Motorsports Mondial

Photo: gp2series

Filippi wins to be lord of the Ring

Italian claims popular victory in feature race

Luca Filippi gave a perfect display of strength and experience to take victory in this afternoon’s feature race at the Nurburgring, taking advantage of a sharp pitstop from his Coloni team before pulling away for a strong win ahead of Charles Pic and Romain Grosjean.

The Italian put himself in a solid position for the result when the lights went out with a fast getaway, sliding into P2 on the rear wing of poleman Pic, with Jules Bianchi taking advantage of a good start to put himself ahead of Grosjean. Behind them the field was shaking out, but a coming together between Pal Varhaug and Kevin Mirocha put the pair out on the spot, prompting a safety car period to remove their stricken cars.

At the restart Esteban Gutierrez tried in vain to hold off Sam Bird through the complex for P10, while ahead of them Giedo van der Garde was trying everything he had to get ahead of title rival Grosjean, but the technical nature of the circuit (and the uncertain weather to come) meant that most of the team were waiting for the pitstops to come.

Race leader Pic finally came in on lap 13, with Filippi and Bianchi covering one lap later: the Lotus ART man lost time after choosing to change 4 tyres, but a very quick stop for the Italian saw him re-emerge just ahead of Pic, who had Grosjean all over his rear wing after jumping ahead with an early stop.

With the stops shaken out, all eyes were on the sky: the ominously dark clouds looked like they could burst at any time, but they held on until the chequered flag finally dropped to greet an ecstatic Filippi, who applauded his team as he crossed the line almost six seconds ahead of Pic, who held off Grosjean for the second step on the podium.

The top three were in a race of their own: Bianchi was the next man across the line, 33 seconds behind the winner and just ahead of Marcus Ericsson, who took advantage of the constant pressure he applied to van der Garde to outbrake the Dutchman into the chicane on the penultimate lap for P5, while behind them Dani Clos and Bird were the survivors of a huge duel between the pair, Alvaro Parente, Luiz Razia and returnee Adam Carroll for the front row of tomorrow’s sprint race, entertaining the fans for the second half of the race.

Photo: gp3series

Rio Haryanto wins frenzied wet race

Victory for Indonesian driver in rain soaked German race

Rio Haryanto took his first GP3 Series victory of the season today in a wet and wild race at Nürburgring. The Marussia Manor Racing driver finished ahead of MW Arden’s Lewis Williamson and Lotus ART’s Valtteri Bottas after an epic battle to the line which saw the lead change constantly during the final few laps with the top 3 fighting on slick tyres on a wet track.

Drama ensued when light rain started to fall as the young drivers lined up on the starting grid. At the front of the field poleman Mitch Evans and Antonio Felix Da Costa both took a gamble and switched to wet tyres before the start of the race, as did fourth place man Addax Team’s Tom Dillmann.

As the lights went out Evans went wide but held on to his lead. Behind the New Zealander Haryanto moved up into second as it quickly became clear that Felix Da Costa was going nowhere fast on wets as the rain stopped. By the end of sector 1 Evans was leading from Haryanto and Williamson – who moved up five spots at the start – while the Portuguese driver was already down to sixth. Bottas had a storming start from eleventh on the grid and was soon fighting for the final podium spot.

Felix Da Costa’s race was to go from bad to worse as the Status driver was given a ten second stop and go penalty for not having his wheels fitted at the three minute race start warning. As the rest of the drivers tried to find their rhythm in the tricky conditions Evans was holding onto his lead by 1.1 seconds from Williamson who had passed Haryanto, and Bottas was in third. But any hopes the New Zealander had of becoming the first GP3 driver to win two races this season were dashed when midway through the race he was also handed a ten second stop and go penalty for the same reason as Felix da Costa. Evans eventually rejoined the race down in twenty-fourth handing the lead to Williamson.

For the final 5 laps of the race the heavens opened and an epic battle for the victory begun. Leader Williamson, Haryanto and Bottas all opted to stay out on track on slicks while most of the field entered the pits to change to wets. And as it turned out, fortune favoured the brave. The battle saw the lead change multiple times but it was Haryanto who eventually hung on to the top spot. Williamson crossed the line in second and despite a last minute charge from his teammate James Calado, Bottas took the final podium spot. Race 2 will see an all front row for Tech 1 Racing with Tamas Pal Kiss lining up on pole ahead of Aaro Vainio.