Super Nova Racing driver Fairuz Fauzy won the sprint race in the second round of the GP2 Asia Series in Sentul, Indonesia. It was a bright and sunny Sunday just for Malaysian Fairuz Fauzy who scored his first GP2 win on the wet track of Sentul in the sprint race. He started from pole position on the reversed grid and led until the chequered flag.
As the 26 cars were waiting for the off, heavy rain started to pour on the track two minutes before the formation lap. The start was then given behind the safety car and the two first laps were fateful for Latvian Schleghelmilch and Brazilian Valerio, both in slick tyres. On Lap 7, the safety car stepped out and the real battle begun. RDD boys Hanley and Grosjean started to fight for 5th place.
Vitaly Petrov took this opportunity to pass the Brit. Just five laps after the restart, the safety car was once again deployed when Luca Filippi spun and got stranded in the middle of the track. At the second restart, the battle for third position intensified between Pavlovic, Petrov, Grosjean and Hanley.
After Petrov passed Milos without any harm, ART Frenchman attacked the BCN driver. Just behind them, Ben Hanley saw an opportunity and moved up the inside of Grosjean, but he went in too deep and hit Pavlovic. The safety car was deployed for the third time. When it released the cars, there were less than 6 minutes left on the clock. In front, leader Fauzy managed to contain Senna’s attacks in order to cross the finish line in first position and take his maiden win. Senna finished 2nd ahead of Petrov, Grosjean, Valles and Tung who scored his first point today.
Fairuz Fauzy (Super Nova Racing): “I am so happy! The team did a wonderful job in setting up the car in these difficult conditions. I had a really good pace. This is my first win and it comes right before the next round in my homeland in Sepang. I hope I can do the same there!”
Bruno Senna (iSport International): “We had a set up for the dry and it rained a lot, so it made things extremely difficult for me. Fairuz and the guys behind me were faster. Therefore, I’m quite happy with this result. We’ve had a tough two first rounds, but I’m still second of the championship and I closed the gap with Grosjean a little bit.”
Vitaly Petrov (Barwa International Campos Team): “I was frustrated yesterday when I couldn’t turn my pole position into a win. Today, I wanted to do something good. We were quick all weekend and I know that we have the car to actually fight for the podium at every race.”
Sentul – Race 2 Driver Team
1. Fairuz Fauzy Super Nova Racing 2. Bruno Senna iSport International 3. Vitaly Petrov Barwa international Campos Team 4. Romain Grosjean ART Grand Prix 5. Adrian Valles FMS International 6. Ho-Pin Tung Trident Racing 7. Sébastien Buemi Trust Team Arden 8. Marco Bonanomi Piquet Sports 9. Aarman Ebrahim DPR 10 Diego Nunes DPR 11 Adam Khan Trust Team Arden 12 Michael Herck FMS International 13 Karun Chandhok iSport International 14 Christian Bakkerud Super Nova Racing 15 Kamui Kobayashi Dams 16 Ben Hanley Barwa International Campos Team 17 Jason Tahinci BCN Competicion 18 Marcello Puglisi Piquet Sports 19 Davide Valsecchi Durango 20 Hiroki Yoshimoto Qi-Meritus Mahara 21 Luca Filippi Qi-Meritus Mahara
Not Classified Driver Team
Milos Pavlovic BCN Competicion Stephen Jelley ART Grand Prix Jérôme d’Ambrosio Dams Harald Schleghelmilch Trident Racing Alberto Valerio Durango
Fastest lap time: Fairuz Fauzy (Super Nova Racing) – 1:23.203 on lap 16
Drivers’ Championship Driver Points
1. Romain Grosjean 27 2. Bruno Senna 17 3. Adrian Valles 15 4. Fairuz Fauzy 14 5. Sébastien Buemi 10 6. Vitaly Petrov 10 7. Karun Chandhok 6 8. Andy Soucek 6 9. Ben Hanley 6 10. Hiroki Yoshimoto 6 11. Luca Filippi 4 12. Milos Pavlovic 3 13. Alberto Valerio 2 14 Ho-Pin Tung 1 15 Davide Valsecchi
