DAMS rookie claims Abu Dhabi sprint race win ahead of Davide Valsecchi German ace Christian Vietoris led from the start to the chequered flag in today’s sprint race at Yas Marina  Circuit  after  flying  off  perfectly  from  third  on  the  grid.  Yesterday’s  race  winner  Davide Valsecchi charged from eighth to second. Polesitter Oliver Turvey had a slow start that saw him fall to fourth place with Vietoris, Josef Kral (Super Nova) and Alexander Rossi (Ocean Racing) passing him into the first corner. Turvey’s front row partner Johnny Cecotto at Trident had an even poorer start, falling to seventh behind Feature race heroes Luca Filippi and Davide Valsecchi. But the iSport racer was out on a mission: all over Filippi  in  the  early  stages,  he  eventually  got  passed  his  countryman  on  Lap  13  at  Turn  11.  The Meritus  man  then  braked  way  too  late  into  the  following  hairpin  to  try  and  retaliate,  but  went  too wide, span and lost positions to Cecotto and DAMS’ Edoardo Piscopo. Valsecchi set his sights on teammate Turvey and quickly overtook him for fourth place. The safety car  was  then  deployed  when  William  Bratt  collided  into  Fabio  Leimer  at  the  end  of  the  back straight.  Vietoris  and  Kral  were  by  at  that  time  comfortably  leading,  but  they  saw  Rossi  and Valsecchi  rejoin  them  behind  the  safety  car.  At  the  restart,  Vietoris  easily  stayed  in  control  while Valsecchi  got  passed  Rossi  again  at  Turn  11  on  Lap  18.  He  then  rapidly  closed  in  on  the  two leaders. Super Nova’s Kral tried to resist Valsecchi’s repeated assaults but eventually had to give in on the very  last  lap  at  Turn  11,  where  the  Italian  tricked  all  his  previous  victims.  At  the  chequered  flag, Vietoris  claimed  his  first  win  on  his  GP2  debut  with  Valsecchi  and  Kral  completing  the  podium. Behind  them,  Turvey  managed  to  pass  a  slower  Rossi  to  take  fourth.  Cecotto  finished  sixth  and took the last point. With  nineteen  points  scored  this  weekend,  Davide  Valsecchi  is  now  leading  the  Series  ahead  of today’s race winner Vietoris on 9 points. Filippi is one point behind the German.

Abu Dhabi – Race 1 Driver Team

1. Christian Vietoris DAMS 2. Davide Valsecchi iSport International 3. Josef Kral Super Nova Racing 4. Oliver Turvey iSport International 5. Alexander Rossi Ocean Racing Technology 6. Johnny Cecotto Trident Racing 7 Edoardo Piscopo DAMS 8. Luca Filippi MalyasiaQI-Meritus.com 9. Michael Herck DPR 10. James Jakes Super Nova Racing 11. Luiz Razia Barwa Addax Team 12. Marcus Ericsson ART Grand Prix 13. Diego Nunes MalyasiQI-Meritus.com 14. Roldan Rodriguez Scuderia Coloni 15. Charles Pic Arden International 16. Rodolfo Gonzalez Arden International 17. Max Chilton Barwa Addax Team 18. Sam Bird ART Grand Prix

Fastest lap time: David Valsecchi (iSport International): 1:52.070 on lap 22

Not Classified Driver Team VladimirArabadzhiev Piquet GP Fabio Leimer Ocean Racing Technology Wiliiam Bratt Scuderia Coloni Daniel Zampieri Piquet GP Giacomo Ricci DPR Plamen Kralev Trident Racing