Sergio Perez leads a 1-2 finish for Campos

A happy Sergio Perez

GP2

The 2008 GP2 Series Champions concluded a brilliant weekend tonight in Qatar with both of their drivers finishing first and second of the sprint race at the Losail International Circuit. Starting from seventh and eighth, Sergio Perez and Vitaly Petrov launched perfectly at the start and were already leading the race entering the first corner, the Russian ahead of the Mexican. But a couple of laps later, Perez overtook his teammate at the end of the main straight and managed to keep a 2 second gap all through the rest of the race. He crossed the finished line to claim his second win in his fourth GP2 Asia weekend ever.

Behind them, yesterday’s winner Nico Hülkenberg, also made an impressive start, from eighth to fourth and was soon all over Arden’s Edoardo Mortara. And while the two Campos cars pulled away extending their lead to almost 10 seconds, the ART ace struggled on a slippery track to pass Mortara, but eventually succeed on Lap 15 before Turn 1. Hülkenberg then tried to catch up with the leaders who were ultimately too far away to reach before the checkered flag.

Sergio Perez (MEX) and Vitaly Petrov (RUS)

GP2

In fourth place, Edoardo Mortara crossed the finished line before Durango’s Davide Valsecchi. The rookie had started from an all Arden front row on the reversed grid, but neither him, nor his teammate Luiz Razia managed to keep that advantage. The poleman Razia came out fifth after the start and was then passed by Valsecchi on Lap 6.

With Kamui Kobayashi finishing 18th after he had to struggle with the tires almost all through the race, and thus failing to score any points, Davide Valsecchi is now 10 points behind the championship leader. Nico Hülkenberg stands in third with Sergio Perez now fourth and just two points behind. The GP2 Asia Series 08-09 remains wide opened.

Qatar – Sprint Race

Fastest lap time: Sergio Perez (Barwa International Campos Team): 1:39.527 on lap 22