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Jon Lancaster charges to Auto GP win at Donington Park

Jon Lancaster took a sensational win in an eventful opening AutoGP race at Donington Park

On a wet track, the Briton closed down a four-second gap to his Super Nova team-mate Luca Filippi in just three laps, gaining a full second each time around through the second sector alone.

He took the lead with a move to the inside of the Italian at Coppice, and that was more or less the last that any of his rivals saw of him. He pulled away at the same rate that he had closed Filippi down, and extended his advantage to 7.6s by the end of the race.

Fabrizio Crestani completed the podium for the Lazarus team, but the real story of the race took place in the opening laps. The rain had prompted a safety car start, with polesitter Adam Carroll (Campos) at the head of the pack. At the end of the third lap, more than half of the field elected to pit, but Carroll was among those to stay out.

When Francesco Dracone spun into the gravel at Redgate on his out-lap following his stop, the safety car was forced to remain on the circuit, which allowed all of those who had already stopped to catch the rest of the field. Carroll pitted one lap later, but his hopes were shot and he rejoined towards the back of the field. All things considered, his eventual finishing position of fifth was a great result.

DAMS' Rio Haryanto elected not to stop at all early on and led the field when the race went green, only to be passed by Filippi at the Old Hairpin. He was later tapped into a spin by Fabio Onidi - whose own race would end against the barriers at the Craner Curves - before a slow pitstop completed the Indonesian's misery.

Results - 21 laps:

Pos  Driver                Team/Car       Time/Gap
 1.  Jon Lancaster         Super Nova   38m46.643s
 2.  Luca Filippi          Super Nova     + 7.675s
 3.  Fabrizio Crestani     Lazarus       + 21.718s
 4.  Kevin Ceccon          Ombra         + 26.141s
 5.  Adam Carroll          Campos        + 27.716s
 6.  Daniel de Jong        MP            + 39.272s
 7.  Bruno Mendez          Campos        + 43.294s
 8.  Stefano Buttarelli    TP            + 53.953s
 9.  Giovanni Venturini    Durango     + 1m11.664s
10.  Pasquale di Sabatino  TP          + 1m11.973s
11.  Rio Haryanto          DAMS        + 1m23.973s
12.  Giuseppe Cipriani     Durango         + 1 lap

Retirements:

     Fabio Onidi           Lazarus         17 laps
     Francesco Dracone     Emmebi           3 laps

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