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Iaconelli takes third win in Magny-Cours
July 11, 2010

fotoCall him “Mister Race Two”: Carlos Iaconelli won the Auto GP short race also in Magny-Cours, exactly as he did in Imola and Spa. Starting from pole position, Iaconelli had to keep at bay a charging Jan Charouz in the first laps, and then extended his lead creating a 1”5 gap that he managed to keep until the checkered flag, taking another six points: thanks to this he is now third in the championship, tied on points with Duncan Tappy and Jan Charouz. The Czech driver was the only one able to threathen Iaconelli’s lead: with a great start he overtook Piscopo, who was starting in front of him, and then he tried to put some pressure on the Durango driver in the first corner and at the Adelaide hairpin. Anyway Iaconelli didn’t make any mistake and Charouz had to settle for second. Piscopo was third, and decided not to risk anything in order to grab four valuable points that gave him back the championship lead. Behind him was team-mate Duncan Tappy, ahead of Charouz-Gravity Racing’s Esteban Guerrieri. Meanwhile, the race was just a few metres long for Romain Grosjean and Fabio Onidi: the italian driver stalled his car at the start and the frenchman of DAMS couldn’t avoid him. The contact wasn’t too hard but the Safety-Car had to get in for one lap to allow the track clearing by the marshals. Who made the most of this crash was Jonny Reid: the kiwi of SuperNova was really quick off the line and he managed to pass Julian Leal. Then he did no mistakes despite a lot of pressure from the Trident driver, grabbing one point.
Very unlucky race for Jake Rosenzweig and Giorgio Pantano: the US driver stalled his car at the start of the warm-up lap and was demoted to the last row as a consequence. He did a good first part of the race anyway, climbing the standings together with Pantano and even passing the Italian driver on lap 8. Anyway he spun while fighting with Miguez for 8th position. Pantano meanwhile had to retire due to an issue with the gearbox control unit”.

Carlos Iaconelli: “I’d have preferred finishing 6th yesterday starting from 3rd today but I have to admit that starting from pole is a good help for winning race 2. I had a good start and from then on I just had to manage the race because my pace was good. Now I’m just 8 points from the series lead so anything can happen”.

Jan Charouz: “I had a really good start, and pushing harder I think that passing Iaconelli could have been possible. Anyway I preferred to be cautious to avoid wheelspin, and I was cautious again at the hairpin: I had a chance to overtake but I decided not to take too much risks as the room he left was really tight. Anyway it’s my second Auto GP podium and I’m third in the standings, so I’m satisfied about the weekend”.

Edoardo Piscopo: “My aim was getting back on top of the stadings and I did that, I just feel sorry for the bad start that costed me one place. I’m happy anyway because I’m keeping the lead despite having lots of strong opponents: now I just have to get back the feeling with the car that I had before the crash in Imola”.

source: autogp.com