Piquet Sports - Nelson Piquet Jr 1st

Nelson Piquet Jr took his third consecutive GP2 series race win today with a stunning lights to flag victory at the Istanbul Park Circuit in Turkey. He also scored a bonus
point for setting the fastest lap and has now cut the deficit in the championship to leader Lewis Hamilton to just six points, with three races remaining in the season.

In the race, Nelson made a great start from pole position and then set about building up a good lead. His championship contender Hamilton also made a good start from fifth, and was soon in second place. However, Nelson had the edge and his team made a clever pitstop on lap 22, changing all four tyres. This paid off as three laps later he set the fastest lap. He stormed ahead and passed the chequered flag 18 seconds ahead of his fiercest rival.

With the reverse grid rules, Nelson will now begin tomorrow's sprint race from eighth on the grid, with Hamilton in seventh. Pole-sitter will be Nelson's team-mate Xandi Negrao.

Nelson Piquet Jr: "The car was just perfect today and the team did a good strategy and set-up. I did a good start and made no mistakes in the race. We could have had these kind of results earlier if we didn't have some of the problems we had. Now we will fight for the championship right down to Monza, which is fantastic. I think I have learned a lot and it's about time for me to do perfect races. Looking to tomorrow, I hope it rains! But seriously, I will try to do my best and if we could get another podium that would be great."

Racing Engineering - Adam Carroll 6th Javier Villa 15th

The already scorching Istanbul Park circuit had a surprise for Racing Engineering and their competitors in race one today when somebody found the temperature control and decided to see how far up it could go. And just when it seemed things couldn't get any hotter, the pitwall temperature exploded on lap one.

Javier Villa, starting from last after receiving a penalty in Hungary, made a strong start when the lights went out but, diving up the inside at the first corner, he was bundled into a spin. Teammate Adam Carroll also had a good start, but with less people in front of him the Ulsterman was able to push up until he tried to overtake Jose Maria Lopez, who had a dreadful start from the front row and pushed Adam wide, losing them both a number of places in the process.

Despite the setbacks both drivers were able to fight back strongly, which was a testament to the hard work carried out over night by the team. Javi caught back up to the field and, after a number of strong battles throughout the race, finished fifteenth. Adam was also able to push hard, and he didn't put a wheel wrong on his way back up to sixth position in a race that was commandingly won by Nelson Piquet Jr.

Cooling down in the hospitality area after the race, team principal Alfonso de Orleans Borbon noted: I thought the race was quite exciting; there was a lot of overtaking, all sorts of funky things happening on the track, so for the fans it was probably one of the most exciting races of the year, and the track itself is fabulous and great for overtaking. From our point of view we went quite well: Adam made a fairly brilliant start, fell back, and then fought off Zuber really well to finish sixth. With regards to Javi he started last, he had certain other drivers in front of him who helped him into a spin, and so I think he did a great job to fight back so well. I think we're in a good position for tomorrow: Adam can still win if we get the car just right, although I'm sure we're going to have Piquet charging through, fifteen seconds faster than anyone else! But we should see Adam on the podium tomorrow, and Javi should roll up through the positions, but where he'll end up we'll have to just see."

Getting a relaxing massage afterwards, Adam Carroll stated: It was a tough race for everyone really, but it's a really good track; hard, physical, with that big turn in the middle; and it was roasting hot to top it all off. The car was quite consistent, it didn't do anything nasty on me, and our balance was pretty good, I was able to push all the way to the end, I didn't make any mistakes, the guys did a good job with the pitstop, and then at the end Zuber, even though he was quicker than me, couldn't overtake. It was a good, physical race, but I think it was the best we could have done: I think I drove as hard as I could, really."

In a break from a debrief with his mechanics, Javier Villa said: It was not that bad: I finished fifteenth from last on the grid. Yesterday we put a race set up on the car for qualifying, and it is really good. I started fine, and then at the first corner I went to the inside, the guys in the middle turned in, and then I was spun around. After the first corner I started seven seconds behind all the other guys, but I could fight back well. I'm really happy with the car today: the team did a great job."

Trident Racing - Andreas Zuber 7th Gimmi Bruni DNF