14/03/2010
NEWS STORY
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Giacomo Ricci scored DPR's first GP2 win since 2005 today and thereby won the British team third place in the 2009-2010 GP2 Asia Series
Ricci was all smiles and pumping the air with both fists on today's podium after he flew sliced from fourth on the grid to the lead before Turn 1, subsequently pulling away from his rivals. Untouchable and extremely consistent, the Italian comfortably won his first GP2 Asia race with a 5.3s gap over ART's Sam Bird.
The podium was decided at the first corner with Ricci taking the lead ahead of Bird and Coloni's Alvaro Parente. The trio did not change for the remainder of the twenty lap race while the action and traditional GP2 excitement happened behind. Davide Valsecchi climbed from seventh to fourth place ahead of four serious racers: Meritus' Alexander Rossi and Luca Filippi and Arden's Charles Pic and Javier Villa. Fighting against DPR for second and third places in the teams' standings, the two duos began an impressive battle in the early stages of the race.
Villa had a poor start and lost the advantage of starting from the front row with today's poleman Edoardo Piscopo failing to make it to the grid. While Rossi overtook his slower teammate Filippi, Villa busy trying to surprise the Italian also had to try and fend off his teammate's attacks. Eventually, Pic passed both Villa and Filippi in a bold move heading into Turn 2, but he had to pit on Lap 9 following a puncture and subsequently dropped out of the points.
All race-long, Rossi was all over Valsecchi and eventually got past in Turn 1 only to run wide in Turn 2 and have the Series Champion claiming back his fourth position. Villa finished sixth and added another precious point to Arden's total to take second in the Series standings.
As Ricci crossed the finish line Filippi, who had lost seventh place to Yelmer Buurman in the last corner, could only think about one thing: both Italians on 29 points with Ricci's win, only the bonus point for fastest lap could see the Meritus man lose second place in the Series. But Bird for the first time on a GP2 podium grabbed the bonus point and let Filippi enjoy becoming series runner-up.
Italy can be proud today: the 2009-2010 GP2 Asia Top three drivers are Azure e Verdi!