There was little cause for celebration at the first race of the 'normal' GP2 Series season for two of the men tipped to have a say in the outcome of the title, as neither Luca Filippi or Karun Chandhok appeared able to shake the bad luck that dogged them in Asia.
The Italian, now with double champions ART Grand Prix after 'wintering' with GP2 newcomer Qi Meritus, struggled to recover lost positions after gearbox problems in qualifying had put him further down the grid than his early speed warranted. Fourth quickest in free practice, an upshift problem throughout qualifying eventually led to the complete collapse of his gearbox, pushing Filippi back to 14th on the grid.
That problem was then compounded in the feature race when, after making up a few positions at the start, the ART car was hit by Mike Conway at the chicane on the first lap. Rejoining in last place, and then being denied an early chance to recover lost ground, there was little chance of Filippi gaining a decent result on what proved to be a long afternoon.
"It was a real shame, because we fixed the gearbox overnight and the car felt good," he sighed, "I made a good start and got past a few drivers, but then I was hit from behind by Mike. I was right with [team-mate Romain] Grosjean and it was very tight, but suddenly I was spinning off and, when I came back on, I was last. Unfortunately, the safety car came right then, so there was not much I could do.
"My car was still fast at the end of the race when I got into some clean air, and I think that shows what we can do when we have a little bit of luck. This circuit is famous for being impossible to overtake at, and I was stuck behind [Davide] Valsecchi for 15 laps or so and, while he was doing nothing wrong, there was just no way to get by."
Having managed to move up to eleventh by the end of the race, as a result of saving his tyres and waiting until his rivals had little left of their own - Filippi ensured that he would start on the inside of row six for Sunday's sprint event.
![Karun Chandhok - iSport International [pic credit: GP2 Series]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/432042.jpg)
