Race 2: Sato does the double

The Japanese led home team mate Anthony Davidson to further extend his large championship margin and provide the Carlin Motorsport team with the first one-two in its history.

Davidson got a good start from pole position, but fluffed his change to second gear, and that allowed Sato into the lead before the banked Turn 1.

The safety car emerged after two laps to clear up an incident which was triggered when Jamie Spence arrived at the infield hairpin backwards and spun across the track. Off the restart, Sato made everyone slow up onto the banking before gunning it and pulling away.

But Davidson was quicker, and twice latched into Sato's slipstream, before he fell away in the later stages of the race, during which Sato set a new lap record as he pulled clear.

"There was a big risk after the safety car," said Sato. "I realised that at this circuit it is probably hardest for the leader because there is a big chance to slipstream. I did a tiny trick of just waiting and then managed a perfect restart.

"Anthony was pushing me so hard. He was quicker than me in the beginning of the race, but in the middle we had similar pace and at the end I was quicker."

"Unbelievable," said Davidson of his missed shift. "There are no excuses - I cocked up and it cost me the win, but I proved a point. I had the speed and Takuma was saying to me, 'Bloody hell - you made my life hard'."

Jaguar Racing twins Andre Lotterer and James Courtney pushed the Carlin duo hard, but neither could get close enough to the car in front without losing downforce from following too closely and were forced to settle for third and fourth.

Milos Pavlovic for once managed to convert a promising grid position into a decent result to take fifth after holding off Jeffrey Jones. The American got ahead of Manor team-mate Derek Hayes when the Irishman made a mistake at the chicane off the banking on lap two. Hayes still consolidated second in the points with his seventh place.

Matt Davies made a lot of progress early on but could get no further than eighth, while Bruce Jouanny and Andy Priaulx completed the top 10. All three shuffled fast starting Nicolas Kiesa out of the points, the Dane eventually retiring with a damaged car.
Robbie Kerr took another Scholarship Class win from Michael Keohane. These two plus former leader Matt Gilmore are all now level pegging at the head of the points!




Takuma Sato (Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen), 14 laps in 25m31.204s
Anthony Davidson (Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen), +1.223s
Andre Lotterer (Jaguar Racing Dallara-Mugen), +2.661s
James Courtney (Jaguar Racing Dallara-Mugen), +5.532s
Milos Pavlovic (Team Avanti Dallara-Opel), +11.337s
Jeffrey Jones (Manor Motorsport Dallara-Mugen), +11.675s
Derek Hayes (Manor Motorsport Dallara-Mugen), +12.566s
Matt Davies (Team Avanti Dallara-Opel), +14.713s
Bruce Jouanny (Promatecme Dallara-Mugen), +15.469s
Andy Priaulx (Alan Docking Racing Dallara-Mugen), +16.387s
Robbie Kerr (Fred Goddard Racing Dallara-Renault)
Sato 1m33.203s


1 Sato 151pts; 2 Hayes 112; 3 Priaulx 96; 4 Courtney 89; 5 Davies 84; 6= Bruni & Davidson 80; 8 Lotterer 74; 9 Kiesa 46; 10 Edwards 35.

Scholarship Class: 1= Gilmore, Keohane & Kerr 135pts; 4 Mayall 107; 5 Doornbos 86; 6 Blair 83.