Villa takes maiden win in sprint
A day after his Racing Engineering teammate Ernesto Viso was hospitalised in a horror crash, Javier Villa won Sunday's GP2 sprint race at Magny-Cours - his first victory in the series
Victory had looked destined for Nicolas Lapierre of DAMS, but any hope of a famous home win was dashed when his rear brakes failed and he ploughed off the track at the Adelaide hairpin with his front brakes locked, just when the race appeared to be in his pocket.
Villa didn't have it easy, with Luca Filippi (Super Nova) and Giorgio Pantano (Campos) in close attendance in the closing stages, but he held on for an excellent win.
Lucas di Grassi finished fourth for ART, ahead of Vitaly Petrov (Campos).
The final point for sixth changed hands on numerous occasions, but no-one seemed to want it.
Mike Conway (Super Nova) lost it after having hydraulic failure and was stuck in fourth gear, and Bruno Senna (Arden), who had already made contact with teammate Adrian Zaugg and Pastor Maldonado during the race, made it a hat-trick when he clipped Petrov, losing the place to Kazuki Nakajima (DAMS).
Senna spun, but still finished seventh, ahead of Maldonado. Minutes after the race, held in dry conditions, had finished, the heavens opened so it all could have been very different.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Villa Racing Engineering 39:46.184
2. Filippi Super Nova + 0.603
3. Pantano Campos Grand Prix + 1.262
4. di Grassi ART Grand Prix + 15.312
5. Petrov Campos Grand Prix + 20.134
6. Nakajima DAMS + 20.520
7. Senna Arden + 25.895
8. Maldonado Trident Racing + 28.622
9. Rodriguez Minardi Piquet Sports + 34.408
10. Soucek DPR + 35.711
11. Hirate Trident Racing + 38.952
12. Bakkerud DPR + 40.721
13. Yamamoto BCN Competicion + 43.611
14. Carroll FMS + 44.249
15. Zuber iSport + 44.599
16. Chandhok Durango + 47.262
17. Tung BCN Competicion + 51.201
18. Tahinci FMS +1:19.194
19. Ammermuller ART Grand Prix + 1 lap
20. García Durango + 2 laps
Not classified:
Driver Team Laps
Conway Super Nova 20
Lapierre DAMS 16
Negrao Minardi Piquet Sports 9
Glock iSport 3
Zaugg Arden 1
Fastest lap: Zuber, 1:23.614 on lap 7
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Power “didn't have any defence” against Dixon with tyre strategy at Long Beach
Was Long Beach really Scott Dixon’s greatest IndyCar drive yet?
How IMSA's GTP revival proved worthy of its name
Full-time IndyCar move “an option” says supersub Pourchaire
McLaren needs to understand puzzling “up and down” F1 form - Piastri
Quartararo: Yamaha MotoGP satellite team “must be an extension of the factory”
Pedrosa "didn't expect" Jerez MotoGP return in 2024 but pushed by testing intrigue
Why Alpine’s rigorous training camp yields telling insights into its juniors
Can F2's relaxed title favourite prove a point to Alpine?
Why F1's junior logjam isn't entirely a product of current issues
Inside the racing university moulding F1 drivers and engineers alike
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments