Having been quickest in Friday's qualifying session, the 23-year old had pole position for race two, and made full use of it stay out of trouble and resist pressure from behind. Despite having Marco Bonanomi and Robert Wickens rivalling him into the opening sequence of corners, van der Garde exited the chicane in the lead, only to have his early progress checked by an incident later in the lap which brought out the safety car.
For three laps, van der Garde led the field in anticipation of the re-start but, as the green flag waved, found Bonanomi tucked up under his rear wing. The pressure appeared to tell as the P1 car locked up under braking for the chicane, but van der Garde maintained track position, albeit at the cost of flat-spotting his tyres and ruining the handling for the remainder of the race.
With Bonanomi and Wickens then coming together, Alvaro Barba took up the chase, but van der Garde was able to control of the race to flag, completing his perfect weekend with a second win.
“It was my mistake on the re-start and, from then on, I just had to push hard and keep ahead of Bonanomi and, later, Alvaro," he admitted, "I'm obviously very pleased with our results this weekend - the team did a fantastic job this weekend, and worked some long hours, so I cannot thank them enough for making this possible. It's a great start to the year.”
P1 team director Roly Vincini shared his driver's joy at taking the first victories with the latest incarnation of World Series car, and also paid tribute to his workforce.
“The team have done such a great job, they really deserve these two victories," he said, "Giedo did exactly what he had to do, and has managed to come away from Monza with maximum points. With the new car, it's very much a level playing field, and even more important to arrive at the first race prepared - I think we demonstrated that this weekend.”
![Giedo van der Garde - P1 Motorsport [pic credit: Renault Sport Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/433689.jpg)
