1st RACE SILVERSTONE 05.06.08
In one of the best races that GP2 has seen since its creation, Lucas di Grassi, recent star signing of the Spanish Team based in the Community of Valencia has managed a second place on the podium after an extremely hard fought battle that went to the wire, between without doubt the best drivers of the present campaign.
Di Grassi made a perfect start, overtaking two rivals which meant he got to the first bend in second place, a position he would maintain, until the third lap when Senna went a bit wide on one corner and Lucas took full advantage to put himself in the lead. He stayed there for most of the race until the moment came to make the compulsory tyre change.
The leading group of drivers made their tyre change between laps 14 and 19, and from this moment on we witnessed tremendous battles between drivers throughout the field. There were endless overtaking manouevres between the leading drivers that we had hardly seen all season, culminating in Di Grassi´s splendid second position at the chequered flag, unable to deal with Pantano whose tyres were less worn making him the quickest in the last third of the race.
The other driver of the Barwa International Campos Team, Vitaly Petrov, started from a lowly sixteenth position on the starting grid because he was unable to find the right set up for his car during the official practice yesterday.
Vitaly overcame adversities and made a very good fight back despite having to fight it out with the tough Villa for most of the race. This meant he was unable to get into his normal race rhythm, but finally passed Villa and managed to finish in a solid tenth place. This position ensures that he will have the possibility of getting in amongst the leading positions tomorrow.
Once more its interesting to take note of the recent run of excellent results of the team run by Alejandro Agag and Adrián Campos. They have now tied in third place in the team championship up there with the best in the platform towards Formula 1, despite the fact that there have been no victories from Spanish drivers, so far.
But clearly the greatest feat of all is that of Brazilian driver, Lucas di Grassi who in only three races has climbed up to sixth place in the race for the driver´s title, when all his rivals have driven three times as many races. There is no doubt that it is just a question of time before he will fighting for a top three position in the driver´s championship. We must also take into account that Vitaly Petrov is also in the top ten in the general classification.
Tomorrow, if the first race is anything to go by, we shall have the fortune to see the second GP2 race, which will take place over a distance of 24 laps, and starts at 09.30hrs local time. The television channel La Sexta have announced they will broadcast the race live for Spanish viewers with a preview programme that starts at 10.00hrs Spanish time.
- Antonio Moralejo - photos Barwa International Campos
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