The entire Monza weekend was rain-soaked, and qualifying was no different. Championship leader and home hero Giorgio Pantano extended his lead by two points by taking the vital pole position, instantly eliminating Lucas Di Grassi (2nd) and Romain Grosjean (11th) from the race for the title. Bruno Senna was thus the only remaining challenger, but made his job difficult by only managing to qualify 12th, a problem exacerbated by the fact the race began behind the Safety Car due to the conditions.Bernd Maylander peeled off at the end of lap 3, and the first casualties were instantaneous as Javier Villa was way too late on his cold brakes into the Rettifilio and slammed into the back of Andi Zuber, who took Vitaly Petrov out with him. Pastor Maldonado was running in fourth behind Pantano, Di Grassi and Sebastien Buemi, but overtook the Arden driver on the outside at Parabolica at the end of lap 4 to move into third. Senna meanwhile was running behind team-mate Karun Chandhok in eighth, but the Indian allowed Senna through on the pit straight at the end of the 6th lap.
Pantano meanwhile was missing the chicane lap after lap at the Rettifilio as Di Grassi just quietly motored on behind him. And my old mate Luca Filippi was the first man to change onto slicks on lap 15, only to straight line the first chicane. Meanwhile Alberto Valerio in the Durango continued his awful season by pushing Kamui Kobayashi off the track and into the wall at the Lesmo. Jerome D’Ambrosio then passed Andy Soucek on the inside into the 1st chicane, only for Soucek to run across the green tarmac and take the place back. On the pit straight next time by, Soucek waved D’Ambrosio past.
Meanwhile the ever funny Filippi on his slicks was now holding up the leader, allowing Di Grassi to close up to within one third of a second, with Maldonado only just over two seconds away. Senna meanwhile was stuck behind Roldan Rodriguez, and showing no signs of getting through. Seldom few drivers had made their mandatory stop, waiting as long as possible so to make the change to slicks at the optimal moment. Alvaro Parente tried, but the rear jack broke, leaving only three wheels on his wagon and putting him into early retirement.
Senna made his stop at the end of lap 21, with Grosjean and Rodriguez stopping next time by. Maldonado and Di Grassi meanwhile were banging wheels at Parabolica, with the Venezuelan raking the place down the pit straight at the start of lap 24, and at the end of the lap they made their stops together, with Maldonado just managing to stay in front. Pantano came in at the end of lap 25, rejoining the race in a comfortable lead. However, he inexplicably crossed the white line on the exit of the pit lane, earning himself a drive-through penalty.
Di Grassi meanwhile jumped ahead of Maldonado, only to cut the second chicane in the process and concede the position. Into the first chicane on lap 27 he made the move successfully and took second place. Next time around Filippi hit a puddle into the second chicane and put his car into the barrier, taking off his front wing and sending him into the pits. Di Grassi meanwhile passed Pantano at Parabolica even before the Italian peeled off for his penalty, which dropped him to tenth.
Senna passed Rodriguez into Lesmo for 5th, which was still 2 places away from where he needed to be to keep the Championship alive into Sunday. He then began a superb battle with Grosjean, passing him twice and being re-passed on both occasions. But despite his valiant raceday effort, the battle had been lost in qualifying. Di Grassi maintained his lead over Maldonado to win from the Venezuelan, with Buemi third, Grosjean fourth and Senna fifth. Rodriguez was sixth, D’Ambrosio was 7th and Davide Valsecchi took eighth and pole for Sunday. Pantano crawled home in tenth, but it didn’t matter, he was the Champion.
| Feature Race Result | |||
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lucas di Grassi | Campos Grand Prix | 1:00:23.203 |
| 2 | Pastor Maldonado | Piquet Sports | +0.736 |
| 3 | Sebastien Buemi | Trust Team Arden | +6.785 |
| 4 | Romain Grosjean | ART Grand Prix | +17.789 |
| 5 | Bruno Senna | iSport International | +18.324 |
| 6 | Roldan Rodriguez | FMS International | +20.488 |
| 7 | Jerome d'Ambrosio | DAMS | +22.709 |
| 8 | Davide Valsecchi | Durango | +24.826 |
| 9 | Andy Soucek | Super Nova Racing | +32.866 |
| 10 | Giorgio Pantano | Racing Engineering | +34.682 |
| 11 | Karun Chandhok | iSport International | +35.259 |
| 12 | Alberto Valerio | Durango | +45.567 |
| 13 | Mike Conway | Trident Racing | +59.501 |
| 14 | Carlos Iaconelli | BCN Competition | +1:11.344 |
| 15 | Marko Asmer | FMS International | +1 Lap |
| 16 | Luca Filippi | Trust Team Arden | +2 Laps |
| R | Sakon Yamamoto | ART Grand Prix | 27 Laps |
| R | Ho Pin Tung | Trident Racing | 26 Laps |
| R | Michael Herck | David Price Racing | 22 Laps |
| R | Alvaro Parente | Super Nova Racing | 19 Laps |
| R | Diego Nunes | David Price Racing | 16 Laps |
| R | Kamui Kobayashi | DAMS | 15 Laps |
| R | Vitaly Petrov | Campos Grand Prix | 3 Laps |
| R | Andi Zuber | Piquet Sports | 3 Laps |
| R | Javier Villa | Racing Engineering | 3 Laps |
| Abs | Adrian Valles | BCN Competiton |
Sprint Race
Valsecchi then was on Pole but it was Rodriguez who made the best start from third to take the lead, followed by D’Ambrosio with Valsecchi down to third. The Belgian however went straight across the Rettifilio, allowing Valsecchi to regain second. Grosjean had passed Senna into 4th place, leaving him under pressure from fast-starting countryman Di Grassi, while Senna’s team-mate Chandhok binned it at the Lesmos, making Campos Grand Prix the team champions. Senna made things worse next time round, spinning at Roggia but incredibly he didn’t lose any positions, as Di Grassi fell behind D’Ambrosio and Conway in the process. Conway then got past Senna into Parabolica, and Di Grassi passed Senna down the straight. Bruno wasn’t having any of that though, and tried to retake the place into the first chicane, but he braked way too late and was forced to take the slalom course. Senna was pretty slow to let Di Grassi regain the position, meaning Lucas harpooned Conway off the track and Senna was forced to spin in avoidance.
