Michael Ammermüller took a commanding victory in the second GP2 series race at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia.
The German rookie brought his Arden Inernational car home almost ten seconds ahead of iSport International’s Ernesto Viso. Michael’s team-mate Nicolas Lapierre came third.
The race was initially shortened to 29 laps after it was decided to run two formation laps before the first scheduled race start to ensure every driver had a chance to put heat into his rubber.
With the two formation laps over, the first start was aborted as a number of drivers stalled, and so a third formation lap was run.
This time around there were no problems, and the now 28 lap race got underway with Ammermüller making a superb getaway from second position to lead pole-sitter Ernesto Viso into Turn One. Lapierre flew up to third, with Piquet fourth.
As Michael pulled away at the front, Ernesto and Nicolas were locked in an intense battle for second with the pair never more than 0.8 seconds apart for the duration of the race. Nicolas however just couldn’t get past the gritty Venezuelan and had to settle for third.
Further back, Lewis Hamilton was on a mission after a poor start and dispatched the Super Nova of Lopez to set off in pursuit of Adam Carroll in seventh and Adrian Valles in sixth. He made light work of them, screaming past both in a magnificent pair of manoeuvres on lap 20. With Valles struggling for grip and having lost the last points-paying position of sixth, Adam was now determined to get past the Spaniard and set off after Lewis.
As he tried to find a way around however, he made contact with the Campos Racing car and launched himself into a number of barrel rolls through the gravel. Unhurt, he climbed from the wreckage, grinning widely as he took off his helmet and saluted the 41,500 strong crowd. Ammermüller crossed the finish line 9.756 seconds ahead of Viso and Lapierre to take his first GP2 series win, with Nelson Piquet Jr fourth, Gimmi Bruni fifth and Lewis Hamilton sixth.
Andreas Zuber set the fastest race lap, however the point for this honour will go to championship leader Nelson Piquet Jr as Andreas started the race from the pits after the first aborted start and is therefore ineligible. At this early stage of the season Nelson Piquet Jr leads the championship on 16 points, with Nicolas Lapierre second on 10 and Lewis Hamilton close behind the Frenchman in third on 9 points.
In the Teams’ championship Arden International lead the way on 18 points, with Piquet Sports second on 16 and ART Grand Prix third on 9 points.
1st Michael Ammermüller – Arden International. 38:44.066 “This feels great! I didn’t expect to be on the podium in the first weekend, and now I have already won a race, and you can’t do better than that!”
2nd Ernesto Viso – iSport International. +9.756 “This feels really good, and it’s going to be the first of many podiums this year. I’m very confident” 3rd Nicolas Lapierre – Arden International. +10.213 “I think I was quicker than Viso today, but it’s impossible to pass and it’s always better to finish.”
