A 1-3 finish in the Hungaroring feature race, combined with a rare non-score for points leader Giorgio Pantano, has given Lucas di Grassi and Bruno Senna renewed hope of claiming the GP2 Series crown.
Senna has been a threat to Pantano from the start of the season, despite falling away in the title race as the Italian racked up three straight feature race wins, but Saturday's result allowed him to halve the 15-point pre-race deficit after rising from eighth to take full advantage of Pantano's misfortune.
Senna's race got off to the best possible start as he vaulted four places before the race was two corners old, crucially getting ahead of tardy polewinner Romain Grosjean where Pantano was edged back by the Frenchman. The Racing Engineering driver's next attempt to pass Grosjean and close the gap to Senna and the three cars ahead of him then ended in a spin after being clipped by the ART machine as it returned to the track after a moment at turn four.
“We made a great start and moved up," Pantano reflected, "I passed Grosjean as he made a mistake, but he hit me in the back, this caused me to spin and I found myself at the end of the field. I kept pushing, but no more was possible."
Senna, meanwhile, consolidated his position despite struggling for grip and then, benefiting from a better set of tyres, moved up to third when Vitaly Petrov retired in the pits.
“I'm really pleased with that," Senna enthused afterwards, "Eighth on the grid was my lowest starting position for a Saturday race this season – and it was probably the worst place for it to happen because this is such a tight track and overtaking is so difficult - but I got good traction off the line and was able to pick up the slipstream from at least three cars on the run down to turn one.
![Bruno Senna - iSport International [pic credit: GP2 Series]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/463278.jpg)
