Di Grassi wins the Macau GP

Di Grassi wins the Macau GP from AutoSport By Jonathan Noble November 20th 2005, 08:38 GMT Lucas di GrassiBrazilian Lucas di Grassi won a thrilling Macau Grand Prix on Sunday - snatching the lead from rival Robert Kubica with just two laps to go to take the chequered flag 0.6 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger. The battle for victory was blown wide open at the start when pole position man Loic Duval, who had dominated the qualifying race on Saturday, was adjudged to have jumped the start when his car moved forwards with the lights still red. Duval managed to keep the lead at the start and stretched out an impressive 2.2 seconds lead over the first lap. After opening up his advantage by a further one second a lap, the Race Stewards decided to hand him a drive-through penalty. He pitted on lap six and dropped well down the order. Duval's penalty meant that the fight for the lead was left between di Grassi and Kubica, who were locked in a thrilling battle for the entire race. Di Grassi had moved to the head of their battle on lap two, with a brave move around the outside at Lisboa, but lost what was then the lead on lap 10 when Kubica dived down the inside at the same corner after getting a good slipstream. Kubica seemed set for victory but the Safety Car was called out at the end of that lap after Danny Watts, Charlie Kimball and Dan Clarke were involved in a collision at Faraway that left cars in a dangerous position. The Safety Car pulled in at the start of lap 14 and di Grassi seized the opportunity to slice past Kubica on the run into Mandarin. He then stayed ahead, despite intense pressure from Kubica, to take the victory. German Sebastian Vettel took third place, ahead of TOM'S duo Joao Paolo de Oliveira and Kazuki Nakajima. Duval recovered to finish sixth. CLASSIFIED: Pos Driver Make-Engine Time 1. Lucas Di Grassi Dallara Mercedes-HWA 40:49.730 2. Robert Kubica Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB + 0.659 3. Sebastian Vettel Dallara Mercedes-HWA + 3.924 4. Joao P De Oliveira Dallara Toyota-Tom's + 7.003 5. Kazuki Nakajima Dallara Toyota-Tom's + 8.619 6. Loic Duval Dallara Mercedes-HWA + 8.705 7. Christian Bakkerud Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB + 11.185 8. Paolo Montin Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB + 12.490 9. Romain Grosjean Dallara Opel-Spiess + 13.007 10. Franck Perera Dallara Opel-Spiess + 13.290 11. Guillaume Moreau Dallara Opel-Spiess + 13.890 12. Fabio Carbone SLC Opel-Spiess + 16.445 13. Karl Reindler Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB + 17.334 14. Mike Conway Dallara Mercedes-HWA + 17.808 15. Michael Ho Dallara Toyota-Tom's + 26.120 16. Rodolfo Avila Dallara Mercedes HWA + 28.615 17. Daisuke Ikeda Dallara Toyota-Tom's + 1 Lap 18. Lei Kit Meng Dallara Opel-Spiess + 1 Lap 19. Jo Merszei Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB + 1 Lap 20. Steven Kane Lola Honda-Mugen/NB + 2 Laps NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS: Driver Make-Engine On lap Cheong Lou Meng Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB 10 Dan Clarke Dallara Opel-Spiess 9 Charlie Kimball Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB 9 Danny Watts Dallara Toyota-Tom's 9 Stephen Jelley Dallara Opel-Spiess 8 Naoki Yokomizo Dallara Nissan-Tomei 4 Fillip Salaquarda Dallara Opel-Spiess 3 Kohei Hirate Dallara Opel-Spiess 1 Bruno Senna Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB 1 Fastest lap: Duval, 2:11.929 on lap 9