GP2 Imola Race 2 Results

[LongShanx]

From GP2series.com

Ernesto Viso has won today’s GP2 series race at Imola, taking the first victory for iSport International in the GP2 series ahead of Nelson Piquet Jr (Piquet Sports) and Hiroki Yoshimoto (BCN Competicion.)

The race began with Hiroki making a fantastic start from pole, followed by team-mate Timo Glock. Behind them Adrián Vallés stalled his Campos Racing car, and in the haze of tyre smoke, an unsighted Lucas di Grassi slammed his Durango into the stranded car. With debris littering the start-finish straight the safety car was immediately deployed. As the cars all slowed, Michael Ammermüller was caught unawares and rammed into Alex Prémat, with the Frenchman’s ART Grand Prix car out on the spot and Michael’s Arden irreparable on its return to the pits.

The cars toured through the pitlane behind the safety car and were finally released on lap four. Ernesto had held his third place from the grid and was all over the back of Timo. Nelson was back on stunning form, passing Nicolas Lapierre’s Arden at Rivazza for fourth as Luca Filippi dispatched yesterday’s race winner Gimmi Bruni in the same place for sixth. One lap later and Ernesto got past Timo and set after Hiroki. Nelson was now right up behind Timo and made his way past the clearly slower car on lap six.

By lap eight Ernesto was tucked up behind Hiroki. The former team-mates battled hard, but in the end Hiroki just didn’t have the car under him to hold back the flying Venezuelan. Viso was through in a blur and off into a lead he would never lose. Hiroki was clearly fighting hard with his car, and Nelson slipped past for second place soon after.

Timo, now in fourth, was holding a long line of cars behind him, but was battling with a bold resolution not to lose any more places. Nicolas searched and searched, but just couldn’t find a way past the gritty German. In the end, Nicolas pushed just that touch too hard and ran over the grass at Variante Alta, allowing a grateful Filippi through to fifth, with Felix Porteiro taking sixth for Campos Racing.

Ernesto took the win, setting the fastest lap of the race on his penultimate lap. He was followed across the line by Nelson who sat just half a second in arrears at the chequered flag, with Hiroki a further 24 seconds down the road in third.

Nelson now leads the championship on 25 points ahead of Gimmi Bruni in second on 18. Ernesto’s win puts him third on 16 points, tied with Michael and Nicolas. In the teams’ championship Arden International lead on 32 points, with Piquet Sports third on 25 and Trident Racing third on 18 points.

1st Ernesto Viso – iSport International. 45:17.116
“It is amazing, it is finally here! Finally I got a win – last year was hard for me because I didn't get any wins. I knew I could get it but I didn't have a competitive enough car for a win or the championship. This season I'm very happy with my choice to come to iSport.”

2nd Nelson Piquet Jr – Piquet Sports. +0.596
“I had a bad start, but I managed to overtake and get my position back, so I'm happy. The car was really good, and I wasn't expecting to get second, but the car was so good that I could get it.”

3rd Hiroki Yoshimoto – BCN Competicion. +25.001
“I really want to win very soon – I don’t want to wait anymore. A podium is good, but it means someone is ahead of me, and I don't like that!”

[Friction Circle]

Taped Speed's coverage and watched it this aft. Some very "interesting" attempts at passing, and then some quite good passes. Track workers were kept busy in the long race clearing crashed cars!!

[Lito]

Viso finally won, and a 2nd spot on the past race, good things coming on for him.

Any chance to find the race over the net?

[luke]

Hamilton is very impressive, expect him to be the next British F1 driver, (and hope) ;) :D

[opinionated OW]

hamilton is by far the best in that series

[luke]

Oh and OW I'll get the action of the races done for you on tape on Sunday so around then pm me with your address and we'll sort it out.....

[LongShanx]

ART GRAND PRIX - IMOLA, APRIL 21-23 2006.

source: art-gp2.com

After the first round of the season when a series of small problems and errors prevented ART Grand Prix from collecting the fruits of their labour and competitiveness, the championship winning team put their hopes in the second race of the 2006 championship at Imola over the weekend. After very fruitful tests where Lewis Hamilton set the best time and securing third and fourth on the grid for race one, the team's drivers Lewis and Alex looked good for a podium finish at least, but unfortunately that wasn't the case.

At the beginning of the first race, Lewis quickly moved into P2, while his French teammate also got off to a good start close behind him. Lewis bided his time behind the leader in the opening laps to help prevent his contender from overheating in the 37 lap race, however he was deemed to have jumped the start and handed a drive through penalty as a result. On lap eight when Lucas di Grassi crashed into the barriers at the Villeneuve chicane and the safety car was deployed, Lewis took the opportunity to come in and take his penalty. However, when he emerged after taking the penalty he thought he was dead last and passed the safety car after witnessing the two Campos Racing contenders doing the same thing, and was consequently black flagged for the infringement. Meanwhile, Alex carried on and finished just off the podium in fourth place.

After his exclusion in the first round, Lewis started race two from the back of the grid where after a brilliant run he crossed the line in tenth place, outside the points. Teammate Alex also failed to secure any points when after being hit violently by Michael Ammermüller his second race over before it really had a chance to begin and so was the chance of a podium finish.


Frederic Vasseur:

Once again it was a weekend of wasted opportunities and it is upsetting because it is prohibited to let go nice opportunities in such a competitive championship. It is necessary to remain positive: we have more points than we did at the same time in 2005 and our competitiveness is not in question. It should not be thought that we were the victims of bad luck apart from the incident with Alex by Ammermüller in race two, as the rest of the problems fall at our feet, like Lewis' jump start, who was then disqualified and it ruined his chances in the second race. We must find a certain serenity and the results will follow. I do not have any doubts about the fact that we can reach that point, so therefore I am not concerned.

Alexandre Prémat:

It was one frustrating weekend! Qualifying was not too bad, even if I thought I could have been higher up than fourth on the grid. It will now be necessary that I put my foot down and start from the front row in the next race! That being said, I had a good start in the first race, the team did very well during my pit stop, but I had a small lapse of concentration when I tried to overtake Yoshimoto and the two Arden's got passed me. I managed fourth place and that disappointed me a little, but it was nothing compared to what awaited me on Sunday! After another good start, I was passed by Viso and Glock and fell back to the 5th row. My objective was to score some big points, tat least ten from the weekend but unfortunately, Ammermüller did not really understand that the race was under safety car and destroyed my car and my race. Next round: Nürburgring, one I adore! I hope that this will be the real start to my championship.

Lewis Hamilton:

The practice session went well although we missed half of it when the clutch broke. It was not such a problem though. We went in qualifying whereas the track had changed a bit because of the F1. I lost at least 3 tenths of a second in the last corner and it's a shame because I should have been on Pole. Then, when it came to the first race, I made a mistake and had a jump start penalty. When I eventually came into the pits, I thought I was last joining the track. The pace car was there, the light was green and I thought I'd to go through. Well, all was confused, but we have to learn and keep progressing; we need to pick up a bit of confidence and I'm sure we'll be able to win races. As for the second race, I started last and finished 10th, which is not so bad especially on such a track. Some could see it as frustrating, but the main thing is to try to learn from this week-end. I feel sorry for the team; the guys did a great job this week-end and they should have been rewarded with a win, but we need to stay positive. It's early stages, there's a lot more to come, from the car and from myself!