Lewis Hamilton became only the second driver in GP2 series history to take both wins in a weekend as he flew to an astounding win in today’s second race in Germany. The ART Grand Prix driver, starting in eighth due to the reverse grid having won yesterday’s first race, drove a race of channeled aggression and silky skill to cap off an immensely impressive weekend with his second victory, ahead of Arden International’s Nicolas Lapierre and Super Nova International’s Jose Maria Lopez.
Lewis was already up two places when the race got underway, as Alex Pr©mat and Ernesto Viso’s spots on the grid lay empty after the pair had stalled at the start of the formation lap. As the lights went out, polesitter Hiroki Yoshimoto once again made a perfect getaway for BCN Competicion and led Nicolas and the fast-starting Adam Carroll who had made up three places to sit third by the first corner. Jose sat fourth, with Xandi Negrao fifth and Lewis sixth.
By the end of lap one the Briton was fifth, having easily dispatched Xandi. He set off after Jose, and the top five lined up almost nose to tail for the opening gambit of the race. Hiro was holding his own at the front, keeping Nicolas at bay by a second, while behind them Xandi lost sixth to Michael Ammermüller. Five laps passed before Lewis slid up the inside of Jose at Turn One, and a lap later the ART Grand Prix car was all over the back of Adam’s Racing Engineering rear wing.
Adam was pushing hard to keep Lewis behind, but at the end of Lap Nine, it was Lewis who got the better run out of the Coca-Cola Kurve. Adam pulled to the inside but outbraked himself and Lewis was on the podium. Adam’s pace dropped off after his battle with Lewis and three laps later Jose passed the Ulsterman for fourth. Meanwhile Lewis was on a mission, and on Lap 15 he breezed past Nicolas at Turn One. Only Hiro remained to deny Lewis the win.
The Japanese driver put up a staunch defense, driving brilliantly to keep Lewis at a constant 0.4 second distance. But after four laps, Lewis again got a superb slingshot out of the final turn and was through at Turn One. As Yoshi rued his lost win, a slight mistake at Turn Three saw all his hard work come undone as Nicolas and Jose sailed through to fill the final podium places. Hiro ended a disappointed fourth, with Adam fifth and Michael sixth, Gimmi Bruni picked up the point for fastest lap as Alex’s time is inadmissible as he started from the pitlane.
What about the championship? After scoring just two points for pole position this weekend, Nelson Piquet Jr’s tally rises to 27 points, but he is now followed in the standings by Lewis on 26 points and Nicolas on 25. Gimmi and Ernesto are tied for fourth on 19 points, and as we move to Barcelona the fight for the championship is well and truly on. In the team’s championship Arden International stay in charge of their battle on 42 points, however ART Grand Prix are well in the hunt on 39, ahead of Piquet Sports on 29 points.
1st Lewis Hamilton - ART Grand Prix. 41:18.772
“As I said yesterday this is a great starting point for me and the team, and I thought this weekend would be the turning point for us and it’s proved to be so. To get the double is fantastic.”
2nd Nicolas Lapierre - Arden International. +1.034
“I’m quite happy with the podium you know, but me and the team are expecting a win now. We had some good speed today from the beginning to the end. Lewis was just better than me in the fight.”
3rd Jose Maria Lopez - Super Nova International. +3.821
“This weekend for us has been fantastic. After a difficult start to the year we were quickest in first practice and then scored a lot of points. That was what we wanted. We need to keep it like this.”
