23/05/2009
NEWS STORY
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Pastor Maldonado has claimed another win for his glittering collection at Monaco as a result of leading the sprint race today when it was red flagged for an accident involving Romain Grosjean, thereby taking the top step on the podium ahead of Jerome d'Ambrosio and Nico Hülkenberg.
The Venezuelan didn't have it all his own way though: despite starting from pole he was beaten to Ste Devote by front row starter Karun Chandhok, who was in imperious form as he left the rest of the field in his smoke, while d'Ambrosio and Hülkenberg started their own race long battle for supremacy.
Further back Michael Herck took himself out of contention with an ill-advised move on Edoardo Mortara at the hairpin, after which the order of the race stayed fairly static as the field wound its way around the fabled circuit.
Ocean Racing were looking to claim their first ever win with Chandhok easily in control of the race until the end of lap 20 when the Indian slowed across the line, heartbreakingly stopped with a suspected broken drive shaft, which handed the lead to Maldonado and prompted a safety car to compact the pack behind him.
Five laps later and Andreas Zuber was once again under pressure by Romain Grosjean, who jinked right but caught the Austrian's rear wheel and was sent barrelling into the barriers at Tabac, prompting another track visit for the safety car. With just two laps remaining and plenty of debris to clear, the race was red flagged soon after.
The upshot of which was another Monaco win for Maldonado, just ahead of d'Ambrosio and Hülkenberg, with Lucas di Grassi and Zuber in an improbably undamaged car just behind, while Vitaly Petrov picked up a point for sixth and another for fastest lap. The Russian closed his teammate's championship lead down to 13 points, with Grosjean on 31 and d'Ambrosio joining Petrov on 18 points.