Vietoris wins as Grosjean seals the 2011 GP2 Series title

It’s a beautiful day in Spa for Christian Vietoris and Romain Grosjean: the German racer drove flawlessly in tricky conditions to take his first win of the season while the Frenchman clinched the seventh GP2 Series title after he finished third in today’s feature race. Jules Bianchi finished second.

The track was dry at the start of the race today in Spa, and Vietoris got away perfectly from pole position. The German then kept the lead, building a two second gap between him and his closest rival Bianchi who had passed Luca Filippi at the start. Further down, Grosjean made a blazing start from seventh to take third place. With the news of title rival Giedo van der Garde being pushed off track at Turn 1 and him rejoining last, Grosjean’s road to glory looked wide open from then on.

The weather forecast announced some rain to come and the teams chose to stay out on track as long as possible until the heavens opened. On lap 13, as the first raindrops fell from the sky, some of the drivers from the back of the field re-entered the pits to switch to wet weather tires, and a lap later, everyone else pitted as well. The Top ten rejoined the track in the same order, and it was then that the safety car came out after Julian Leal spun and stopped at the top of Eau Rouge.

More drama happened a few seconds later when Stefano Coletti collided with a very slow Mikhail Aleshin. The safety car stayed on track in order for the Trident racer to receive medical attention. When the track was finally clear, eight laps had passed and the safety car came in for the final lap. Vietoris made a clean re-start and kept the lead from Bianchi and Grosjean.

The fight for eighth place however was intense with Johnny Cecotto Jr putting huge pressure on Fairuz Fauzy and eventually passed him. But the Ocean Racing driver slowed down unexpectedly in the last corner which handed Fauzy back tomorrow’s reverse pole position.

And so, at the checkered flag, Vietoris pocketed his first win of the season ahead of Bianchi, but all eyes were turned on the Dams driver. Romain Grosjean becomes GP2 Series seventh Champion after Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Timo Glock, Giorgio Pantano, Nico Hülkenberg and Pastor Maldonado.

Spa-Francorchamps – Feature race
Driver Team
1. Christian Vietoris Racing Engineering
2. Jules Bianchi Lotus ART
3. Romain Grosjean Dams
4. Luca Filippi Scuderia Coloni
5. Brendon Hartley Ocean Racing Technology
6. Dani Clos Racing Engineering
7. Josef Kral Arden International
8. Fairuz Fauzy Super Nova Racing
9. Adam Carroll Super Nova Racing
10. Davide Valsecchi Caterham Team AirAsia
11. Johnny Cecotto Ocean Racing Technology
12. Sam Bird iSport International
13. Pal Varhaug Dams
14. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus ART
15. Max Chilton Carlin
16. Michael Herck Scuderia Coloni

Not Classified
Marcus Ericsson iSport International
Giedo van der Garde Barwa Addax Team
Rodolfo Gonzalez Trident Racing
Mikhail Aleshin Carlin
Stefano Coletti Trident Racing
Julian Leal Rapax
Fabio Leimer Rapax
Luiz Razia Caterham Team AirAsia
Charles Pic Barwa Addax Team