Hockenheim 2006: Bruni wins on penalties.

Gianmaria Bruni took his second GP2 Series win of the year from pole position at Hockenheim, but the Italian had to work a lot harder for the success than he did when breaking his duck at Imola in April.

The Trident Racing driver led into the first corner, while fellow front row starter Timo Glock made a poor getaway and only recovered to fourth on the road in the traditional first lap shuffle. Nelson Piquet Jr and Giorgio Pantano were the men to benefit, using their odd-numbered grid slots to fall in behind the leader as fourth-placed Ernesto Viso was temporarily baulked by his iSport team-mate.

Hockenheim claimed its traditional first corner victims, with Franck Perera losing his front wing against the luckless Andreas Zuber, Luca Filippi tipping Jose Maria Lopez into a spin and Ferdinando Monfardini completing a disappointing couple of hundred yards for DAMS by pulling off.

The first lap ended with Bruni and Piquet nose-to-tail and Pantano heading Glock, Viso, Lewis Hamilton - up from eighth - Adam Carroll and Alex Premat. Further back, Michael Ammermuller had made up early ground, but Arden team-mate Nicolas Lapierre, amongst others, had lost places in the scramble through turn one. The incident didn't stop there, though, with Hiroki Yoshimoto spinning away an initial ninth and Alex Negrao losing his front wing.

Glock, tipped by many to add to his Magny-Cours win on home ground, was the first man on the move, passing Pantano exiting the hairpin and immediately setting the first of a clutch of fastest laps. Hamilton quickly followed suit, disposing of Viso into the Mercedes complex, but all the time Bruni was pulling away at the front, Piquet having seemingly shot his bolt, the rear of his car already showing signs of becoming unstable.

That allowed Glock to close in, passing on lap 16, while Hamilton and Pantano became the first of the leading bunch to stop for tyres. The Briton's ART Grand Prix team-mate, Premat, had already done so, but problems dropped the Frenchman towards the tail of field, a fate he never recovered from.

Hamilton's stop dropped him to twelfth, but already leading those to have pitted and, despite being slowed by following Javier Villa in the laps immediately after taking on fresh rubber, the Briton quickly moved into a position to threaten the podium.

Bruni, Piquet and Viso all pitted at the same time, lap 16, and problems for the two leaders gave the Briton a glimpse of possible success, and Glock a shot in the lead. As it was, both Bruni and Piquet emerged just ahead of the ART car, but the pressure was on.

Indeed, it turned out that it had already been too much for the Brazilian, who was called for a drive-thru' penalty shortly after rejoining the track and immediately setting a new fastest lap. Then, incredibly, just a handful of laps later, when it appeared that Glock's iSport team had turned him around quickly enough to retain his lead, the German too was called for violating the pit-lane speed limit, forcing him to hand the advantage back to Bruni when the dust settled.

The Italian, however, now had Hamilton for company, the points leader showing now sign of the raggedness on display at Magny-Cours. Swapping fastest times with the fired-up Piquet, Hamilton inched closer to the leader, only to find the last few tenths tantalisingly out of reach.

When all had shaken out, Bruni and Hamilton enjoyed a comfortable gap back to Pantano who, in turn, remained ahead of the chastened Glock, who emerged in fourth spot, just ahead of Adam Carroll.

"I just tried to make the pit-stop too perfect and I knew straight away I'd been too fast," Glock admitted, "The guys did an awesome job. I wish I could have won for my home fans, but there's always tomorrow."

Viso was next up, but was having to defend vigorously from Piquet, while Lopez had stolen into the final points position despite his first lap rotation.

Viso's defence could not hold out for long and, having fended the Brazilian off at the hairpin, the iSport driver found he had no answer when it came to holding on at Mercedes. Carroll fell to Piquet at the hairpin next time around, but fought back at Mercedes to regain temporary hold on fifth. The battle was far from over, however, with the former F3 rivals continuing to scrap into the same two corners next time around. This time, however, although Carroll again defended at the hairpin, he locked up into Mercedes, giving Piquet just enough gap to thrust himself into the top five, as both cars came as close to touching as possible without actually doing so.

Carroll was now struggling with his Racing Engineering entry and, a couple of laps later, succumbed to Viso, the Venezuelan driver making late progress to match that of team-mate Glock. The German made light work of the gap to Pantano and, with the Italian again running into braking problems, slipped through under acceleration in the tight turn two and three complex. Piquet was also slicing into Pantano's cushion, and quickly claimed fourth spot at the same place, before setting off after Glock.

The two were nose-to-tail going into the hairpin on the final lap, but Piquet's desire to claim one more place before the end of the race saw him make light contact with the rear of the iSport machine. Frustrated that his attempt to pass had been thwarted, the Brazilian floored the throttle, leaving two black snakes on the track as he sought to renew the battle at the next turn. Unfortunately, the added thrust appears to have broken something in the rear of the Piquet Sport car, leaving its pilot at the mercy of those behind.

Up front, the lacklustre Premat refused to play an unsporting role when the leaders caught him on the final few corners, giving both Bruni and Hamilton free passage to continue their scrap to the line. As it turned out, the Italian had just enough in hand, taking the flag to the delight of his Trident team.

"I am really happy, especially because I had contact with Nelson at the start and he broke my exhaust," Bruni said, "In the last ten laps, I couldn't use sixth gear, but I held on, drove hard, and came out with the win!"

Behind him, the full extent of Hamilton's second spot had yet to become apparent but, as Glock, Viso, Pantano, Carroll, Lopez and Clivio Piccione claimed the final scoring spots, the gap at the top of the points extended back to pre-Magny-Cours proportions, Piquet's seven-point gain in France wiped out at a stroke as he coasted to a halt in the stadium section.

"The car felt great for me, and we needed the points," Hamilton reported, "Considering that Gimmi had so many problems, he was extremely quick. I really was extremely impressed with his pace and how he drove."

Bruni made light of having been largely dormant since Imola by using his ten points to demote Viso another place in the standings, while Glock edged closer to Premat for a spot in the top three.