Glock takes crucial win at Monza
Timo Glock steered through the chaos at Monza to score a vital GP2 Series victory that extends his lead over rival Lucas di Grassi to 11 points
Glock took full advantage when weekend dominator Giorgio Pantano, who made a brilliant start and was running second by lap two from eighth on the grid, spun at Turn 1 after a clash with poleman Ricardo Risatti.
Pantano tried to avoid the collision by steering over the kerbs on the inside, but spun anyway. He quickly rejoined in seventh.
Risatti continued to lead, chased by Bruno Senna, while Glock took third from Sebastien Buemi on lap three. Buemi lost further places to Luca Filippi and ART teammate Lucas di Grassi, who was driving a storming race from 14th on the grid.
Glock passed Senna for second with a good move at Parabolica, while Filippi also found a way past the Brazilian at Ascari a lap later.
Glock then towed past Risatti for the lead on the start/finish straight starting lap eight, and Risatti quickly fell behind Filippi and Senna too.
Di Grassi passed Risatti for fourth at Parabolica, only for Risatti to outbrake himself at Turn 1 and hit the back of the Brazilian, breaking his own front wing.
Pantano, meanwhile, had recovered to fifth when he went straight on at Turn 1, dropping behind Buemi again. A couple of laps later, Pantano appeared to misjudge his braking for the second chicane and clattered into the back of Buemi, spinning him around.
However, the Italian claimed that Buemi had braked early, and too hard, causing the collision.
Pantano continued, despite the fact his front wing was hanging off. He received the black and orange flag, but carried on, with only Andreas Zuber getting past him in the remaining five laps, despite his damage.
Glock finished 1.8 seconds clear of Filippi, with Senna third and di Grassi fourth. Zuber and Pantano rounded out the point scorers, but seventh placed Karun Chandhok reckons Pantano will be disqualified for ignoring the black/orange flag.
Adam Carroll got the point for fastest lap, recovering well after breaking his front wing early on, forcing him to pit.
Perhaps the hardest luck story was Javier Villa, who actually led the field into Turn 1 before his clutch exploded and everyone piled past him, denying him another reverse grid success.
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Timo Glock iSport International 32:32.346 2. Luca Filippi Super Nova International +1.814 3. Bruno Senna Arden International +8.470 4. Lucas Di Grassi ART Grand Prix +12.554 5. Andreas Zuber iSport International +19.240 6. Giorgio Pantano Campos Grand Prix +21.473 7. Karun Chandhok Durango +21.642 8. Andy Soucek DPR +22.853 9. Roldan Rodriguez Minardi Piquet Sports +25.648 10. Mike Conway Super Nova International +25.739 11. Kohei Hirate Trident Racing +26.309 12. Markus Niemela BCN Competicion +33.507 13. Vitaly Petrov Campos Grand Prix +39.292 14. Olivier Pla DPR +41.350 15. Sebastien Buemi ART Grand Prix +42.306 16. Adam Carroll FMS International +1:19.863 17. Ho-Pin Tung BCN Competicion +1 lap 18. Nicolas Lapierre DAMS +1 lap 19. Kazuki Nakajima DAMS +1 lap 20. Borja Garcia Durango +1 lap 21. Jason Tahinci FMS International +1 lap Retirements Ricardo Risatti Trident Racing 10 laps Javier Villa Racing Engineering 9 laps Adrian Zaugg Arden International 2 laps Alexandre Negrao Minardi Piquet Sports 1 laps Marcos Martinez Racing Engineering 0 laps Fastest lap: Carroll, 1:31.595 on lap 18
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