Andreas Zuber finishes first GP2-race in Istanbul in excellent third place Thus the 24-year-old Styrian moves up to second overall place in the GP2 Andreas Zuber (Piquet Sports) has reached the professed goal on his favourite circuit in Istanbul - a place on the podium. On one of the few left turn circuits he crossed the finishing line after 34 laps in third place. At the top Giorgio Pantano (Ita/Racing Engineering) celebrated an unchallenged start-finish-victory ahead of Frenchman Romain Grosjean (ART). Andreas Zuber was highly satisfied by having won 6 points for this means that he moved up to second place behind Pantano in the overall ranking of the GP2-series 2008. The 24-year-old Styrian furthermore reached the fastest lap of the race (1:33,482) which gained him another important point. Andreas Zuber had entered the race from starting position two. But the start didn't go as planned. Zuber: "I had a moderate start and wanted to line up behind Pantano. I had somewhat overlooked Grosjean in the mirror. He took advantage of the free space and passed me on the inside. That was my fault." Subsequently the Frenchman drove a blocking line and Zuber, who clearly had the faster car, got stuck behind him. Zuber: "Time and again I tried to overtake Grosjean. Unfortunately it didn't work out, neither on the circuit nor at the pit stop. That my car was faster is clearly proven by the fact that I reached fastest round three times in a row at the end of the race." Thus the 24-year-old Styrian draws a positive balance and already plans for tomorrow: "The most important thing had been to score points. Now I am in second place in the championship. And I plan to do exactly the same on Sunday: to score points." Tomorrow the sprint race in Istanbul will commence at 10.30 and will last for 23 rounds or 120 kilometres. The starting order for the second run follows from the result on Saturday whereupon the first eight will start in reverse order. This means that Andreas Zuber will take up the race from third row (starting place 6). 1. GP2-run in Istanbul 01. Giorgio Pantano (Ita ) Racing Engineering 56:51,163 10 points 02. Romain Gosjean (Fra) ART +1,792 8 points 03. Andreas Zuber (Aut) Piquet Sports +2,212 7 points (fastest lap) 04. Karun Chandhok (Ind) i-Sport +11,321 5 points 05. Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Barawa Int. Campos +12,474 4 points 06. Sebastien Buemi (Sui) Arden +13,773 3 points 07. Javier Villa (Spa) Racing Engineering +14,894 2 points 08. Adam Carrol (GB) FMS +16,675 1 point GP2-overall standings after three runs (driver ranking) 01. Giorgio Pantano (Ita ) Racing Engineering 21 points 02. Andreas Zuber (Aut) Piquet Sports 13 points 03. Romain Gosjean (Fra) ART 12 points 04. Alvaro Parente (Por) Super Nova Racing 11 points 04. Bruno Senna (Bra) iSport International 11 points 06. Sebastien Buemi (Sui) Arden 10 points 07. Kamui Kobayashi (Jap) Dams 8 points 08. Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Barawa Int. Campos 7 points |
