Andreas Zuber FMS International 1:27.823 +0.875 22 17. Vitaly Petrov Barwa Campos Team 1:27.828 +0.880 29 18. Diego Nunes iSport International 1:27.858 +0.910 31 19. James Jakes DPR 1:28.043 +1.095 26 20. Michael Herck DPR 1:28.158 +1.210 19 21. Nelson Panciatici Durango 1:28.184 +1.236 32 22. Sergio Perez Telmex Arden International 1:28.223 +1.275 28 23. Davide Rigon Trident Racing 1:28.513 +1.565 37 24. Luiz Luiz Razia FMS International 1:29.098 +2.150 32 25. Alberto Valerio Piquet GP 1:29.222 +2.274 19 26. Ricardo Teixeira Trident Racing 1:30.893 +3.945 24

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