Filippi wins the maiden Auto GP race

Luca Filippi is the first ever Auto GP winner. The Italian talent drove an amazing race, taking full advantage from Euronova's tactics. Being one of the few drivers (alongside Piscopo and Tappy) still having a set of new tires, Filippi chose an early pit-stop on lap 4, and from then on had pushed as hell with a clear track in front of him. From the tire change on, Filippi's laps were all below 1'45, and this allowed him to comeback passing all his opponents while they were doing their pit-stops.

Despite being very fast on track, Edoardo Piscopo and Fabio Onidi could not match Filippi's pace, and had to fight for second position, from two very different race tactics. Onidi decided to stop for tires at the last possible moment, but having no new sets was clearly disadvantaged. When the Lazarus driver got back on track after the pit-stop, the DAMS car of Piscopo was in front of him: very fast and focused from the start, Edoardo clinched a well deserved second place.

While Filippi had a clear race, things were quite different for the rest of the group, right from the start when the poleman Jonny Reid stalled his car. All the field managed to avoid the SuperNova car but this situation mixed up the positions: Jan Charouz did a wonderful start passing from 10th to 5th, and also the RP duo, Bizzarri and Miguez, found the right way in the pack, while Zaugg and Leal did lose some places. Just a few laps after the start the second SuperNova car retired from the race, with Pantano involved in a race crash with Brazilian Iaconelli which took the Safety Car in for two laps.

At the restart there was some fighting among the RP Motorsport cars, with Bizzarri passing Miguez and Miguez overtaking again his team mate on the following corner. The Spanish driver, on lap 5, was the first to pit with Filippi, and Zaugg. Pit-stops did create some overtaking opportunities: thanks to a good pace and to his team's job in the pits Jan Charouz managed to overtake Arabadzhiev for fourth, but after exiting from the pits he had to keep Duncan Tappy at bay. The Czech and the Englishman drove two corners side by side, but Charouz closed the door and took the checkered flag in 4th position. Behind Tappy, Tambay took 6th after a fierce fight with Arabadzhiev, with the Bulgarian driver just three tenths adrift at the end of the race. Closing the points, Adrian Zaugg was eight. This means that he will start from pole in Race 2.

Luca Filippi: "I knew that, having new tires, I had to race alone to take the best from them. So we opted for that early pit stop and everything went as planned. I even studied the pit entry and exit to be the fastest driver even there, and now I can say that it was very useful".

Edoardo Piscopo: "I had a good start, and I tried to put pressure on Onidi. Despite being quicker I couldn't pass him. I managed to do that thanks to the team's tactics, and being second is good, it's a good starting point. In this race Filippi was quicker, but not by much".

Fabio Onidi: "I knew that with no new tires I was disadvantaged, and I tried to push as much as I could from the start of the race. After seeing that the car was quick and the feeling ok, I decided for a late stop. Being on the podium is good for the championship, but after leading the race it's a bit disappointing".

Brno, Race 1

1. Luca Filippi (Euronova Racing) 17 laps in 32'"28'658
2. Edoardo Piscopo (Dams) + 5"896
3. Fabio Onidi (Lazarus) + 9"236
4. Jan Charouz (Charouz-Gravity Racing) +14"524
5. Duncan Tappy (Dams) +16"056
6. Adrien Tambay (Charouz-Gravity Racing) +25"073
7. Vladimir Arabadzhiev (Dams) +25"426
8. Adrian Zaugg (Trident Racing) +29"133
9. Walter GrubmÃ¼ller (Charouz-Gravity Racing) +29"795
10. Julian Leal (Trident Racing) +30"466
11. Celso Miguez (RP Motorsport) +36"461
12. Stefano Bizzarri (RP Motorsport) +45"558
13. Jonny Reid (SuperNova) + 1 giro

Fastest lap: Filippi in 1'44"003 avg. 187,022 km/h

Retirements
Giorgio Pantano crash
Carlos Iaconelli crash
Tomas Kostka DNS