20/09/2009
NEWS STORY
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Luca Filippi has reinforced his strong showing in Portimao after taking the final race of the season, claiming a few scalps through overtaking and a few more via penalties to comfortably lead home the field ahead of Sergio Perez and Javier Villa.
The Italian started from seventh on the grid but dropped one place to Perez at the first turn while ahead of the pair poleman Andreas Zuber serenely led the field away, with Davide Valsecchi, Lucas di Grassi and Kamui Kobayashi slotted in behind him.
Further back trouble was brewing as Vitaly Petrov failed to get off the line and was waving frantically: unfortunately Michael Herck didn't see him and ran into the rear of the stricken vehicle, showering the front straight with debris and prompting a red flag period as the medical team sent the drivers for checks as the marshals cleared the track.
The safety car led the field around for one lap before setting them free, with Zuber a little too keen to get going and overtaking the safety car on the front straight, taking Valsecchi, di Grassi, Kobayashi, Hülkenberg and Maldonado with him: it was only a few minutes before all six drivers were handed a drive through penalty for their actions.
During that time, however, Zuber showed a clean pair of heels to his rivals as he streaked away in front, while Filippi was slicing through the field like a hot knife through butter: he easily disposed of Perez, Hülkenberg and Kobayashi before the penalties came into effect and he was in clean air out front.
And as the chequered flag dropped it was Filippi who was greeted with cheers as he led home Perez by four seconds, with Villa an equal amount further back in third. Dani Clos held on just behind his countryman for fourth and his first points of the season despite constant pressure in the second half of the race by Alvaro Parente, who drove a brilliant race to claim two points from an otherwise disappointing local race, while Diego Nunes held on from teammate Giedo van der Garde for the final points position of the year.