Vitaly Petrov sails to Sepang sprint race win

Vitaly Petrov put his experience and skills to good use today in Sepang. In a critically wet and slippery track, the Russian put in a great performance to snatch the win and take the current third place in the drivers’ championship. The rain started to fall hard on the grid before the formation lap and the race was delayed for thirty minutes.

The start was eventually given behind the safety car on a soaked track and it wasn’t until four laps later that the field was released. Poleman of the day, Davide Valsecchi, immediately had a tough time defending his lead from a daring Pastor Maldonado who passed the Italian at Turn 2 on Lap 5. Behind, Vitaly Petrov took this opportunity to slip past Valsecchi simultaneously. Five laps later, the Barwa racer started to put huge pressure on the leader until he finally passed him in a strong move at the last turn.

On a gradually drying track, Vitaly Petrov was never to be caught again until the chequered flag. Behind him, although under great pressure from Valsecchi, Pastor Maldonado did not falter all the while trying to preserve his tyres from degradation. The ART driver finished second ahead of the Durango man while yesterday’s race winner Diego Nunes scored another three points from fourth place ahead of Hamad Al Fardan. The rookie from GFH Team iSport kept his momentum from yesterday’s race and transformed it today into his first GP2 points. Championship leader Kamui Kobayashi started from seventh on the grid and a poor start saw him drop to eleventh.

The Japanese ace then put his head down and was sixth on the last lap thanks to great overtaking manoeuvres. But, there was one man who was decided not to let his race weekend go without him scoring at least one point: Sergio Perez recovered from 22nd and fought his way back up the field. At the very last corner of the very last lap, the youngest man of the Series passed Kobayashi and stole the last point available. Kobayashi still remains thirteen points ahead of Davide Valsecchi. Today’s winner Petrov now stands third.

05 April 2009