Valencia 2: Montagny bounces back

The Frenchman made a great start from pole to head Bas Leinders, Ander Vilarino and Angel Burgueno, the latter Spanish pairing swapping places on the opening lap. Justin Wilson made a great start from ninth to end the first lap in fifth.

Montagny had Leinders for close company until the Belgian spun when he tripped over a backmarker on lap 12, losing 10secs while he recovered. Both had opted to run a long first stint while others, first race winner Ricardo Zonta included, decided to stop early to avoid traffic. Zonta starred on the opening lap, passing 10 cars - although he was helped by a multi-car spin at the opening corner. He was delayed, however, by a sticking wheel nut and had it all to do again.

At the front, Montagny also had his problems when his clutch failed. Despite worries about him being able to restart at his pit stop, the Frenchman had no trouble and cruised to the flag despite a late charge from surprise runner-up Vilarino. The young Spaniard bounced back from his inelegant exit from race one by charging through to second, 2.6secs in arrears.

He was chased home by the remarkable Zonta, whose relentless pace took him past Wilson and Leinders to grab an unlikely third from 19th on the grid.

Leinders took fourth but Wilson lost fifth when he spun at Turn 1 just after Zonta had passed him. A few laps later, his gearbox casing cracked open, dumping oil all over the track and forcing him out to cap a thoroughly miserable weekend for the reigning F3000 champion.


Franck Montagny, Racing Engineering, 26 laps
Ander Vilarino, Epsilon by Graff, +2.696s
Ricardo Zonta, Gabord Competicion, +4.893s
Bas Leinders, KTR, +15.614s
Jean-Christophe Ravier, Epsilon by Graff, +19.161s
Angel Burgueno, Repsol Meycom, +20.658s
Nicolas Filiberti, Zele Motorsport, +35.474s
Rafael Sarandeses, 7UP GD Racing, +41.871s
Antonio Garcia, Adrian Campos Motorsport, +49.980s
Peter Sundberg, RC Motorsport, +1m09.083s