Antonio Pizzonia won the first race of the Auto GP weekend at Silverstone, in the round run jointly with the Blancpain championship. The 34-year-old former Formula 1 Brazilian brought his car to the checkered flag and kept the Zele Racing banner high. Standing behind him was "Facu" Regalia, who took off from the pole and suffered from clutch issues. The Argentinian, driving for FMS Racing, found himself in third but managed to recover the runner-up spot from Angolan Luis Sa Silva, who had a really quick getaway. At the first start, an halfshaft issue happened to Von Grünigen forced to a second formation lap. At the second start, Zele Racing's Pizzonia and Sa Silva took the point, but Regalia quickly made up with his soft tires, although he eventually couldn't reach Pizzonia with the hard ones. Young Russian Nikita Zlobin (Virtuosi UK) ended up close to the podium after a lengthy fight with Sa Silva. Cipriani (Ibiza Racing) and Medez (Zele Racing) followed the Russian. Pizzonia increased his lead in standings fro 11 to 14 points on Regalia with Sa Silva now third. Race 2 will take place tomorrow, on Sunday, at 14:45 (GMT).
Pizzonia won Race 1 at Silverstone: "After suffering from misfire problems in qualifying, things went better today: I had the pace to win. Of course, I was cautious on the tires and I kept an eye on what was happening with Facu, checking the distance. It's great to win again and increase my margin in standings".
Regalia settled for second place after starting on the pole: "We aren't quite there with this clutch and we have to fix it. The start was actually the 80% of the race and I didn't have a great takeoff. For tomorrow, starting at the back due to the reverse format, It will be key to resolve the problem. In Race 2 I had soft tires, while Antonio had an hard compound, better in that circumstance".
Sa Silva made it to the third step of the podium: "I moved to second since the beginning. Regalia was quickest than me in the straight and I had to give him the position as I couldn't keep him at bay. I had soft tires, which were a little aggressive for this short race. The podium makes me happy after a difficult start".
