Cardiff 500 Sunday Race 2 Results
Race HighlightsLap 1 - Anthony Reid immediately looses the lead to Fabrizio Giovanardi at the start. Further back Alex Wurz makes contact with Gareth Howell causing the Austrian to get loose and tag the back of Charlie Butler-Henderson. CBH's Astra spins around across the cars behind and is whacked head on by John George then from the rear by Mark Larkham. CBH and Larko are left stranded in the middle of the track while George makes it back to the garage to retire. Wurz also squeezed Gavin Pyper into the wall causing damage to both, Wurz ends up a lap down. The safety car is brought out.
Lap 3 - Andy Neate inexplicably manages to throw his car into the tyres at turn 5 under SC conditions. James Kaye is caught by surprise and smacks into the back of Neate while David Pinkney is also held up. Neate is out on the spot while Kaye makes it back to the garage.
Lap 4 - The order is maintained on the restart as Giovanardi still leads from Reid, Hughes, Muller and Neal.
Lap 10 - Yvan Muller suffers a puncture causing him to go a lap down. This promote Saturday winner James Thompson into the top 5.
Lap 12 - Richard Marsh goes a lap down and manages to cost Reid 2nd to Hughes by waddling around in the middle of the road.
Lap 13 -
2nd Safety Car Marsh plants it in the turn 13 wall after outbraking himself as Gabriele Tarquini was lapping him.
Lap 16 - Everyone on track makes their first stops except for Muller. Hughes and Reid manage to leapfrog Giovanardi by only taking two fresh tyres, will this alternate strategy work? Meanwhile Gavin Smith suffers another suspension failure and has to crawl back to the pits. Pyper on fresh tyres spins off when he has to avoid him.
Lap 17 - Reid leads the restart and is immediately passed by Hughes, Giovanardi then takes him at the end of the lap.
Lap 18 - It appears Hughes and Reid's gamble will backfire as Giovanardi retakes the lead from his teammate while Reid looses 3rd to Matt Neal.
Lap 19 - Matt Neal passes Hughes for 2nd and hunts down Giovanardi, Reid continues to struggle as he is now holding up Thompson, Rydell, Eaves, Priaulx, Chilton and Menu make up the rest of the top 10.
Lap 21 - Dan Eaves makes a 2nd stop for some reason which drops him down to 23rd, ahead of only Wurz, Muller and Nick Leason. He will have the advantage of the best tyres in the field though. Rob Collard does the same a few laps later.
Lap 26 - Neal manages to take the lead from Giovanardi, Thompson is now 3rd and catching the Italian. Rest of the top 10 has changed dramatically too. Rydell, Priaulx, Huff, Chilton, Menu, Plato and Turner. Hughes and Reid have now dropped to 12th and 14th with Colin Turkington in between, struggling for pace despite being on the regular strategy. Behind, Hines and Leslie are closing in fast.
Lap 34 - Turner out brakes himself in turn 5 and rear ends his own teammate. Plato seems to be unaffected but Turner suffers race ending damage to the front of his car.
Lap 41 - Matt Neal is flying. By the time the 2nd round of pitstops have come, Neal has a 20 second lead over Giovanardi and Thompson. The rest are almost a minute behind. Huff has now got up to 4th while Rydell and Priaulx have been caught by Menu and Plato. Chilton has dropped to 9th with Tarquini making up the top ten. Next up is Hines from Turkington, Leslie, Motoyama, Hughes, Reid and Eaves is the final car on the lead lap. Turkington is first to make his 2nd stop.
Lap 46 - Both Neal and Giovanardi have taken their stops leaving Thompson in the lead. Though those that have stopped early will have the initial advantage of fresh tyres, those who wait longer will take that advantage back for the rest of the race after their respective stops. Also staying out are Huff, Menu, Rydell, Priaulx and Plato. Meanwhile Reid is now a lap down after making his pitstop. He had been passed by his teammate right before his pitstop, despite Eaves having made an extra stop.
Lap 47 -
3rd Safety Car Menu has crashed in turn one again, same as in Race 1, except this time he has had help. Reid tagged Menu after the Swiss driver lapped him, sending him spinning off into the tyres. Menu is fine but Reid may see some discipline his way. The safety car will help out anyone who is yet to pit by canceling out the time that those on fresh tyres have made up on them. It is looking good for Thompson but he'll still have to pass Neal and Giovanardi on track as well as a few lapped cars. Plato meanwhile had made his pitstop just before the safety and has dropped off the lead lap.
Lap 50 - Neal leads off the restart, he Giovanardi and Thompson have the lapped cars of Plato, Reid, Howell and Breeze. This will help out Neal's chances of holding off Thompson who now has the advantage of fresher tyres.
Lap 54 - The top three are now clear of the lapped traffic meaning that Neal and Giovanardi are now vulnerable to Thompson. Huff is 4th from Tarquini, Priaulx, Rydell, Chilton, Turkington and Hines. Eaves and Leslie are the only other cars still on the lead lap. Meanwhile Plato suddenly slows up with a valve failure.
Lap 56 - Thompson take the lead from Neal who is powerless to stop him. The Honda driver has over a second per lap on Neal and Giovanardi. Huff on the same strategy is closing fast but since he and the rest of the lead lap cars failed to catch up under the safety car he is over twenty seconds behind. Further back Tarquini looses out to Priaulx and Rydell.
Lap 60 - Tarquini drops further back as the SEAT pair of Turkington and Chilton get by. Thompson already has a lead of ten seconds.
Lap 70 - Thompson ends up winning by 45 seconds! Neal manages to get some lapped cars between himself and Giovanardi who almost gets pipped for the podium by Huff, the rookie running an impressive drive in just his second race. Hines also gets Tarquini for 9th and just barely avoids being lapped by Thompson.
