German claims maiden win in Monza

Christian  Vietoris  has  taken  his  first  main  series  win  with  a  storming  start  which  caught  his  rivals  napping,  and  a controlled  drive  thereafter  under  extreme  pressure,  to  greet  the  chequered  flag  ahead  of  Jerome  d'Ambrosio  and Sam Bird, while Pastor Maldonado failed to finish but nevertheless claimed the 2010 GP2 driver's championship.

The victory was set up as the lights went out: with the front row starters very slow to get away, Vietoris made a flyer and threaded the needle to lead the field into the first turn before tearing away into the distance. Adrian Zaugg also made  a  good  getaway  but  was  unable  to  find  a  way  through,  dropping  back  as  d'Ambrosio  went  wide  around everyone to slot into second behind the German.

Further back and the championship looked to be over when Sergio Perez braked heavily and ran wide and through the  gravel  at  the  Parabolica,  with  Pastor  Maldonado  two  cars  back  seemingly  following  in  his  rival's  tracks:  the Mexican held on to narrowly miss the wall and find his way back onto circuit, but the Venezuelan was less lucky and found the wall for the third time in the weekend. Bird was looking to cap off his best weekend of the season in style: a sharp getaway had him up to fourth on the road from eighth on the grid, and he quickly dispatched poleman Max Chilton at the first chicane next time through for a podium spot: his teammate Jules Bianchi found his way by Chilton two laps later, but he didn't seem to have the pace of his teammate in race conditions here, dropping time while Bird ran a string of fastest laps to catch up to the leading pair.

The Englishman soon caught up to d'Ambrosio, but the nature of the fast flowing circuit meant there was little chance of  a  pass  unless  someone  made  a  mistake.  With  the  top  three  running  nose  to  tail  for  the  remainder  of the race Vietoris held on for the win one second ahead of d'Ambrosio, who took second by just one tenth from Bird. Bianchi solidified third in the championship with another points finish for fourth, with Chilton hanging on for fifth against race long pressure from Oliver Turvey.

But with Perez unable to improve on 13th position the championship finally belonged to Maldonado, who celebrated with  his  team  in  the  pits  as  the  chequered  flag  dropped  for  his  rivals:  the  Venezuelan  takes  his  place  in  history alongside  Nico  Rosberg,  Lewis  Hamilton,  Timo  Glock,  Giorgio  Pantano  and  Nico  Hülkenberg  as  the  newest  GP2 champion.

Monza – Sprint Race Driver Team

1. Christian Vietoris Racing Engineering 2. Jerome d’Ambrosio Dams 3. Sam Bird ART Grand Prix 4. Jules Bianchi ART Grand Prix 5. Max Chilton Ocean Racing Technology 6. Oliver Turvey iSport International 7. Adrian Zaugg Trident Racing 8. Charles Pic Arden International 9. Alvaro Parente Scuderia Coloni 10. Luiz Razia Rapax 11. Marcus Ericsson Super Nova Racing 12. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 13. Sergio Perez Barwa Addax Team 14. Luca Filippi Super Nova Racing 15. Fabio Crestani DPR 16. Davide Valsecchi iSport International 17. Romain Grosjean Dams Fastest lap: Sam Bird (ART Grand Prix) – 1:31.954 on lap 9 Not Classified Driver Team Brendon Hartley Scuderia Coloni Giedo van der Garde Barwa Addax Team Michael Herck DPR Edoardo Piscopo Trident Racing Rodolfo Gonzalez Arden International Pastor Maldonado Rapax Fabio Leimer Ocean Racing Technology