Despite crashing at the Parabolica, Rapax driver Pastor Maldonado has been crowned the GP2 Champion of 2010 after title rival Sergio Pérez managed no more than thirteenth place at Monza. At the front, Racing Engineering's Christian Vietoris made the most of a brilliant start before holding off the DAMS and ART cars of Jérôme D’Ambrosio and Sam Bird in a highly entertaining tussle.
The victory was set up as the lights went out: with the front row starters very slow to get away, Vietoris made a flyer and threaded the needle to lead the field into the first turn before tearing away into the distance. Adrian Zaugg also made a good getaway but was unable to find a way through, dropping back as d'Ambrosio went wide around everyone to slot into second behind the German.
Further back and the championship looked to be over when Sergio Pérez braked heavily and ran wide and through the gravel at the Parabolica, with Pastor Maldonado two cars back seemingly following in his rival's tracks; the Mexican held on to narrowly miss the wall and find his way back onto circuit but the Venezuelan was less lucky and found the wall for the third time this weekend.
Bird was looking to cap off his best weekend of the season in style; a sharp getaway had him up to fourth on the road from eighth on the grid and he quickly dispatched pole man Max Chilton at the first chicane next time through for a podium spot. Team-mate Jules Bianchi found his way by Chilton two laps later but didn't seem to have the pace of his team-mate in race conditions here, dropping time while Bird posted a string of fastest laps to catch up to the leading pair.
The Englishman soon caught up to d'Ambrosio although the nature of the fast-flowing circuit meant there was little chance of a pass unless someone made a mistake. With the top three running nose to tail for the remainder of the race, Vietoris held on for the win, one second ahead of d'Ambrosio who took second by just one tenth from Bird.
Bianchi solidified third in the championship with another points finish for fourth, with Chilton hanging on for fifth against race-long pressure from Oliver Turvey.
But with Pérez unable to improve on 13th position the championship finally belonged to Maldonado, who celebrated with his team in the pits as the chequered flag dropped for his rivals. The Venezuelan takes his place in history alongside Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Timo Glock, Giorgio Pantano and Nico Hülkenberg as the newest GP2 Champion.
- Full Sprint Race results coming up
The final two races of this year's GP2 season will be staged at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina on 13-14 November
Series
GP2
Personalities
Pastor Maldonado
Christian Vietoris
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Rapax
Racing Engineering
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