Pos  Driver               Team                Time       Gap
 1.  Sam Bird             ART                 1m27.864s
 2.  Davide Valsecchi     iSport              1m27.907s  + 0.043s
 3.  Oliver Turvey        iSport              1m27.976s  + 0.112s
 4.  Pastor Maldonado     Rapax               1m28.134s  + 0.270s
 5.  Christian Vietoris   Racing Engineering  1m28.225s  + 0.361s
 6.  Alberto Valerio      Coloni              1m28.245s  + 0.381s
 7.  Sergio Perez         Barwa Addax         1m28.273s  + 0.409s
 8.  Giacomo Ricci        DPR                 1m28.277s  + 0.413s
 9.  Michael Herck        DPR                 1m28.337s  + 0.473s
10.  Giedo van der Garde  Barwa Addax         1m28.357s  + 0.493s
11.  Jules Bianchi        ART                 1m28.375s  + 0.511s
12.  Jerome d’Ambrosio    DAMS                1m28.378s  + 0.514s
13.  Dani Clos            Racing Engineering  1m28.483s  + 0.619s
14.  Charles Pic          Arden               1m28.536s  + 0.672s
15.  Marcus Ericsson      Super Nova          1m28.613s  + 0.749s
16.  Ho-Pin Tung          DAMS                1m28.622s  + 0.758s
17.  Luiz Razia           Rapax               1m28.710s  + 0.846s
18.  Fabio Leimer         Ocean               1m28.718s  + 0.854s
19.  Adrian Zaugg         Trident             1m28.727s  + 0.863s
20.  Luca Filippi         Super Nova          1m28.924s  + 1.060s
21.  Johnny Cecotto       Trident             1m28.968s  + 1.104s
22.  Vlado Arabadjiev     Coloni              1m29.141s  + 1.277s
23.  Max Chilton          Ocean               1m29.219s  + 1.355s
24.  Rodolfo Gonzalez     Arden               1m30.129s  + 2.265s

Sam Bird produced another impressive display of sheer racing ability yesterday as he charged forward from 14th on the grid to finish fifth.

The gauntlet had been thrown down the previous day when he was given a drive-through penalty - somewhat harshly according to some observers - for contact with another driver while fighting for the coveted 8th place, synonymous with the reversed grid sprint race pole position.

This condemned Sam to a lowly 14th place finish and to a tricky mid-pack starting position for the sprint race. With no compulsory pit stop, a top six scoring finish seemed like a tall order.

However, Sam made an excellent start to get up to tenth by the end of the first lap before producing another overtaking festival, reminiscent of Barcelona, that successively left Herck, Filippi, Pic, current Championship leader Maldonado, and current Championship runner-up Clos in his wake.

Sam took the chequered flag in 5th place, just over a second adrift of his team mate, having started the race ten places behind him.

"If I look at this race in isolation, then we have to be satisfied with the final result, given our starting position," said Sam. "However, if I look at the weekend as a whole, I can only be disappointed as we had the pace to be on the podium in both races and score double figures. A special mention to the team, who gave me an excellent car throughout the weekend."

The next round of the GP2 Series will take place at the Hungaroring, Hungary on 30th July - 1st August.

Frenchman Jean-Karl Vernay once again drove a perfect race, yesterday in the streets of Toronto. He set pole and scored a flag-to-flag victory, his fourth in the seven rounds in which he has competed. Thanks to this success he has almost doubled his lead in the Indy Lights Championship.

There are no home races for Vernay this season as he is competing on the other side of the Atlantic in the Indy Lights Championship. Six months ago, he knew neither the car nor the circuits. The victory he has just scored in the capital of Ontario has a special psychological importance as he has won on the home turf of his nearest challenger in the championship, James Hinchcliffe. The latter had sworn to take his revenge after being beaten by the Frenchman two weeks ago at Watkins Glen.

Hinchcliffe knew the track like the back of his hand and was quicker than the Sam Schmidt driver in the two free practice sessions by 5/100s and 3/100s respectively. But Vernay had the last word, and snatched pole by 4/100s from the Canadian on the second-last lap of the qualifying session.

The flag-to-flag was anything but straightforward as the pressure put on Vernay by his main challenger for most of the race should not be underestimated. "At the start I suffered a bit of wheelspin and Hinchcliffe and I went through the first two corners side by side. As the track surface was slippery we rubbed wheels, which twisted a suspension component slightly. The car became difficult to control in the right-handers. I slackened the anti-roll bar to make it handle in a more predictable and smoother fashion, and I controlled my speed so as not to degrade the tyres too much." Until half distance, JK’s lead never exceeded one-and-a-half seconds.

Then the safety car came out twice in quick succession, and this enabled Hinchcliffe to close the gap to his rival. Not until the final stages of the race was the driver in the no.7 Dallara-Honda in the Lucas Oil colours able to give himself a little breathing space. "With ten laps to go, the car was handling well and I felt that the tyres would last till the end so I was able to increase my lead." Lady Luck waited until the last lap to provide the final twist. Hinchcliffe was embroiled in a battle with four pursuers stuck to his gearbox; he lost two places after making a mistake in corner no.2 and then retired a little further on after a collision!

"It was a really great race, especially because I know the Indycar Series guys are watching closely what is going on in the lower formula. This circuit requires enormous concentration each time you brake, each time you change down as it’s very bumpy and slippery. It was so easy to make a mistake." JK’s victory was also his sixth podium finish for Sam Schmidt Motorsport. For the first time, his lead is now greater than the 50 points attributed to the winner of each race. Next weekend (24-25 July), he will again be competing in Canada in the eighth round on the streets of Edmonton.

Press release by Romane Didier / future racing commm