Monza GP2: Luca Filippi wins for Coloni on comeback
Luca Filippi scored a famous victory on his return to GP2 at Monza, winning for Coloni in his first single-seater start for 12 months
Filippi overtook polesitter and early race leader Max Chilton with a great move into the Ascari chicane, following the mandatory pitstops, to seal a marvellous win. He crossed the line four seconds to the good at the end of the 30-lap event.
"It might be a year since I last drove, and it feels like yesterday, it's like time just stopped," said Filippi on the podium, his voice trembling. "The emotion feels even bigger now. My career looked finished, but now I believe in myself more than ever.
"The Coloni family believed in me, and in Italian drivers. They gave me a chance, and I gave them a return. It's an amazing team, and an amazing thing."
Meanwhile, in the title race, Davide Valsecchi pulled eight points clear over his erstwhile joint-leader Luiz Razia. Valsecchi finished sixth, after Razia spun out following contact with Fabio Leimer that left him beached on the kerbs at the Roggia chicane.
The double-whammy is that Valsecchi will start third in Sunday's reversed-grid sprint race, with Razia down in 25th.
Johnny Cecotto Jr overcame a five-place grid penalty to charge through to second for Addax, passing Chilton for the runner-up spot at the first chicane at two-thirds distance. His strategy of saving tyres in qualifying, so he could start on a new set in the race, paid off handsomely.
Marcus Ericsson further demoted Chilton in similar style a few laps later to finish third for iSport, with Racing Engineering's Leimer finishing behind Chilton in fifth. Leimer also clashed with Felipe Nasr at the Roggia, but appeared to survive both stewards' investigations into the collisions.
Behind Valsecchi in sixth, Jolyon Palmer claimed seventh ahead of Stefano Coletti - who Filippi replaced at Coloni as he moved to Rapax - Esteban Gutierrez and Julian Leal.
Third-placed man in the points, James Calado, was a lowly 12th. Front row starter Giedo van der Garde did not make it through the first corner after his car appeared to lose power right from the start.
Results - 30 laps: Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. Luca Filippi Coloni 48m03.604s 2. Johnny Cecotto Jr Addax + 4.028s 3. Marcus Ericsson iSport + 5.377s 4. Max Chilton Carlin + 7.631s 5. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering + 9.413s 6. Davide Valsecchi DAMS + 16.057s 7. Jolyon Palmer iSport + 17.600s 8. Stefano Coletti Rapax + 18.532s 9. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus + 19.293s 10. Julian Leal Trident + 20.025s 11. Nigel Melker Ocean + 20.464s 12. James Calado Lotus + 26.027s 13. Stephane Richelmi Trident + 27.890s 14. Sergio Canamasas Lazarus + 31.193s 15. Nathanael Berthon Racing Engineering + 31.910s 16. Simon Trummer Arden + 35.375s 17. Rene Binder Lazarus + 38.769s 18. Jake Rosenzweig Addax + 40.226s 19. Rio Haryanto Carlin + 42.638s 20. Ricardo Teixeira Rapax + 43.152s 21. Fabio Onidi Coloni + 44.769s 22. Rodolfo Gonzalez Caterham + 56.350s 23. Victor Guerin Ocean + 1m01.984s Retirements: Felipe Nasr DAMS 13 laps Luiz Razia Arden 8 laps Giedo van der Garde Caterham 0 laps
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