AutoGP: Grosjean seals title at Monza.

Romain Grosjean became the first champion of the Auto GP series following a race one win at Monza this weekend.

The Franco-Swiss driver, who only joined the field at the third round of the season, claimed four wins and only once failed to finish among the top-three in his eight race stint in the category. A comparative lack of pace and consistency saw his rivals helpless to prevent the former F1 driver snatching the title.

Grosjean earned pole position and subsequently won race one at the Milanese circuit, putting the drivers' crown beyond doubt. Adrien Tambay (Charouz-Gravity) and Fabio Onidi (Lazarus) completed the podium, though neither man was in the championship hunt. Grosjean's closest contender, DAMS teammate Edoardo Piscopo, failed to score in tenth place.

The win came in spite of Grosjean enduring a poor start to the race, slipping to third early on. However he was able to pass Onidi when the Italian was delayed in the pits and then chased down Tambay to take the lead.

Duncan Tappy (DAMS) took fourth, not enough to keep his slim title hopes alive, with Federico Leo (Trident), Jan Charouz (Charouz-Gravity), Luca Filippi (Super Nova) and Julian Leal (Trident) rounding out the points scorers.

Leal and Filippi thus shared the front row for the second race, and it was the experienced Italian who made the better getaway. The Super Nova man was able to build a comfortable lead as the race progressed to take his second victory of the season – and his first since the season-opener - with Charouz and Grosjean joining him on the podium.

The final championship table sees Grosjean finish top with 58 points, followed by Piscopo on 42 and Duncan Tappy on 37. DAMS – who ran all of the top three finishers in the drivers’ standings – take the teams’ crown ahead of Charouz-Gravity and Super Nova.


James Weeks.