Di Grassi then passed D’Ambrosio into Ascari for 4th, while into Parabolica Maldonado also took the Belgian and almost got Di Grassi at the same time, while Bruno Senna passed Ho-Pin Tung for 9th, and Valsecchi closed on Rodriguez before passing him for the lead at turn one on lap 9. Di Grassi meanwhile was awarded a drive-through penalty for causing Conway’s retirement, which dropped him back down outside the top 10.
Rodriguez and Grosjean began a ding-dong for second, with Grosjean slipping past into the first chicane, only to run wide at Lesmo and lose it all, while Parente was pushed off the track unceremoniously by Carlos Iaconelli, and the Champion passed D’Ambrosio for 5th. Filippi completed his miserable season in the pits 9 laps from the flag, and if he’s back next season there’s no justice whatsoever. Sakon Yamamoto meanwhile was the final retirement of the season with 7 laps to go, parking the ART at the first chicane.
The final laps were almost incidental, meaning a quiet end to a superb season of GP2 action, with Valsecchi taking his maiden victory ahead of Rodriguez and Grosjean, with Maldonado completing a strong finish to the season in 4th. The Champion came home fifth and D’Ambrosio held off Buemi and Senna for sixth, while the final point for fastest lap went to Pantano.
Senna then hung onto second place in the Championship by just one point from Di Grassi, who in turn was just a point ahead of Grosjean. Incredibly, Di Grassi had missed out on the point for fastest lap in the Feature Race by one thousandth of a second to Pastor Maldonado – this point would have given him second in the Championship on a countback, with 3 wins to Senna’s 2. That’s the way the Brazilian cookie crumbles.
| Sprint Race Result | |||
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Davide Valsecchi | Durango | 38:09.871 |
| 2 | Roldan Rodriguez | FMS International | +9.004 |
| 3 | Romain Grosjean | ART Grand Prix | +9.537 |
| 4 | Pastor Maldonado | Piquet Sports | +10.190 |
| 5 | Giorgio Pantano | Racing Engineering | +11.428 |
| 6 | Jerome d'Ambrosio | DAMS | +16.731 |
| 7 | Sebastien Buemi | Trust Team Arden | +17.675 |
| 8 | Bruno Senna | iSport International | +18.540 |
| 9 | Ho Pin Tung | Trident Racing | +32.020 |
| 10 | Andi Zuber | Piquet Sports | +33.641 |
| 11 | Lucas di Grassi | Campos Grand Prix | +42.236 |
| 12 | Alvaro Parente | Super Nova Racing | +46.434 |
| 13 | Kamui Kobayashi | DAMS | +46.836 |
| 14 | Carlos Iaconelli | BCN Competition | +51.080 |
| 15 | Alberto Valerio | Durango | +51.743 |
| 16 | Diego Nunes | David Price Racing | +52.565 |
| 17 | Michael Herck | David Price Racing | +55.792 |
| 18 | Andy Soucek | Super Nova Racing | +56.456 |
| R | Sakon Yamamoto | ART Grand Prix | 14 Laps |
| R | Luca Filippi | Trust Team Arden | 12 Laps |
| R | Marko Asmer | FMS International | 8 Laps |
| R | Vitaly Petrov | Campos Grand Prix | 6 Laps |
| R | Mike Conway | Trident Racing | 3 Laps |
| R | Karun Chandhok | iSport International | 0 Laps |
| DNS | Javier Villa | Racing Engineering | |
| Abs | Adrian Valles | BCN Competition |
Final Drivers Championship Standings -
1 Pantano 76pts, 2 Senna 64pts, 3 Di Grassi 63pts, 4 Grosjean 62pts, 5 Maldonado 60pts, 6 Buemi 50pts, 7 Petrov 39pts, 8 Parente 34pts, 9 Zuber 32pts, 10 Chandhok 31pts, 11 D'Ambrosio 21pts, 12 Conway 20pts, 13 Rodriguez, Soucek 14pts, 15 Valsecchi 11pts, 16 Kobayashi 10pts, 17 Villa 8pts, 18 Tung 7pts, 19 Filippi 6pts, 20 Buurman, Valles 5pts, 22 Nunes, Yamamoto 3pts, 24 Hanley, Carroll 1pt, 26 Valerio, Bakkerud, Asmer, Iaconelli, Herck, Ricci, Pavlovic, Puglisi, Nocera 0pts.
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