Although he was unable to add to his Saturday points haul in Sunday's GP2 Series sprint event at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, rookie Alvaro Parente heads to round two in Turkey delighted with a share of the championship lead.
The Portuguese ace was not among those to have warmed up for the 'summer season' with an outing in GP2's inaugural Asia campaign, but showed that starting late was no handicap as he planted the Super Nova car on the front row in qualifying. When polesitter Pastor Maldonado then fluffed his start, the reigning World Series by Renault champion was handed the opportunity to take a debut win.
Despite race-long pressure from second-year driver Bruno Senna, and having to negotiate an early pace car period, Parente kept his cool to lead from start to finish and cement the first ten points of the year, before also being awarded the bonus for fastest lap. Underlining the talent he displayed in both British F3 and the WSbR, he also became the first rookie to win on debut in GP2 since the series started in 2005.
"To be the first rookie to win his first race, together with the fastest lap, is something that not even
Lewis Hamilton managed in his GP2 career," Super Nova boss David Sears enthused, "After Maldonado stalled on the grid, Alvaro made a great start, pitted under the safety car and retained the lead throughout under a lot of pressure from Bruno Senna. About 15 laps from the end, he started to tire a little, but kept a cool head.”
![Alvaro Parente - Super Nova Racing [pic credit: GP2 Series]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/432059.jpg)
