14/05/2006
NEWS STORY
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Ernesto Viso took his second GP2 series win of the year in today's race in Barcelona. The Venezuelan soaked up race long pressure to take victory by less than a second from the pursuing Nelson Piquet Jr and Race 1 winner Alex Prémat.
Ernesto made a perfect getaway from pole position, as second placed Xandi Negrão stalled as the lights went out. As the drivers jostled for position into Turn One, Nelson made the most of the run down the straight, slotting into second place from fifth on the grid. Alex took third having started eighth, with Lewis Hamilton fourth from his seventh place grid slot. Tristan Gommendy sat fifth, losing a place from fourth, while Ferdinando Monfardini dropped from third to seventh, behind the fast starting Giorgio Pantano who sat in the final points-paying position of sixth having started ninth.
The opening laps saw the top four drivers on an almost identical pace, although Ernesto just edged his rivals to pull out a gap. But he was never comfortable, as Nelson would take a few tenths out here and there, only to see the Venezuelan regain his lead again on the following lap. The top four played with each other for the entirety of the 26 lap race, putting each under under enough pressure to keep the pace red hot, but never threatening enough to make and serious attempts to overtake.
Tristan was in a race all on his own, dropping back from the battle for the lead but holding enough of a gap over Giorgio that he didn't have to worry about the Italian. That was because Giorgio was having problems of his own… namely his compatriot Ferdinando who was now all over the sixth placed man's rear wing. For 19 laps Ferdinando tried to get by, and for 19 laps Giorgio resisted, but at the end of that 19th lap, Giorgio took just a touch too much speed through the final corner and slid wide onto the gravel. Ferdinando was through and held on to sixth for the final point of the afternoon.
And that was pretty much that. Ernesto won the race from Nelson and Alex with Lewis fourth, Tristan fifth and Ferdinando sixth. Gimmi Bruni took the point for fastest lap.
Ernesto Viso – iSport International: "The car was good, I drove very well I think, I'm very happy with the team and the guys are doing a really good job, and I think we can do a really good job for the rest of the season."
Nelson Piquet Jr – Piquet Sports: "It was not safe to overtake, so I kept it safe and finished second. The fight between Lewis and me is going to be very interesting, and it will be very strong throughout the year."
Alex Prémat – ART Grand Prix: "I think it was a really good weekend, and the car was really good in race one and race two, so I think this is the comeback of Alex Premat."