Hamilton dominates in Monaco
Lewis Hamilton has won the GP2 race in Monaco after leading from start to finish. The result now gives the ART driver the championship points lead
His nearest rival, DAMS driver Franck Perera, just couldn't keep up with Hamilton's relentless lap times and had to settle for a distant second, eight seconds behind. Hamilton's teammate Alexandre Premat finished third.
A huge accident on the run to the first corner eliminated four cars straight away, with both Tristan Gommendy and then Nicolas Lapierre launched spectacularly into the air. Despite the fact that Lapierre required some medical assistance, the safety car was not sent out.
Another expected front-runner to go out soon was Adam Carroll, whose engine cut out at Casino Square, while Gianmaria Bruni lost his third place when he too clanged into the unforgiving walls, damaging his right-front corner.
Hamilton hared into the lead, pulling out a 3.2-second advantage on the opening lap alone. Perera also pulled well clear of the battling DPR Direxiv cars of Olivier Pla and Clivio Piccione.
Pla was the next victim, slamming into the barriers on the exit of the Swimming Pool on lap two.
That gave Piccione a clear third, ahead of Premat but the latter overcame him by making an earlier pitstop and lapping faster thereafter.
Behind them, Timo Glock employed the alternative tactic of stopping later to get ahead of Andreas Zuber for fifth. Sadly for Glock, he would later retire with a mechanical failure.
Felix Porteiro, Michael Ammermuller and Sergio Hernandez filled the points-paying places.
CLASSIFIED:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Hamilton ART Grand Prix 1h 3:50.768
2. Perera DAMS + 8.445
3. Premat ART Grand Prix + 36.312
4. Piccione DPR Direxiv + 37.255
5. Zuber Trident Racing + 85.610
6. Porteiro Campos Racing + 1 Lap
7. Ammermueller Arden International + 1 Lap
8. Hernandez Durango + 1 Lap
9. Monfardini DAMS + 2 Laps
10. Fauzy Super Nova International + 2 Laps
11. Di Grassi Durango + 3 Laps
12. Piquet Jr. Piquet Sports + 5 Laps
NOT CLASSIFIED:
Driver Team Laps
Valles Campos Racing 39
Glock BCN Competicion 36
Lopez Super Nova International 36
Yoshimoto BCN Competicion 23
Viso iSport International 23
Tahinci FMS International 12
Pantano FMS International 11
Pla DPR Direxiv 2
Bruni Trident Racing 0
Carroll Racing Engineering 0
Villa Racing Engineering 0
Lapierre Arden International 0
Gommendy iSport International 0
Negrao Piquet Sports 0
Fastest lap: Di Grassi, 1:22.563 on lap 24
Championship standings, Round 5 (race 9):
Drivers Teams
1. Hamilton 49 1. ART Grand Prix 82
2. Piquet Jr. 39 2. Arden International 50
3. Premat 33 3. Piquet Sports 43
4. Viso 26 4. iSport International 32
5. Ammermueller 25 5. Trident Racing 24
= Lapierre 25 6. BCN Competicion 14
7. Bruni 20 7. Super Nova International 13
8. Lopez 13 8. DAMS 12
9. Yoshimoto 9 9. Campos Racing 11
10. Perera 8 10. Racing Engineering 8
= Carroll 8 11. DPR Direxiv 5
12. Valles 7 12. FMS International 2
13. Gommendy 6 = Durango 2
14. Glock 5
= Piccione 5
16. Zuber 4
= Monfardini 4
= Porteiro 4
= Negrao 4
20. Filippi 2
21. Hernandez 1
= Di Grassi 1
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