Valsecchi takes last gasp GP2 win
Davide Valsecchi extended his GP2 Asia lead by denying Michael Herck victory with a late pass in the second Abu Dhabi race
Until the closing stages, Herck and his team-mate Giacomo Ricci had looked set to give their DPR team a shock one-two - four and a half years after the squad's last wins.
But Valsecchi mounted a last gasp charge to pass both Ricci and Herck in quick succession and claim his iSport squad's second win of the weekend.
Outside front row starter Herck had taken the lead at the start, with Ricci passing Alexander Rossi (Meritus) for second at a safety car restart shortly afterwards.
Valsecchi made rapid progress from seventh on the grid and was soon in third behind the two DPR cars. But until the final half dozen laps, Herck and Ricci looked comfortable up front.
The points leader had speed in reserve, though, and in the final laps Valsecchi increased his pace and piled pressure on Ricci, eventually making it through with an inventive move that required several corners to complete.
He then hunted down Herck and dived down the inside at the end of the back straight on the penultimate lap, before pulling away to win by 1.9s - giving him a 19 point championship lead at the series' halfway point.
Herck and Ricci held on to the remaining podium places, with Addax's Sergio Perez charging from the midfield through to fourth.
Perez escaped serious damage in the opening lap tangle that caused the early safety car - the Mexican and Josef Kral touching, and sending the Super Nova car bouncing into Meritus' Luca Filippi.
Friday winner Oliver Turvey took the second iSport car to fifth, having spent much of the race behind polesitter Max Chilton (Ocean). The Formula 3 graduate lost ground on lap one but then held his own among the frontrunners and resisted ART's Jules Bianchi - who scorched through the field after stalling on the grid - and Arden's Charles Pic to score the final point.
Pic's team-mate Javier Villa was another man to stall at the start, while Addax's Giedo van der Garde was making progress through the group behind Chilton until he tangled with Fabio Leimer (Ocean).
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. Davide Valsecchi iSport 41m00.566s 2. Michael Herck DPR + 1.969s 3. Giacomo Ricci DPR + 4.227s 4. Sergio Perez Addax + 11.618s 5. Oliver Turvey iSport + 12.235s 6. Max Chilton Ocean + 19.619s 7. Jules Bianchi ART + 20.018s 8. Charles Pic Arden + 20.686s 9. Alexander Rossi Meritus + 26.380s 10. Vladimir Arabadzhiev Rapax + 27.038s 11. Javier Villa Arden + 27.400s 12. Marcus Ericsson Super Nova + 28.307s 13. Dani Clos Trident + 29.574s 14. Christian Vietoris DAMS + 30.993s 15. Daniel Zampieri Rapax + 31.691s 16. Edoardo Piscopo DAMS + 32.213s 17. Luca Filippi Meritus + 34.854s 18. Alberto Valerio Coloni + 39.649s 19. Giedo van der Garde Addax + 1m03.697s 20. Plamen Kralev Trident + 1m07.219s Retirements: Will Bratt Coloni 18 laps Fabio Leimer Ocean 16 laps Josef Kral Super Nova 0 laps Sam Bird ART 0 laps
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