The GP2 series embarks on the tenth round of its inaugural season with two title protagonists still locked in battle as the championship hits the historic
Autodromo di Monza near Milan.
Heikki Kovalainen and
Nico Rosberg remain separated by the seven-point margin they carried out of the Hungarian round at the end of July, having both suffered an up-and-down weekend at the new Istanbul Park venue two weeks ago. Although Kovalainen benefited from strong tactical awareness at the Arden team to win the Sunday spring event, he struggled with car problems in the more bountiful Saturday event and failed to score. Rosberg also ran into trouble in race one, and could only count his pole bonus heading into Sunday, the two-point gain then being cancelled out by Kovalainen's winning margin over the ART car.
As a result, Finn leads German by 85 points to 78 heading to Monza, with the gap to any other title contenders having lengthened.
Scott Speed, buoyed by his confirmation as
Red Bull Racing's 2006 test driver, remains in third, 19 points behind Rosberg, while Alex Prémat, who triumphed in race one in Turkey, now in fourth and Adam Carroll, benefiting from his drive to second place from the back of the grid on Sunday in Turkey, back in fifth.
In the teams’ battle, the same combatants find themselves at the head of the field as ART Grand Prix leads Arden by 131 points to 98. Carroll's Super Nova International lies third overall on 77, boosted both by the Irishman's return to form and the improved showings of team-mate - and sometime IRL driver - Giorgio Pantano.
