Filippi wins first Auto GP race

The Euronova driver made his mandatory pitstop early on, and strung together a series of fast laps on a clear track.

When long-time leader Fabio Onidi (Lazarus) finally made his stop, Filippi was left with a clear lead he held to the flag.

DAMS racer Edoardo Piscopo hounded Onidi throughout the race, but pitted a handful of laps before his Italian rival. This was crucial, and he was able to leapfrog into second.

It was a terrible race for Super Nova. Polesitter Jonny Reid failed to leave the grid, while team-mate Giorgio Pantano was involved in a three-car incident on the opening lap that required a brief safety car period.

A strong drive and quick pitstop took Jan Charouz to fourth in his Renault Formula 1-liveried Charouz-Gravity entry. He had to produce a stern defence against DAMS' Duncan Tappy in the closing stages, which included a great wheel-to-wheel dice through the first two corners.

Charouz's team-mate Adrien Tambay rounded out the top six.

Pos  Driver                Team               Time/Gap
 1.  Luca Filippi          Euronova         32m28.658s
 2.  Edoardo Piscopo       DAMS               + 5.896s
 3.  Fabio Onidi           Lazarus            + 9.236s
 4.  Jan Charouz           Charouz-Gravity   + 14.524s
 5.  Duncan Tappy          DAMS              + 16.056s
 6.  Adrien Tambay         Charouz-Gravity   + 25.073s
 7.  Vladimir Arabadzhiev  DAMS              + 25.426s
 8.  Adrian Zaugg          Trident           + 29.133s
 9.  Walter Grubmuller     Charouz-Gravity   + 29.795s
10.  Julian Leal           Trident           + 30.466s
11.  Celso Miguez          RP                + 36.461s
12.  Stefano Bizzarri      RP                + 45.558s
13.  Jonny Reid            Super Nova          + 1 lap

Retirements:

     Giorgio Pantano       Super Nova       0 laps
     Carlos Iaconelli      Durango          0 laps
     Tomas Kostka          Charouz-Gravity  0 laps