“Everything has been going great since we got to Monza," the winner commented, "I got a little lucky from the start, as there were cars all over the place and, to get past di Sabatino, I didn't want to take too many risks. But everything went fine. It's the first win for P1 Motorsport, so a fine performance for this new team.”
Sanchez, at only 18 years of age, sprang the surprise of the day to finish fourth, and best rookie, coming in ahead of Carlin's Mikhail Aleshin and series returnee Borja Garcia. Running on his own, a couple of seconds behind the Spaniard and comfortably ahead of the Moreau-Pic scrap, was James Walker, who put in an aggressive drive to come from row eight to claim seventh.
“I'm happy to have a positive start to the season,” he said, “I am determined to score points at every opportunity this year, and am especially pleased as this is one of our weaker circuits. Monza is always tough, so you have to be aggressive here, and to get the job done is a great feeling. The team are all fired up for tomorrow now.”
Fellow Briton Pippa Mann overcame the disappointment of seeing a potential pole position taken away from her after qualifying to make up ten places and claim the final point for P1 - just as she had last season.
“I'm very pleased to have come from so far back on the grid to score a point today – it's a great result for me," she said, "I was disappointed to have been penalised in qualifying and start from 20th when I could have been on pole, and obviously had a lot of work to do. But the car felt good and I was able to really push hard to gain so many places.”
Race two takes place on Sunday, with van der Garde well placed for a second win as he starts from pole courtesy of his pace-setting performance in qualifying. The Dutchman will line-up with Wickens alongside and Bonanomi and Alvaro Barba sharing row two.
![Giedo van der Garde - P1 Motorsport [pic credit: Renault Sport Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/432017.jpg)
