Valsecchi storms to sprint race victory

8th February 2010

Italian fights through grid to claim another strong win

Davide Valsecchi has solidified his championship lead with a brilliant drive to victory this evening in Abu Dhabi, claiming the win with a measured but aggressive run from seventh on the grid to steal the victory from Michael Herck, who led all race until the second last lap but nevertheless claimed his first ever GP2 podium finish ahead of teammate Giacomo Ricci. Herck was handed the lead at the start when poleman Max Chilton bogged down as the lights went out: 

Herck  was  first  into  the  first  turn  with  Alexander  Rossi  and  Ricci  held  up  just  enough  by Chilton to give the Romanian a clear path to the corner, while behind them Joseph Kral was caught up in the melee between Sergio Perez and Luca Filippi as they all stumbled over each other as they looked for a way through, prompting a safety car period to allow Kral's broken car to be removed.

War recommenced after the restart, with Ricci sliding through Rossi to set up a potential first ever 1-2 for DPR, while Perez made up for lost time by sliding inside and through Oliver Turvey for P6, just behind Chilton while further behind them all Jules Bianchi was trying to make amends for an awful start by slicing his way back up the order, seemingly unwilling to use his brakes and able to find passing opportunities which his rivals has previously thought were impossible. Experience  was beginning  to show as Valsecchi easily disposed  of  Rossi, with Perez pushing the American  wide  on  lap  11  and  then  taking  the  position  a  lap  later,  and  all  eyes  were  on  the championship leader as he put together a string of fastest laps to chase down the DPR pair: with conditions forcing  the  teams  to get  the wet tyres ready just  in  case  the ominous  looking  clouds overhead broke, the final ten laps were set to repeat the excitement of yesterday's feature race.

And so it proved.  Valsecchi used all his experience  to  feign  inside and  then blow outside and by Ricci  before the  chicane on lap  14,  then  reeled in Herck  and easily disposing of  him on the  long back straight five laps later: the Italian led the final lap to claim another stylish win by two seconds over  Herck  and  Ricci,  who  nevertheless  delighted  their  team  with  two  strong  podium  finishes ahead  of  Perez,  who  just  held  on  ahead  of  the  other  charging  iSport  car  of  Turvey. 

Chilton's eventful race ended with the final point for sixth place, just holding on ahead of the ever charging Bianchi and Charles Pic. Valsecchi was soon celebrating on the podium, his championship lead stretching further away from teammate Turvey by 35 points to 16, with Rossi in third place on 10 points, while iSport appear to be  running away  with teams'  championship  on  51 points,  well  ahead  of DPR's  15  points  at  the close of the second Abu Dhabi round of the GP2 Asia Series.

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