Donington, race 1: Sato breaks his duck

The Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen star pulled off a peach of a move on Jaguar Racing's Andre Lotterer, who had made a stunning start from pole position, to take the lead on the fifth lap.

Sato got a good run out of the Old Hairpin, meaning that Lotterer had to defend through Schwantz Curve. That allowed the Japanese to sneak inside the German at McLeans and complete the move at Coppice.

After that Sato quickly pulled out a one-second lead before maintaining the gap to Lotterer, who for a time was busy fending off the attentions of Gianmaria Bruni.

The Fortec driver twice tried a move down the inside of the Melbourne hairpin, but Lotterer closed the door both times and then pulled away, setting fastest lap as he did so.

"On this circuit you have to calculate your overtaking point," explained Sato. "I moved inside him for the [Schwantz] kink and he was on the wrong side for McLeans. Then, at Coppice, I braked earlier than him and gave him half an inch of room: if I had overtaken him earlier in the corner he would just have got the slipstream on me into the chicane."

Lotterer said: "Unfortunately I made a little mistake - I went a bit wide at the Old Hairpin and Takuma got very close because my speed had dropped up the hill."

The championship's Mr Consistency, Derek Hayes, kept up his run of top finishes by taking a lonely fourth and now moves into a clear championship lead. Pre-race co-leader Matt Davies was edged off the road by Jeffrey Jones at the first corner, then fought a blistered tyre and team-mate Milos Pavlovic on his way to a lowly 12th.

Like Hayes, Paul Edwards had a pretty steady race to fifth, but a massive carve-up for sixth provided great entertainment. It ended with Jeffrey Jones taking the place from James Courtney, both men taking advantage as Anthony Davidson and Jamie Spence became embroiled in a last-lap shoving match.

On the last corner Spence clearly drove into Davidson, proving that time hasn't mellowed him, but Davidson, who clearly enjoyed the whole experience, grinned: "I don't blame him!"

Michael Keohane won the Scholarship Class for the first time. He got ahead of pole man Ernani Judice at the first corner, then survived a knock from the Brazilian at the Melbourne hairpin on the first lap. The ensuing accident put Judice and Robert Doornbos out of the race, while a collision at the next turn between Stuart King and Parthiva Sureshwaren brought the safety car out for one lap.




Takuma Sato (Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen) 13 laps in 20m12.152s
Andre Lotterer (Jaguar Racing Dallara-Mugen) +1.404s
Gianmaria Bruni (Fortec Renault Dallara-Renault) +4.936s
Derek Hayes (Manor Motorsport Dallara-Mugen) +8.480s
Paul Edwards (Alan Docking Racing Dallara-Mugen) +9.433s
Jeffrey Jones (Manor Motorsport Dallara-Mugen) +11.169s
James Courtney (Jaguar Racing Dallara-Mugen) +12.483s
Anthony Davidson (Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen) +13.744s
Jamie Spence (Duma Racing Dallara-Mugen) +13.822s
Ryan Dalziel (RC Motorsport Dallara-Opel) +15.776s
Michael Keohane (Meritus Racing Dallara-Toyota)
Lotterer 1m28.553s