Romain Grosjean claimed his first win of the season today after pressuring early leader VitalyPetrov all through the first half of race two in Istanbul, taking the lead and walking away in thelatter stages for a dominant victory ahead of Petrov and Sébastien Buemi.
While the French driver celebrated on the podium the sympathy of everyone in the pitlane waswith Bruno Senna, who drove an incredible race to move up from fifteenth on the grid to have acertain points finish destroyed when he struck a stray dog which had somehow found its way ontothe track, breaking his right front suspension and immediately retiring from sixth place.
At the start Petrov made a storming start from fourth to claim the top spot into the first turn, whileGrosjean slightly pushed Karun Chandhok into polesitter Adam Carroll, allowing Buemi andJavier Villa to line up behind the Russian driver but ahead of the Frenchman as they tore up thehill. Behind them however was mayhem, and when the dust settled eight drivers were out on thespot, with the safety car immediately coming out.
At the restart Grosjean wasted no time in getting by Villa, who was also passed by teammateGiorgio Pantano a few corners later. The order was shaking out all through the field as the driversmade up for the lack of overtaking yesterday by attacking all over the circuit, although Chandhokand Villa took it a little too far and an inevitable contact put the pair into spins which would deleteany chance they had of scoring in the race.
Senna, in particular, looked unstoppable as he set a string of fastest laps to move up into thepoints paying positions. The Brazilian was in sixth position and looking certain of more on lap 10when he struck the dog coming into the final complex: he limped back to the pits before stormingaway, clearly fuming at the situation he found himself in. Just one lap later Grosjean’s race longpressure finally paid dividends as he slide inside Petrov at the end of the back straight to claim alead which he would never look like relinquishing.
When another dog ran on track the safety car had to be brought back out, compacting the field forthe final run to the flag, but Grosjean was imperious at the restart and just disappeared, whilePetrov’s mirrors were full of Buemi’s Arden for the remainder of the race. And while the orderfurther back was still swapping lap after lap, up front the top three were followed across the lineby Pantano, Mike Conway and Ben Hanley, the two Britons scoring their first points of the seasonafter staying out of trouble and keeping their heads while those around them were losing theirs.
Pantano’s fourth place was enough to maintain his lead in the championship with 24, withGrosjean moving up to second with 19 points ahead of Buemi on 14 and Andreas Zuber with 13points, setting up an intriguing battle to come in Monaco. Racing Engineering is leading theTeams’ Championship ahead of ART Grand Prix, Trust Team Arden and iSport International.
| 
|