Magny-Cours: Series race 1 report

Grosjean new overall leader

Romain Grosejan really is the man to beat in Auto GP. The French driver clinched his second win and the fastest lap in Magny-Cours Race 1, becoming the new series leader with 30 points, two more than Edoardo Piscopo.

The Dams driver this time even tried to make things more difficult for himself with a really bad start, but luck was on his side: Adrien Tambay was leading when, with just two laps to go, an issue with the fuel pump stopped his car. The Charouz-Gravity Racing driver really deserved success because his race was just flawless: he passed from 3rd to first position thanks to a great start, and then he managed to keep Grosjean at bay, making no mistakes despite the huge pressure from his rival. After Tambay's retirement Grosjean sailed towards his second win in the series, but it wasn't such an easy task: after the bad start he dropped to fourth place, and so DAMS decided for an early stop strategy. With fresh rubber Romain pushed a lot and thanks to some very quick laps he climbed back to second, then inheriting the win from Tambay. Second was Duncan Tappy, making a wonderful one-two result for DAMS. The brit was fast at the green light and then he fought with Grosjean during the first laps. Then he lost contact with the leaders due to a little mistake at the pit-stop, and settled for 2nd place, his best result in Auto GP up to now. Behind Tappy, Fabio Onidi took his second podium finish of the season. The Lazarus driver gained one place at the start of the race, and then overtook also Esteban Guerrieri thanks to a good race pace and pit-stop strategy.

Jake Rosenzweig took a surprising P4 in his maiden Auto GP race, ahead of Jan Charouz. The Czech driver made up four places after starting from the 9th spot of the grid, and this means that he will start from second row in tomorrow's Race 2. Behind Jan were his team-mate Esteban Guerrieri and an hard fighting duo: Edoardo Piscopo and Carlos Iaconelli battled for the whole race, and in the end the Italian driver was ahead, passing his Brazilian rival on last lap. Iaconelli, anyway can be happy because he took P8, so he will start from pole tomorrow, another chance to win the second race as he already did in Imola and Spa.

Besides Tambay, bad luck hampered also Stefano Bizzarri and Giorgio Pantano: the RP driver had to start from the pits for a problem with the steering rack, while the former GP2 champion was slowed by a wheel nut issue during his pit-stop.

Romain Grosjean: "It was a tough race because with the team we thought that the front tyres were going to lose grip early, and we did the set-up accordingly. It didn't happen, So I had a really oversteering car. Furthermore, Tambay in front of me didn't do any mistake, I don't know if I could have passed him. It's a pity for him, but being the new series leader feels really good".

Duncan Tappy: "My start was good and so was the first part of the race. Then I did that little mistake at the pit-stop and I lost the lead duo. Anyway we know that the car wasn't perfect, and we know what to change for tomorrow".

Fabio Onidi: "I gained one place at the start and then I started following Pantano, who was actually a bit quicker than me. Then he had a pit-stop issue and also Tambay retired and I made the most of it. I was very unlucky until today, so I'm happy that in this race luck was on my side".

-source: auto gp