Pic scores maiden GP2 victory

The Frenchman overtook initial leader Adrian Zaugg and then escaped from his pursuers while they spent the next few laps tripping over each other.

For much of the race it looked like Arden would score a one-two, with Pic's team-mate Javier Villa all over the back of second placed Giacomo Ricci. But the latter picked up his pace later on and charged away to secure DPR's third podium finish in the last two events.

Having gained pole position on the partially reversed grid thanks to his eighth place yesterday, Zaugg (Trident) led into the first corners while Coloni's Alvaro Parente and Addax's Sergio Perez fought for second. The pair ended up banging wheels approaching Turn 4, leaving Perez with a broken wing and sending Parente spinning into the barriers as his apparently wounded car broke loose on the following downhill sweeps.

There was more contact further down the pack, and newly-crowned champion Davide Valsecchi (iSport) had to pit for a new wing, while race one podium finisher Luca Filippi (Meritus) spun down the order.

Leader Zaugg did not have the pace to pull away and soon had Pic, Ricci, ART's fast-starting Jules Bianchi and Villa queuing up behind him.

Pic dived ahead at the end of the backstraight on lap four, with Ricci then following him in the next corner. As Zaugg tried to fight back, Bianchi got alongside him as well, with all three cars wheel to wheel through the last turn, down the pitstraight and into the first complex - where it ended in tears as contact damaged Zaugg and Bianchi's cars.

That settled the top three positions, Pic having pulled clear and Ricci eventually dropping Villa and securing second.

Rapax's Daniele Zampieri had emerged from the mayhem in fourth, but was hunted down as the race progressed - Sam Bird (ART) and Edoardo Piscopo (DAMS) demoting him in the closing stages. Zampieri then handed the final point to iSport's Oliver Turvey when he ran wide while trying to fend off the Briton with two laps to go, and also dropped behind his charging Rapax team-mate Vladimir Arabadzhiev. Turvey's sixth place ensured that iSport wrapped up the teams' title alongside Valsecchi's drivers' crown.

Among the other incidents in the race, Meritus driver Alexander Rossi received a ten place grid penalty for the next round after forcing Ocean's Fabio Leimer off the track. The American eventually broke his front wing on the back of Leimer's car and then slid into Coloni's Will Bratt, ending both their races early.

Pos  Driver                Team           Time/Gap
 1.  Charles Pic           Arden        41m11.960s
 2.  Giacomo Ricci         DPR            + 3.586s
 3.  Javier Villa          Arden          + 9.371s
 4.  Sam Bird              ART           + 22.388s
 5.  Edoardo Piscopo       DAMS          + 23.193s
 6.  Oliver Turvey         iSport        + 25.110s
 7.  Vladimir Arabadzhiev  Rapax         + 25.866s
 8.  Daniele Zampieri      Rapax         + 28.950s
 9.  Christian Vietoris    DAMS          + 32.499s
10.  Yelmer Buurman        Ocean         + 33.076s
11.  Josef Kral            Super Nova    + 33.489s
12.  Max Chilton           Addax         + 36.437s
13.  Michael Herck         DPR           + 36.694s
14.  Jake Rosenzweig       Super Nova    + 47.789s
15.  Fabio Leimer          Ocean         + 49.289s
16.  Plamen Kralev         Trident     + 1m27.838s
17.  Sergio Perez          Addax       + 1m29.653s
18.  Luca Filippi          Meritus     + 1m36.832s
19.  Adrian Zaugg          Trident         + 1 lap
20.  Davide Valsecchi      iSport          + 1 lap

Not classified/retirements:

     Jules Bianchi         ART         19 laps
     Will Bratt            Coloni      2 laps
     Alexander Rossi       Meritus     2 laps
     Alvaro Parente        Coloni      0 laps