Misano 2006 - Vettel edges Hanley for double.

Just a week after being called in to replace Colin Fleming at the wheel of the Carlin World Series by Renault entry, Sebastian Vettel was celebrating a stunning double victory on his debut at Misano.

Although his first race win came about after Pastor Maldonado and Ben Hanley separately felt the wrath of the World Series officials, Vettel's win the second event was wholly deserved, holding off a determined Hanley to secure a 30-points haul that immediately puts him in contention for the title.

Getting away from the start line with ease, Vettel led from Andy Soucek, but it was Hanley who was the big winner jumping from fifth to third by the first corner, ahead of Davide Valsecchi, Sean McIntosh, Mikhail Aleshin and Alvaro Parente, the Portuguese driver falling from fourth to seventh.

Indeed, Hanley was on the move, overtaking Soucek, while Valsecchi followed the Brit by passing his countryman for third place in his Epsilon Euskadi car. By this point though, Vettel was sprinting away into a comfortable lead, pulling out a margin of over four seconds on Hanley.

Nonetheless, with the pit stop window open, several drivers, including Valsecchi and McIntosh dived into the pits on lap five, with Parente and Hanley following suit a lap later, thus leaving Vettel with a massive lead over Soucek and French duo Patrick Pilet and Eric Salignon.

At this point though the race had already lost a number of drivers. Bruce Jouanny retired with mechanical problems, while Robbie Kerr was the innocent victim of an accident in the pit lane with Greg Franchi, the Belgian having been released into the side of the KTR car, damaging Kerr's suspension. Aleshin was also out of contention when a rock got caught under his brake pedal, inducing a spin.

Maldonado would also see his race cut short when he went off the circuit, the Venezuelan ending an awful weekend when his race one win was taken away from him, while a spin in qualifying would put him to the back of the grid for the second event too.

With ten laps gone, Vettel eventually came into the pit lane but far from extending his lead over Hanley once he emerged, the German returned to the circuit just ahead of the charging Brit, forcing him to defend to the chequered flag.

Nonetheless, Vettel held on for the win, ahead of Hanley, who secured his first legitimate podium of the season, while Valsecchi was a distant third.

"The mattered most was the start because I knew I had a good car to push hard and build up a lead. I was cautious, perhaps a bit too much so, during the pit stop. But I managed to get back out ahead of Ben. The tyres took two or three laps to get up to temperature but I was able to manage the situation."

Parente recovered to fourth and in the process moves into the lead of the championship, while Andy Soucek, James Rossiter ad Alx Danielsson followed in fifth, sixth and seventh.

Eric Salignon claimed his first points since the season opener at Zolder with seventh, while Ryo Fukuda and Sean MacIntosh rounded out the top ten.