AutoGP: Kiss beats determined Sato to victory

Hungarian Tamas Pal Kiss took victory for Virtuosi UK at the Nurburgring, with Kimiya Sato scoring a fine second place after starting at the back of the grid.

It was Kiss' good behavior that really set up this win, which allowed him to slightly close the points gap to his Euronova Racing rival Sato. Most of the field were given drive-through penalties for setting fastest sector times as they went past the clean-up operation of Salvatore de Plano's car, which went off the track at the final corner on lap two. Kiss was the only front-runner to escape sanction, which set up his comfortable 10-second win.

On pace alone Sato could not be matched, despite driving with some pain after a bruising in his qualifying accident yesterday, and looked set to score a remarkable win before the penalties were announced.

Sato ran a different strategy to the other frontrunners: hitting the front when the others stopped, keeping his lead after taking his drive-through along with the rest, and then leaving his pit stop until the 26th and penultimate lap.

Sato built up his lead over Kiss to 22 seconds ahead of that late stop, which simply wasn't enough of a cushion to come out ahead of the Hungarian, who was among the first to complete his pit stop on lap seven.

Second place went to Sato, well clear of Kevin Giovesi, who was the early race leader after an excellent start took him past pole man Markus Pommer.

Giovesi's drive-through spoiled his afternoon, as it did that of home favorite Pommer, who came home fourth.