Vitaly Petrov has secured his first ever GP2 Series victory in the feature race finale at Valencia, the Russian heading Campos Grand Prix team-mate Giorgio Pantano for a breakthrough result for the team on home soil.
A surprise victory for a driver that came into the season as a relative unknown but comes out of it now as a race winner, Petrov triumphed in a typically exciting afternoon of racing that was blighted early on by a rain shower that deluged the Spanish circuit, although it was dry by its climax.
It was a resounding win too for Petrov, whose previous best result was a fifth place finish, getting a superb start in wet conditions to leap from eighth on the grid to third and inheriting the lead on lap seven, going from there to head home more illustrious team-mate Pantano by just over two seconds.
Indeed, the results reflected plenty of surprises – not least for the partisan Spanish fans - with many of the established front runners failing to make it to the chequered flag, creating the prospect of an exciting sprint race at least.
Most importantly for the title race though,
Timo Glock was one of those that made the distance and has eked his advantage out to four points after finishing in seventh place, while Lucas di Grassi crashed out in the early stages. Although the Brazilian can still win the title, Glock will start the sprint race from second and needs to finish just fourth to guarantee that the title goes his way.
A downpour an hour before the race threw a curve ball into proceedings as the drivers got underway, the damp circuit always expected to dry before the end of the race, making strategy more important than usual. Nonetheless, those who chose slick tyres benefited most at the start, despite some damp patches, with a number of drivers flying off the line.
![Vitaly Petrov - Campos Grand Prix [pic credit: GP2 Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/382639.jpg)
