Perez rockets to Qatar sprint win
Sergio Perez and Barwa Campos teammate Vitaly Petrov made good use of lightning starts to dominate Saturday evening's GP2 Asia sprint race at Losail in Qatar
Arden duo Luiz Razia and Edoardo Mortara both made tardy getaways from the front row and squeezed Davide Valsecchi, who tried to go between them. They didn't look out for Petrov and Perez, however, who both sprinted past them to hit the front from P6 and P7 respectively.
Petrov led the opening lap, but made a slow exit from the final corner, allowing Perez to blast past him under braking for Turn 1 around the outside: "I lost him in my mirrors, he was so close, so I had to let him go," said the Russian.
After that, Perez's only scare was an FMS car which went off track and rejoined in front of him - the same one which almost cost him a place to his teammate yesterday.
"It wasn't so close this time," he said. "My biggest moment was at the first corner when Razia didn't see me and almost put me on the grass."
The challenge of yesterday's winner Nico Hulkenberg faded when he got stuck behind Mortara, losing at least 5secs to the Campos cars as he toiled to find a way past. He eventually did so at Turn 1 on lap 15, but didn't have enough time to make any inroads into the leaders.
Mortara finished fourth, ahead of Valsecchi, who banged wheels with Razia at 170mph on the approach to Turn 1 to grab the position. Razia rounded out the point scorers in sixth.
Classified: Pos Driver Team Time 1. Perez Barwa Campos Team 39:13.229 2. Petrov Barwa Campos Team + 2.355 3. Hulkenberg ART Grand Prix + 11.929 4. Mortara Arden International + 19.454 5. Valsecchi Durango + 21.735 6. Razia Arden International + 22.618 7. D'ambrosio Dams + 24.029 8. Van Der Garde GFH Team iSport + 24.346 9. Jakes Super Nova Racing + 25.253 10. Villa Super Nova Racing + 26.074 11. Bonanomi My Team Qi-Meritus Mahara + 26.214 12. Nunes Piquet GP + 27.942 13. Ricci DPR + 39.846 14. Yamamoto ART Grand Prix + 40.391 15. Rigon Trident Racing + 41.150 16. Parente My Team Qi-Meritus Mahara + 44.540 17. Rodriguez Piquet GP + 45.444 18. Kobayashi Dams + 47.737 19. Gonzalez Fisichella Motor Sport + 47.761 20. Provenzano Trident Racing +1:12.342 21. Crestani Ocean Racing Technology +1:19.439 22. Dalle Stelle Durango +1:28.744 23. Nai Chia Chen Fisichella Motor Sport + 1 lap Not Classified: Driver Team Laps Herck DPR 16 Al Fardan GFH Team iSport 11 Fastest lap: Perez, 1:39.527 on lap 22
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