- GP2, Turkish Grand Prix, Race 2
Clos wins sprint race with ease
Dani Clos (Racing Engineering) took a lights to flag victory at the GP2 sprint race supporting this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix.
Clos, who started from pole on Sunday's reversed grid, never looked under threat and for the first half of the race led comfortably from Racing Engineering team-mate Christian Vietoris, who eventually retired with mechanical problems. Virgin test driver Luis Razia (Rapax)eventually took second place but the gap continued to build throughout the race, with a display by Clos that was almost as dominant as Pastor Maldonado (Rapax)in the feature race.
There was a closer race for third place, however, with Giedo van der Garde (Barwa Addax) coming under attack from Davide Valsecchi in the closing stages. Valsecchi had two stabs at van der Garde into turn 12 after the long back straight but overran the first attempt and fell short on the second. Meanwhile Valsecchi had to keep one eye in his mirrors as he was being pressured through the first sector of the lap by Michael Herck (DPR) in fifth.
Taking the final point in sixth was Maldonado, who looked strong in the opening stages as he made up two places, but fell off the pace in the second half of the race as his tyres faded away. Sergio Perez (Barwa Addax) was perhaps the most impressive of all, starting from the back of the grid after his car had been found underweight in Saturday's feature race, to finish seventh overall. He overtook Monaco sprint race winner Jerome d'Ambrosio (DAMS) on the final lap and made up 11 places on the opening lap.
Championship standings
Driver | Points | |
1 | Pastor Maldonado | 27 |
2 | Dani Clos | 23 |
3 | Luiz Razia | 20 |
4 | Sergio Pérez | 17 | 4 | Giedo Van Der Garde | 17 | 6 | Davide Valsecchi | 17 |