04/04/2009
NEWS STORY
Brazilian Diego Nunes scored his maiden GP2 win today, taking victory in Speang ahead of Kamui Kobayashi and James Jakes.
Fast and consistent since the beginning of the Malaysian round, Nunes took an impressive first victory for Piquet GP this afternoon at the Sepang International Circuit, while Roldan Rodriguez, his teammate, finished fourth. With fifteen points scored, the Brazilian squad jumps from fifth to third in the championship standings.
Poleman Jérôme d'Ambrosio unfortunately returned to the pits after his reconnaissance lap following a driveshaft failure due to a manufacturing glitch. Nunes therefore found himself effectively on pole alongside Super Nova's James Jakes. At the start however, both men were slow to get away while Jakes' teammate, Javier Villa, stalled. Starting from sixth, Vitaly Petrov found his way up to second place with Pastor Maldonado in tow. Championship leader Kamui Kobayashi kept his position ahead of Ocean's Yelmer Buurman while Jakes dropped to sixth.
Diego Nunes took a comfortable lead, while behind him, Maldonado ran wide, allowing Kobayashi, Buurman and Jakes to pass him. The British Super Nova driver then overtook Buurman for fourth place. Vitaly Petrov, slightly slower than the rest of the cars behind him, tried to resist as much as possible the charges of an impatient Kobayashi. Frustrated, the Dams driver decided to pit early on Lap 7. Back on track, Petrov made a small mistake letting Jakes back into second place. Two laps later, Buurman passed the Russian who pitted soon after that.
Jakes decided to obverse his mandatory pitstop on Lap 12 and came out of the pits right behind Kobayashi. The race leader came in one lap later with enough time to get back on track ahead of his closest rivals. Meanwhile, the lead was handed to iSport's Hamad Al Fardan who waited until Lap 18 to pit. Nunes got back into the lead and cruised to his first GP2 victory.
In second place, Kamui Kobayashi held on his position despite constant pressure from James Jakes, but the Super Nova never found a way past the Japanese driver.
A late pitstop allowed Roldan Rodriguez in the second Piquet car to grab fourth place, ahead of Buurman, the Dutch racer scoring Ocean Racing Technology's first GP2 points.
In sixth, Petrov eventually crossed the finish line before Maldonado who put huge pressure on the Russian towards the end of the race. Durango's Davide Valsecchi managed to claim one point and tomorrow's reversed pole which keeps his title hopes alive although now seventeen points behind Kamui Kobayashi in the drivers' championship.