Razia wins as Hulkenberg takes title
Luiz Razia became the 10th different winner in the 2009 GP2 Series with a lights-to-flag effort in the sprint race at Monza today, while Nico Hulkenberg secured the championship with third
Razia, who had only scored his first point of the season a day earlier when he was promoted to eighth after a post-race penalty was issued to Alvaro Parente, made a perfect start from pole, and after surviving an initial challenge from Racing Engineering's Lucas di Grassi, never looked threatened.
He crossed the line 2.1s clear of his compatriot, the victory coming just two weeks after his Coloni team was forced to miss the Spa round due to its cars being impounded as part of a legal dispute.
Di Grassi's second place owed everything to his superb start - the Brazilian made up five places on the run to the first corner - but while he was unable to do anything about Razia, he was equally unthreatened by Hulkenberg (ART) behind him.
Hulkenberg had other priorities. The German needed just one point to finally put the championship beyond the reach of rival Vitaly Petrov (Addax), and while the Russian challenged him early on, a late mistake dropped him to fifth behind DAMS' Jerome D'Ambrosio, and left Hulkenberg free to become the first driver ever to secure the GP2 crown with a round still to spare.
Feature race winner Giedo van der Garde (iSport) scored the final point in sixth.
The race was fairly processional compared with the excitement of yesterday, although the safety car was needed on the first lap when Diego Nunes and Dani Clos clashed on the run up to the first Lesmo. Both cars ended up in the gravel - in Clos's case, upside down.
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Luiz Razia Coloni 35m12.921s
2. Lucas di Grassi Racing Engineering + 2.576
3. Nico Hulkenberg ART + 4.955
4. Jerome D'Ambrosio DAMS + 7.374
5. Vitaly Petrov Addax + 7.92
6. Giedo van der Garde iSport + 8.687
7. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet + 9.133
8. Davide Rigon Trident + 13.395
9. Davide Valsecchi Addax + 24.809
10. Javier Villa Super Nova + 25.492
11. Alberto Valerio Piquet + 26.254
12. Karun Chandhok Ocean + 33.526
13. Michael Herck DPR + 35.32
14. Ricardo Teixeira Trident + 59.622
Retirements:
Pastor Maldonado ART 19 laps
Johnny Cecotto Jr DPR 18 laps
Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 18 laps
Luca Filippi Super Nova 15 laps
Andreas Zuber Coloni 11 laps
Alvaro Parente Ocean 6 laps
Edoardo Mortara Arden 6 laps
Sergio Perez Arden 1 lap
Diego Nunes iSport 0 laps
Dani Clos Racing Engineering 0 laps
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