Race 1: di Grassi breaks through

Di Grassi's win has been some time in coming, and was significant as Hitech Racing's first of the season. The Brazilian has qualified well at most tracks this year but it's taken until late August to get the win. A perfect start from second on the grid let him get the jump on pole man Rossiter (Fortec Motorsport) - in fact Carroll slipped into second after an unbelievable start from sixth.

Carroll and Rossiter fought in frightening fashion early on, but after Carroll (P1 Motorsport) briefly threatened di Grassi, Rossiter took second back and chased the Hitech driver. The front three did not swap places again, yet every lap it was close enough that something might have happened. Clivio Piccione (Carlin Motorsport) was with the lead group by the end, but not close enough to consider a move.

The gaps grew and shrunk around the super-fast circuit, but both Carroll and Rossiter knew they had to be careful as this was a heaven-sent chance to take big points of Nelson Angelo Piquet.



After a difficult qualifying and an unspectacular start Piquet found himself caught in the midfield in the early going. Then the championship leader lost it at one of the fastest spots in Britain, understeering out of the race at Village. He'll start the second race from third - alongside Rossiter and six places ahead of Carroll.




Lucas di Grassi (Dallara-Renault) 18m12.975s
James Rossiter (Dallara-Opel) +0.629s
Adam Carroll (Dallara-Mugen) +0.999s
Clivio Piccione (Dallara-Mugen) +1.779s
Marko Asmer (Dallara-Renault) +5.695s
Danny Watts (Lola-Dome-Mugen) +13.426s