Ernesto Viso was in celebratory mood after the second GP2 race of the weekend at Imola, having finally broken his own personal duck and also given the iSport International team its first win.

The Venezuelan, along with South American rival Nelson Piquet Jr, dominated the sprint event in front of the F1 crowd at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, opening out a 25-second advantage over the third place battle headed by Hiroki Yoshimoto.

Having started third on the grid, Viso appeared to lose a place on the run to Tamburello, but his riposte to Nicolas Lapierre's early move set the tone for the rest of his race, with equally robust moves on both BCN cars taking him into a lead he would never lose. Timo Glock, reigning Champ Car rookie of the year, was despatched at Piratella in a way no-one other than Piquet could manage, while former team-mate Yoshimoto was also to succumb to an inspired move, this time with the iSport car going around the outside at Tamburello.

From there, the Venezuelan pulled away at a rate of knots, with just Piquet for company. Although the Brazilian kept Viso on his toes for much of the 25-lap distance, a mistake in the closing stages opened the gap between them out to over two seconds, giving the iSport driver respite on the run to the flag. Viso slowed on the last lap, intent on not making an error with the victory in his grasp, and allowed Piquet to close in again, but had already shown what he was capable of by punching in the fastest lap of the race - worth an extra point - on the penultimate tour.

"It is great to be able to celebrate on the top step of the podium - and to listen the national anthem again," Viso enthused, "We had a lot of confidence for this race, but it was important to get a good one start.

"Although we yielded a position off the line, we recovered it immediately and, from then on, I could get ahead of the two BCN cars with a couple of good overtaking moves. Once I was in front, I just concentrated on controlling the gap to Piquet and, at the end, did the fastest lap, which gave me a valuable extra point extra."

The success almost wasn't, however, as Viso revealed later that he had had problems even before the start.

"The only moment of tension we had was on the grid before the start," he confirmed, "On the warm-up lap, the brakes seemed to be failing, but the team purged them and I have to thank them for the stupendous car that they gave me."

The win was Viso's first since triumphing in a British F3 race at Knockhill in 2004, shortly before he graduated to the FIA F3000 series, and also puts him on a par with Venezuela's last F1 driver, Johnny Cecotto, who won in F2 before stepping up to the top flight as runner-up in the 1982 feeder series. Seven points from Sunday's encounter, added to three from Saturday, leaves him just five shy of the total amassed in 2005 but, more importantly, moves him up to a share of third place in the championship on 16 points, nine behind Piquet and two adrift of Saturday race winner Gianmaria Bruni.

"It's nice to get iSport's first win and I really like that, because they had a very good season last year and finished third, but without any wins," Viso concluded, "Everything is looking a lot better than last year because, already, they have a second and a first in the first two meetings. Now what is important is to continue working to keep us at the front and fighting for the championship."