Lapierre dominates Spa feature race

Lapierre (DAMS) had to hold off the challenge of Lucas di Grassi (ART) and Luca Filippi (Super Nova) at the first corner.

For a moment, they were almost three abreast, but Lapierre clung on to the inside line, while Filippi brushed wheels with di Grassi and ran wide, losing a place to Adam Carroll (FMS).

Left stranded on the grid were series leader Timo Glock, iSport teammate Andreas Zuber, third-placed qualifier Bruno Senna (Arden) and Kazuki Nakajima (DAMS). Yet despite four cars stalling within three rows of each other, no one collected them.

Di Grassi attacked Lapierre at La Source on lap eight, drawing alongside. But Lapierre held on to the outside line and got better drive off the corner to make sure he was still in front by Eau Rouge.

The leaders pitted together a lap later, as the pursuing Carroll and Filippi had a lap earlier. Lapierre just beat di Grassi out of his pit box, but Filippi, who had passed Carroll in the stops, got a great run on di Grassi on the exit of Eau Rouge, and towed past him into second at Les Combes.

Carroll then pounced on di Grassi on the run to Pouhon, when the Brazilian had a poor exit from the left-hander-with-no-name.

Lapierre made a break, which he would turn into a 4.8-second victory, as Filippi and Carroll battled over second. That ended on lap 19, when Carroll clipped the kerb on the inside of Pouhon and spun into the barriers on the inside of the ultra-quick corner. He was unhurt.

That promoted di Grassi back on to the podium, and was another twist in the title battle between him and Glock.

Just as it seemed di Grassi would make a seven-point inroad into Glock's lead, the delayed German set fastest lap, extending his lead back to six points instead of five. The score is now Glock 79, di Grassi 73.

Javier Villa (Racing Engineering) grabbed fourth with a great move on Mike Conway (Super Nova), the latter paying late on for a very early pitstop.

Xandi Negrao would have been next up, but his Minardi/Piquet car died with two laps to go, promoting Andy Soucek to sixth, giving DPR their first points of the season.

Karun Chandhok (Durango) and Ho-Pin Tung were next up, meaning BCN not only scored its first point of the year, but also has a reverse grid pole on Sunday.

In the battle for third in the championship, Filippi took a huge jump ahead of Giorgio Pantano (Campos), whose clutch exploded on the opening lap.

Pos  Driver        Team                   Time
 1.  Lapierre      DAMS                   53:01.842   
 2.  Filippi       Super Nova             +     4.836  
 3.  Di Grassi     ART                    +     7.994  
 4.  Villa         Racing Engineering     +    08.782  
 5.  Conway        Super Nova             +    17.157  
 6.  Soucek        DPR                    +    29.016  
 7.  Chandhok      Durango                +    30.418  
 8.  Tung          BCN Competicion        +    31.899  
 9.  Petrov        Campos                 +    42.753  
10.  Buemi         ART                    +    48.106  
11.  Niemela       BCN Competicion        +    48.665  
12.  Bakkerud      DPR                    +    57.134  
13.  Zaugg         Arden                  +  1:02.351  
14.  Tahinci       FMS                    +  1:08.875  
15.  Rodriguez     Minardi                +  1:13.823  
16.  Garcia        Durango                +  1:15.661  
17.  Glock         iSport                 +  1:30.586  
 
 Retirements  
  
     Zuber         iSport                  25
     Negrao        Minardi                 24
     Risatti       Trident                 23
     Carroll       FMS                     19
     Nakajima      DAMS                    17
     Martinez      Racing Engineering      16
     Senna         Arden                   11
     Pantano       Campos                   0 
     Hirate        Trident                  0 

Fastest lap: Timo Glock, 1:58.572