10/06/2006
NEWS STORY
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Lewis Hamilton has won today's British GP2 series race in commanding fashion from Timo Glock and Adam Carroll. The Briton made a stunning getaway from second on the grid, passing pole sitter Adam in the opening corners to take a lead he gave away only in the pitstops.
In a race of high attrition and three safety car periods, it was Lewis' calm demeanor which saw him master the competition. After passing Adam by Hangar Straight on the very first lap, his momentum was halted briefly by the first safety car, deployed while the stranded cars of José María López and Franck Perera were cleared from the first corner melee. With the pace car out for just one lap, Lewis led off again, with Adam holding second, Alex Prémat third and Timo Glock fourth, having passed Nelson Piquet Jr.
With tyre wear a high priority at the sweltering British track, the leaders held off until the one third distance for their stops. Giorgio now led, but after the Italian finally came in for an unusually late stop, Lewis regained his lead. As the field shook out Alex had made his way up to second, with Timo third and Adam slipping back to fourth. But Alex's race received an unexpected blow when he was called in for a drive through penalty for speeding in the pitlane. He emerged behind a fervent battle between Gimmi Bruni, Andreas Zuber, Giorgio Pantano and Ferdinando Monfardini for fifth place.
As Giorgio tried to find a way past Andreas, Ferdinando lost it at Abbey, slamming hard into the barriers and causing Alex to spin in his wake. The Frenchman recovered and got on his way again, but Ferdinando's wreckage was strewn across the track calling for the second safety car.
No sooner had the action got back underway however than Gimmi's car gave up on him at Bridge, and again a safety car was called for until it was cleared. On this restart Giorgio was all over Andreas, and under immense pressure the Austrian finally succumbed, spinning off into the gravel and out of the race.
At the front Lewis handled the pressure from Timo, managing to keep ahead of the former Champ Car star at each restart despite the German having vast experience of restart strategy from his time in the States. As the laps wore down, Lewis kept pushing and set the fastest lap of the 36 on his penultimate tour. Timo followed him home, with Adam third, Nelson fourth, Giorgio a delighted fifth, Alex a stunning sixth considering the race he'd had, Clivio Piccione seventh and Felix Porteiro eighth, taking pole for tomorrow.
1st Lewis Hamilton – ART Grand Prix: It was a superb victory for me. Again it was emotional, like Monaco, but I think this tops Monaco. England won the football today, and for a British driver to win as well, for me to win as well, here at Silverstone, it's a really special feeling for me, and I'm really happy with it.
2nd Timo Glock – iSport International: It's a different life, I think! It's great to have my first start with iSport and be on the podium. I knew before the race that we had a good car. It was great to finish second behind Lewis; it was about a perfect finish.
3rd Adam Carroll – Racing Engineering: It was good to get another podium; a little frustrating to start first and finish third, but it was a good race and to come away with more points is always good. Now we just have to go to the test at Paul Ricard and try and improve.