Lola Heritage

06/06/11

BUDAPEST AUTO GP RACE 2: FIRST WIN FOR AFANASIEV

With a commanding performance Sergei Afanasiev won the second round of the Auto GP Hungarian event, after an exciting race and a very eventful first lap.

At the start Rodolfo Gonzalez was the best off the line, and took the lead entering first corner starting from second row. His leadership was very brief tough, as before the end of the lap the Venezuelan driver had a contact with Crestani in an overtaking move, this dropping both to the back of the pack. The contact handed the lead to Afanasiev, followed closely by Luca Filippi. The SuperNova driver was starting from P11 on the grid but with an amazing start and two wheels on the grass he managed to overtake 7 cars on the outside.

Once at the back of Afanasiev Filippi followed his pace and the duo just flew away, boasting a speed that nobody else could match. Luca tried to close the gap but the Russian driver of DAMS kept full control of the race and crossed the finish line with a 1" advantage.

Behind the leading duo, there was a very close fight for 3rd place between Bruno Mendez and Adrien Tambay, the Spaniard boasting a brilliant drive to resist the pressure from the Gravity-Charouz DAMS driver: the gap between the two was often under the 1" mark, but despite this Bruno never gave Adrien a real chance, closing all the doors. Tambay, on his side, decided to focus on the championship points instead of risking a contact.

Great race also for Rio Haryanto, who closed the race in 5th position after starting from P10 on the grid: after a great start, he passed Onidi on lap 2 and after that he just kept the same pace as team mate Tambay, showing an impressive improvement.

Last points placements were for Fabio Onidi, Giovanni Venturini and Pasquale Di Sabatino, ahead of Marco Barba and Kevin Ceccon closing the top ten.

Sergei Afanasiev:

"My last win dated back to 2009 on this same track, so we could say that Budapest is really special to me! The race wasn't easy but I had a good start and when I realized that the two in front were really aggressive I decided to wait for something to happen. It came earlier than I thought and I made the most of it, with a double overtaking move with Filippi that was very fun. From then on it was hard because knowing that you have Luca behind it's never easy, and I 'm very proud that I managed to resist his pressure. Thanks to DAMS, the car was great and good on the tyres even with such a hot weather".

Luca Filippi:

"The start was the key moment of the race. I knew I had to do something special and I was perfect off the line, but when I went for a gap Tambay suddenly went for it too, and I had to go on the grass. There I just backed off from the brake controlling the car with only the steering wheel, and when I rejoined the track I was in the middle of the corner with an amazing speed that allowed me to pass a lot of people on the outside. Then I tried to close the gap on Sergei for the whole race, but he didn't gave me even one chance, so kudos to him. He's a fine racer and I'm really happy that a Russian driver won the race: I've been on podium many times with Vitaly Petrov and he's one of my best friends, so it's good to see that Russia now has another talent to cheer".

Bruno Mendez:

"The start was good and passing Gonzalez and Crestani wasn't difficult after their contact. Keeping Tambay at bay meanwhile was another story, as he was quicker than me in the first sector and I really had to give my best to keep him behind. I'm really happy that I managed to clinch my first Auto GP podium, and I'm grateful to Campos Racing as they worked hard to adapt the car to my driving style. Now we have to keep working in the same direction".

Budapest, Race 2

1 Sergei AFANASIEV Dams 16 laps in 25'47"593
2 Luca FILIPPI Supernova Racing +1.008
3 Bruno MENDEZ Campos Racing +16.694
4 Adrien TAMBAY Gravity - Charouz Dams +17.175
5 Rio HARYANTO Dams +18.912
6 Fabio ONIDI Lazarus +21.364
7 Giovanni VENTURINI Griffitz Durango +17.244
8 Pasquale DI SABATINO TP Formula +33.023
9 Marco BARBA Campos Racing +33.562
10 Kevin CECCON Ombra Racing +34.335
11 Stefano BIZZARRI Ombra Racing +41.898
12 Francesco DRACONE Francesco Dracone +57.180
13 Giuseppe CIPRIANI Griffitz Durango +1:01.792
14 Fabrizio CRESTANI Lazarus +1:20.291
15 Rodolfo GONZALEZ Campos Racing +1 LAP
16 Samuele BUTTARELLI TP Formula +3 LAPS

Fastest Lap Luca FILIPPI (Supernova Racing) in 1:35.266, media 165.55kph

Drivers standings:

1. Venturini 49; 2. Ceccon 45; 3. Afanasiev 40; 4. Filippi and Tambay 39; 6. Onidi 38; 7. Buttarelli and Barba 16; 9. Mendez 14; 10. Di Sabatino 11; 11. Gonzalez 8; 12. Haryanto 7; 13. Crestani 6; 14. Zaugg 3; 15. Dracone 1.