Turvey tops as Yas roars again

The venue comes alive after a three-month lull and Briton Oliver Turvey scores a commanding win all the way after snatching the lead at the first turn.

ABU DHABI // After a lull of three months, the Yas Marina Circuit was alive again with revving engines yesterday with a three-championship card headlined by the GP2 Asia. The glitterati were not present, but the few faithful were enough to inspire Oliver Turvey to a commanding victory under the lights in Race 1 of the GP2 Asia series. Starting from second on the grid, the Briton overtook Charles Pic on the first turn and kept his lead until the end of the 33-lap race.
Turvey's iSport International teammate Davide Valsecchi, who had topped the podium in the feature race when GP2 Asia visited Abu Dhabi as a supporting card for the Formula One season finale in October-November, took the chequered flag 0.6 seconds behind the winner to keep his position at the top of the drivers' championship midway through the second round. Jules Bianchi, of ART Grand Prix, completed the podium trio and Javier Villa of Arden International finished fourth, followed by Giacomo Ricci, Alexander Rossi Michael Herck and Max Chilton among the points.
The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East leader Prince Abdulaziz al Faisal consolidated his position by finishing ahead of Salman al Khalifa and Bandar Alireza. Al Faisal Racing Team's Prince Abdulaziz clocked 27:12.026 for the 12 laps, while al Khalifa was 2.595 seconds behind and Alireza, driving for the Bison Reem Racing Team, trailed by a further 26.197 seconds. Fahad al Musalam won the first race of the day, the Chevrolet Supercars Middle East Championship, to extend his lead at the top of the drivers' table.
Bahrain's al Musalam finished the nine laps in 23:20.780 minutes, 7.158 seconds ahead of Abdul Aziz al Yaeesh of Saudi Arabia, while Hamad al Khalifa finished a further 3.265 seconds behind. The win stretched al Musalam's lead at the top of the championship to 14 points after seven races. Raeed Raffii, who had been in second place, failed to finish yesterday, allowing al Yaeesh to move in behind the Bahraini with 38 points.
The UAE's Mohammed al Owais was fourth and his compatriot Mohammed Alfalasi fifth, and the duo believe they are moving closer to a podium finish. "We will be trying our best to be competitive," said Alfalasi. "Al Owais is giving a tough time to the drivers in the top four and by the end of the championship anything can happen. Hopefully, the UAE flag will be flying on the podium."
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