Hungary 2007: Carroll singing.

Adam Carroll claimed his second GP2 Series victory of the season with a slightly fortuitous performance at the Hungaroring, while the title race was once again thrown open by a disappointing result for Timo Glock.

The German's race started to go awry at the first corner. Having managed to avoid the magnetic attraction of iSport team-mate Andi Zuber, Glock appeared too cautious under braking for turn one, allowing nearest title rival Lucas di Grassi to whip around the outside and seize the lead. Worse was to befall Zuber, who shared row one with his iSport colleague, the UAE-based Austrian too busy concentrating on keeping Giorgio Pantano behind and eventually allowing both the Italian and Pastor Maldonado through.

Carroll was next in line behind Zuber as the opening lap unfolded, but was forced to bide his time as the pace picked up, leaving him in the sights of Kazuki Nakajima, with Nicolas Lapierre, Andy Soucek, Borja Garcia and Vitaly Petrov completing the top ten. Already at the back was ART stand-in Sebastien Buemi, who stalled at the first attempt at a start, and Mike Conway, who spun his Super Nova car at turn two.

Glock, meanwhile, held the gap to di Grassi at around half a second, but was among the earliest stoppers for tyres - beaten only, among the frontrunners, by Nakajima. While the DAMS crew turned the Japanese driver around in good order, Glock was not so lucky, the iSport crew fumbling with his right rear wheel nut and dropping him well down the order by the time he was able to rejoin.

That left di Grassi slightly more comfortable out front, but it wasn't for long as the charging Pantano caught and dispatched the leader in short order. Zuber was too far back to take advantage of the change of position, having been delayed - and, judging by his reaction, possibly even brake-tested - by Maldonado before finally gaining third place on lap six.

The Venezuelan was not long for the race, his wayward nature catching him out at turn four, badly damaging the Trident car in the process. Lapierre, having only just made his compulsory stop, was also out, the DAMS car grinding to a halt following contact with Luca Filippi at the first turn.

di Grassi and Zuber pitted in quick succession on laps eight and nine and, this time, there was no 'finger trouble' in the iSport camp, as Zuber rejoined just ahead of his Brazilian opponent - but behind Nakajima. When Pantano also peeled off, Carroll assumed control - and the Irishman's timing proved perfect.

Having completed one lap at the head of the field, Carroll's progress was slowed by the appearance of the safety car, required to clear up the wake of a four-car incident caused by Filippi's car snapping sharp left over the final corner kerbs. Although the Italian did not directly collect anyone else in his moment, hefty contact with the barrier began shedding parts from the Super Nova car. One of its rear wheels wiped the rear wing off the back of Petrov's Campos machine, causing the Russian to spin and take the avoiding Xandi Negrao into the barriers with him. Filippi, meanwhile, ended up against the pit-wall, spreading debris across the width of the straight.

Prompted by the FMSI crew, Carroll made his stop on hearing that the pace car was due out, avoiding the suspension of pit activity by the skin of his teeth. The team did its bit too, giving him a smart four-tyre stop and still allowing the Irishman to rejoin at the head of the pack, ahead of Karun Chandhok, the only driver yet to change tyres. With Garcia and Ho-Pin Tung also choosing to join Carroll in pit-lane, there was a degree of controversy as the Spaniard rejoined, forcibly, alongside Nakajima before dropping in behind the Japanese.

It took three laps to clear up the mess on the start-finish straight but, at the restart, Carroll made the perfect getaway, opening a gap to his pursuers, with Nakajima wasting no time in dealing with Chandhok as he set about catching the man he felt had lucked in on his lead.

The battling Durango drivers with Chandhok not obliged to cede to Garcia - contrived to hold up the rest of the pack, with Zuber keen to find a way through as di Grassi and Pantano - who had despatched Soucek at the restart - queued on his tail. Roldan Rodriguez and Adrian Zaugg followed before the delayed Glock appeared, in eleventh.

The German's hopes of at least a points finish - and a decent grid slot for Sunday's sprint - appeared to get a boost when Rodriguez and Soucek made contact, but only the Minardi Piquet Sports driver benefited, gaining a place and Glock's luck then turned the other way as an incident with Zaugg forced the German into a spin. The iSport car had been alongside its Arden rival when Zaugg swept across to take his line, the South African's rear wheel contacting the front left of a retreating Glock, turning him into the gravel. Although he managed to keep the engine running and escape the hazard, Glock would not trouble the scorers.

That was left to Carroll and co, although the identity of the winner was kept in doubt until the end as Nakajima and Zuber both closed in on the FMSI driver.

"I'm very happy," Carroll grinned, "We push extremely hard and we have never had much chance to develop the car together. Half an hour isn't exactly long and when the car is good and you hit the track everything is so much easier
for the weekend. But when you still have a bit of work to do then it is hard. We're learning as we go along and hopefully now we can have a bit more consistency there."

Nakajima's early stop policy paid off once again, the Japnese driver equalling the record for consecutive podiums - held by Glock and Lewis Hamilton at five.

"I didn't actually expect to be on the podium, so second place is a really good result for me and for the
team," he admiteted, "It's incredible to score five podiums in a row. You have to say that I could have won the race, if I didn't have a slow car in front of me during the safety car, but still I'm quite happy with second place."

Zuber was more relieved than delighted to have taken third, however, and had a few stern words for one of his rivals.

"Considering I had a very bad start, I knew I had to work very hard," he admitted, "I then was fighting against Maldonado, and it was very dirty what he did once in the corner. After I overtook him, I just tried to push very hard. The shame was just the safety car, but it was a good race."

Pantano, too, could have been in the mix, the Italian lapping faster than anyone other than Zuber, but, true to form, the Campos team's luck ran out seven laps from home, sidelining the second of its cars.

Pantano's exit allowed di Grassi to make more of Glock's misfortune, the Brazilian having finally got around the two Durango cars in one swoop, passing Garcia on the road as Chandhok finally pitted. The Indian's valiant attempt to open his account by running as long as possible came to nought as he was eventually classified 14th, but his Spanish team-mate was at least able to hang on for a handful of points.

It was not without pressure, however, for, having had most of the eventual top four for company at various points, Garcia had the flying Rodriguez homing in in the closing laps, getting to within four seconds of the Durango car by the flag. The charge allowed the Spaniard to pull away from the battle for the final points, with Zaugg coming under threat from Javi Villa.

The Racing Engineering man, already the winner of two sprint events this season, was promoted to eighth - and pole for Sunday - by Pantano's retirement, but still tried to snatch an extra point from Zaugg with the flag in sight. Any error, however, would have allowed Tung, Glock or Kohei Hirate to have a sniff of a point, such was the train that had built up behind the Arden car.

Sebastien Buemi set the fastest lap of the race as recovered from his stall, but the point will go to Karun Chandhok as the ART driver started from the pits.