Mixed fortunes for Super Nova duo
While Alvaro Parente basked in the glory of winning on his GP2 debut at Barcelona on Saturday, his Super Nova teammate Christian Bakkerud was in the medical centre receiving pain-killing injections after suffering another back injury and will miss today's second race
Parente, who led the season-opener from start to finish, was delighted with his race win after holding off Bruno Senna of iSport for over 30 laps.
"It feels great," said Parente. "I felt confident since free practice. I got into first at the start, when (Pastor) Maldonado stalled, and then it was a case of not making a mistake. There was a lot of pressure, but I managed to keep the gap the same."
Team boss David Sears added: "We've seen Alvaro was a complete natural since karts and we've tracked his progress ever since. He's never done that kind of race distance before, so he found it very physical and realises he's got to train harder now.
"We expected a top six before the race weekend, a podium after qualifying, so we're delighted that he won."
Teammate Bakkerud will not start the sprint race after suffering a recurrence of the back injury that plagued his season with DPR last year.
He clashed with Ben Hanley at the start of lap two, and completed another 18 laps before pulling into the pits in agony.
"When I came together with Hanley something happened with my back as I landed from being airborne for a second," he said. "After that it kept getting worse until I just couldn't move from pain."
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