Adrian Quaife-Hobbs flies to Valencia Auto GP race two win

From seventh on the grid, the Super Nova racer made an excellent getaway to complete the first lap in third place.

Quaife-Hobbs opted to start on worn rear tyres and struggled to maintain the pace of the leaders over the initial laps. Under pressure from fourth-placed Daniel de Jong, Quaife-Hobbs made an early pit call on lap five. Once on fresh rear tyres, the Briton's lap times swiftly improved, allowing the former GP3 race winner to assume the lead of the race at the close of the pit window on lap 17.

"I made a great start, and I wasn't expecting to be up in third," said Quaife-Hobbs. "We had committed to starting on old tyres, so I stuck to my pre-race strategy. As I was holding everyone up, it wasn't going to be long before someone started trying to make an overtaking attempt, so I came in as planned. After that I had a clear track pushed like it was qualifying."

Front row starter Facu Regalia recovered from a tardy getaway to finish second for local team Campos Racing. The Argentinean was 5.4 seconds adrift of Quaife-Hobbs at the chequered flag, but did well to hold off charging race one victor Sergey Sirtokin, who had suffered a slow pit turnaround by his Euronova crew.

"I feel I can relax now," said Sirotkin, who competed in three Italian Formula 3 races and two Auto GP races over the Valencia weekend. "I've had to run from the F3 car to my Auto GP car, which has been very difficult. I was on the same strategy as Adrian, I followed him in, but I had problem in the stop and afterwards a lot of traffic."

MP Motorsport's de Jong demonstrated striking early performance to hound MLR71 driver Sergio Campana for the lead over the middle portion of the race. de Jong was one of the last drivers to stop for tyres, at the end of lap 16. Exiting the pits in third, de Jong was passed for the final podium place at the last corner four laps from home.

Quaife-Hobbs' Super Nova team-mate Victor Guerin finished behind de Jong in fifth. Polesitter Max Snegirev was another to make a slow start, but the Russian salvaged sixth for Campos.

Italian Formula 3 champion Campana led the opening 12 laps, but was denied a strong result when he overshot his pit box. Campana would end the afternoon in ninth position.

Brazilian Auto GP debutant Yann Cunha, driving for Ombra Racing, was a first lap retirement after contact with Campos Racing's gentleman driver Giuseppe Cippriani.

Results - 21 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team           Time/Gap
 1.  Adrian Quaife-Hobbs  Super Nova   30m55.874s
 2.  Facu Regalia         Campos         + 5.496s
 3.  Sergey Sirotkin      Euronova       + 5.652s
 4.  Daniel de Jong       Manor MP       + 7.605s
 5.  Victor Guerin        Super Nova     + 8.894s
 6.  Maxim Snegirev       Campos        + 17.292s
 7.  Chris van der Drift  Manor MP      + 17.776s
 8.  Pal Varhaug          Virtuosi UK   + 19.039s
 9.  Sergio Campana       MLR 71        + 20.288s
10.  Sten Pentus          Virtuosi UK   + 26.112s
11.  Antonio Spavone      Euronova      + 28.374s
12.  Giancarlo Serenelli  Ombra         + 41.213s
13.  Matteo Beretta       Zele          + 44.232s
14.  Giuseppe Cipriani    Campos        + 44.952s
15.  Michele la Rosa      MLR 71          + 1 lap
16.  Peter Milavec        Zele            + 1 lap

Did not finish:

     Yann Cunha           Ombra            2 laps