Ocean Racing Technology - Alvaro Parente (4th) Karun Chandhok (DNF)

Alvaro Parente capitalized perfectly on his 6th place on the grid of the difficult street layout of Valencia today when he drove a brilliant race to finish at the foot of the podium in fourth place. Unfortunately teammate Karun Chandhok, who was just as competitive and seized the final point and virtual position for race two, was forced to retire with just five laps to go.

Alvaro Parente drove an intelligent race on a difficult track that claimed many victims. Being careful at the beginning while at the same time making the most of the situation, the Portuguese driver made the best use of his car and fought from start to finish. He gained one place at the start and was faster than the drivers who were in front of him before his compulsory pit stop. Although he lost a position in the pits, he then put Rodriguez and Di Grassi under pressure in order to get past them. Alvaro believes that on a circuit that was more favourable to overtaking, the podium would have been within his grasp. "Like all the street circuits, Valencia is not a best friend of overtaking even though it has some large run off areas. I had a good start and I immediately realized that I could have very good race pace. The pit stop was not perfect and although I lost a position I got it back on track. The fights were the highlights of my race, they were fierce with Rodriguez and di Grassi but I won them," Parente explained. "It is a great result which opens up further prospects for Sunday's race."

Eighth on the starting grid, teammate Karun Chandhok fought for points throughout the race but the duel with Davide Valsecchi proved to be fatal... "He knew he had the upperhand because he could brake later, but when I successfully attacked him, he slammed the door and the contact badly damaged my car," regretted Chandhok. "It was a racing incident that is hard to take because the car was competitive at the beginning of the race and I was in the same league as Alvaro. Then I lost some ground with the second set of tyres because I needed time to reach their ideal working temperature. Once it was done my race pace was the same as at the start. I know the second race will be a tough one."

Not able to take the chequered flag in race one means that Chandhok will be forced to start the second race from the back of the grid while Alvaro Parente will start from 5th place on the grid.

Thanks to today's result, Ocean Racing Technology is now 8th in the teams' championship, five points adrift of 5th place.

iSport International - Diego Nunes (11th) Giedo van der Garde (14th)

With temperatures soaring to over thirty Celsius it was going to be a tough race for iSport racers Diego Nunes and Giedo van der Garde at the fast and tricky Valencia Street Circuit.

Starting from tenth, Brazilian Diego Nunes was unlucky again in the first lap scrap into turn one and was squeezed back to twelfth. After making up ground after pitting on lap ten, Nunes was running eighth and in sight of a point and a front row start in the sprint race. But his hopes were dashed after brake problems struck Nunes' iSport car and he consequently dropped back through the field to finish a disappointing twelfth.

Giedo van der Garde, starting from the last slot on the grid after an accident in qualifying, stormed through the field at the start. Unfortunately it soon became clear it was a little too quick and the Dutchman had to serve a drive through penalty for jumping the start. After serving his penalty Van der Garde drove a solid race to finish fifteenth, an impressive showing on a new circuit for the GP2 rookie.

Diego Nunes: "I was running eighth when I lost my brakes. I lost four or five places and I just managed until the end of the race without retiring. The car felt good before that and I was on for eighth and a front row start tomorrow so I was disappointed. The car was good till then but I had bad luck again".

Giedo van der Garde: "Well I started a little bit earlier than I was allowed so I had a drive through because of that so I finished fifteenth and that was it. It was not too bad today but because of the start it was crap as I had the drive through so it was a shame. It's a nice circuit but it's hard to overtake".

Trident Racing - Davide Rigon (12th) Ricardo Teixeira (DNF)