Mutate Now

We knew Parente was going to make things interesting this weekend, but I was hoping his biggest rival would be Perez instead of Maldonado. It was clear Perez was having trouble with his car on Belgium’s famous circuit (more info in previous post) Still, I was hoping he’d place in the top 5 after seeing him fly out of his starting position. Instead, Maldonado remains top dog – now with Parente right on his tail.

Results of GP2 Feature Race 1:

1. Pastor Maldonado Rapax 52:27.763
2. Alvaro Parente Coloni Motorsport +0.243
3. Romain Grosjean DAMS +4.766
4. Charles Pic Arden International +13.815
5. Luca Filippi Super Nova International +16.085
6. Oliver Turvey iSport International +21.117
7. Sergio Perez Addax +21.713
8. Rodolfo Gonzalez Arden International +27.375
9. Giedo van der Garde Addax +30.834
10. Johnny Cecotto Jr. Trident Racing +32.342

According to GP2Series.com, the action was fierce and competitive from start to finish:

The Venezuelan had to work hard all day for the victory: he held station behind d’Ambrosio when the lights went out and fought off a huge push from title rival Sergio Perez, who got a storming start from seventh on the grid to P3 just behind Maldonado and ahead of Oliver Turvey out of Ste Devote, while behind them Dani Clos was delayed by a stalled Fabrizio Crestani and then ran over the rear wheel of Sam Bird: the pair were out on the spot, prompting a safety car to remove their vehicles.

Read more @ Maldonado hangs on for dramatic sixth win on GP2Series.com

The fact that Parente did so well this weekend is testament to his driving skills – the Coloni team hadn’t seen good results until they put Parente behind the wheel.

This post will be updated with more video and play-by-play action as it becomes available…