22/07/2007
NEWS STORY
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Javier Villa joined Timo Glock in taking a second 2007 GP2 Series win this weekend, as he led from pole position to dominate today's race. The Spaniard was never troubled as he eased across the line more than four seconds ahead of a delighted Kohei Hirate, who had scored his first points of the season yesterday. Kazuki Nakajima made it a brilliant four from four with another fine third position.
Javier made a stunning getaway from pole position and led by a country mile into the first corner, as behind him his rivals jostled for position behind Adrian Zaugg. The South African maintained his second place, with Kohei third, Pastor Maldonado fourth and Kazuki leaping up to fifth with Lucas di Grassi sixth, Giorgio Pantano dropping to seventh and Timo Glock maintaining his eighth position from the grid.
Half way round the first lap Giorgio made an aggressive move up the inside of Lucas, and as the two touched Timo said “thank you very much” and blasted past them both. Up front Javi was flying and in the first three laps pulled out a three second lead.
As the race settled into a rhythm and routine, Kazuki and Kohei were the two drivers making inroads into their rivals. On lap 16 Kazuki made his move, flying past Pastor into the first corner and setting off after Kohei. On the same lap Kohei decided he'd had quite enough of the sight of Adrian's rear wing, and as the Arden driver ran wide at the hairpin, Kohei slipped up the inside and shot up the hill, now in second. Adrian tried to close the door too late, made contact with Kohei and bumped himself into retirement.
The race was now on for second place, and for the remaining eight laps the two Japanese drivers traded tenths of a second. Kazuki tried numerous ways around Kohei, but in the end and after some titanic side-by- side moments, Kohei just had the edge over his countryman.
As Javier crossed the line to record his second win of the season, Kohei came across four seconds back in second, with Kazuki inches behind him. Pastor settled for fourth, with Timo fifth and Lucas sixth. His team- mate Sebastien Buemi took the fastest lap of the race despite a drive through for a jumped start.
Provided by the GP2 Series Media Service
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