Pizzonia wins again

Pizzonia, driving a Dallara F300-Mugen Honda for Manor Motorsport, had been beaten to pole position by Nicolas Kiesa from the RC Benetton squad, but the Danish driver stalled at the start and slipped down the field.

Pizzonia pushed hard over the opening laps of the 30-minute race and was helped when Narain Karthikeyan, who was running second, spun off and retired. The Indian had been having problems with his brake balance.

This left British charger Michael Bentwood in second, but the Fortec Motorsport racer was reeled in and passed by Tomas Scheckter, who was recovering from a poor start. Scheckter set fastest lap as he chased the leader, but he was still 4.6 seconds behind at the chequered flag.

Pizzonia, who now leads Scheckter in the championship by eight points, was delighted with his win, but said it was not as easy as it looked. 'I had to push hard in the early laps because Narain was very quick. After that I just had to make sure that I didn't make any mistakes.'

Scheckter said: 'I was lucky that Narain went off, but I was pleased that I could pass Bentwood and pull away from him. I just have to work on my starts now. It's not easy to get the Dallara off the line, but I'll get used to it.'

Bentwood headed home his team-mate Gianmaria Bruni for third, while Japanese hotshoe Takuma Sato headed a thrilling scrap for fifth spot. As six cars jostled for position, separated by just three seconds, the Carlin Motorsport racer passed Andy Priaulx and Milos Pavlovic to claim the position. Pavlovic held on to sixth, but Renault Elf Promatecme driver Priaulx slipped behind Westley Barber and was then sensationally passed by Ben Collins around the outside of the hairpin on the last lap.

In the Scholarship Class, for older cars, Briton Gary Paffett took a clear victory, despite a spin that cost him ten seconds halfway through the race.




1 Antonio Pizzonia (Dallara Mugen Honda), 30m02.796s (24 laps)

2 Tomas Scheckter (Dallara Mugen Honda), +4.610s

3 Michael Bentwood (Dallara Mugen Honda), +15.159s

4 Gianmaria Bruni (Dallara Mugen Honda), +17.480s

5 Takuma Sato (Dallara Mugen Honda), +25.060s

6 Milos Pavlovic (Dallara Spiess Opel), +27.156s

Scholarship Class Gary Paffett

Championship positions: 1 Pizzonia 40 points; 2 Scheckter 32; 3 Bruni 14; 4 Karthikeyan, Bentwood, Pavlovic 12; 7 Davies 10; 8 Priaulx 9; 9 Sato 8; 10 Barber 6.