Swiss driver heads Arden 1-2

Sébastien Buemi has taken a dramatic win in damp conditions at the Circuit Magny-Cours: after starting 21st on slick tyres he ignored the chaos all around to him to record a memorable victory ahead of teammate Yelmer Buurman and Luca Filippi.

Rain  fell  steadily  on  the  French  circuit  overnight  but  stopped  just  prior  to  the  start,  handing engineers all along the pitlane a nightmarish decision to make: do you play it safe and run wets, or throw the dice and gamble on slicks? The eventual podium provided an answer, albeit too late for the rest of the grid: the gamble paid off handsomely for all three drivers by the end of the race. Polesitter Mike Conway led the grid away when the lights went out, with Jerome D'Ambrosio and Vitaly Petrov making strong starts to slot in behind him as the slick shod drivers just tried to hold on in the greasy conditions. The Belgian lost his advantage shortly after when he ran wide and came  together  with  front  row  starter  Karun  Chandhok,  and  a  stream  of  cars  flowed  by  the  pair and off after the leaders.

There were battles all around the circuit as the drivers pushed the limits of adhesion to make up places,  but  further  back  it  was  becoming  clear  that  a  drier  line  was  emerging  and  a  change  of tyres  was  on  the  cards  for  most  of  the  field:  Buurman  was  the  best  placed  of  the  slick  shod drivers, and as his rivals dribbled into the pits he steadily rose up the timesheets until he was in P1.

The  tricky  conditions  caught  out  many  drivers:  Romain  Grosjean  retired  in  the  gravel  trap  just after changing to slicks, with most of the field hitting someone as they struggled to control their cars,  including  a  big  impact  at  the  hairpin  between  Giorgio  Pantano  and  Petrov  which  put  the series  leader  out  of  the  race  shortly  after.  Meanwhile  Buemi  was pushing hard to get on terms with his teammate, finally catching and overtaking him on lap 21 after the pair ran wheel to wheel for half a lap until the hairpin. Further back and Filippi was on a charge too, albeit with more traffic ahead of him: mechanical gremlins  eventually  put  paid  to  the  challenges  thrown  out  by  Alvaro  Parente  and  Bruno Senna, handing an overdue podium to the Italian to kick start his season behind the Arden pair. Behind them Lucas di Grassi's conservative approach paid dividends with a fourth place, just ahead of Senna  and  Conway,  while  Kamui  Kobayashi  claimed  the  point  for  fastest  lap  on  his  last  trip around the circuit.

Buemi sprayed the champagne with his teammate and Filippi in celebration of his win, but he had something  else  to  celebrate  too:  the  win  pushed  the  Swiss  driver  up  to  third  place  in  the championship on 20 points, behind Pantano on 35 and Senna on 28. Magny-Cours –

Race 2 Driver Team

1. Sébastien Buemi Trust Team Arden 2 Yelmer Buurman Trust Team Arden 3. Luca Filippi ART Grand Prix 4. Lucas di Grassi Barwa Int. Campos Team 5 Bruno Senna iSport International 6. Mike Conway Trident Racing 7 Pastor Maldonado Piquet Sports 8. Andreas Zuber Piquet Sports 9. Kamui Kobayashi Dams 10. Javier Villa Racing Engineering 11. Marko Asmer Fisichella Motor Sport Int. 12. Adrian Valles BCN Competicion 13. Carlos Iaconelli BCN Competicion 14. Ho-Pin Tung Trident Racing 15. Michael Herck DPR 16. Roldan Rodriguez Fisichella Motor Sport Int. 17. Alberto Valerio Durango 18. Vitaly Petrov Barwa Int. Campos Team

Fastest lap time: Kamui Kobayashi (Dams): 1:23.550 on lap 28 Not Classified Driver Team Alvaro Parente Super Nova Racing Ben Hanley Durango Diego Nunes DPR Giorgio Pantano Racing Engineering Karun Chandhok iSport International Romain Grosjean ART Grand Prix Andy Soucek Super Nova Racing Jérôme d’Ambrosio Dams