Luca Ghiotto became the tenth different winner of the GP2 Series season after triumphing in Sunday’s Sprint race at the Sepang International Circuit, but the Italian admitted he had not expected to wait so long to win this season.
The Trident racer made a great start from second on the grid to jump into the lead ahead of polesitter Mitch Evans, and despite pressure coming from his fellow Italian Raffaele Marciello, was able to close it out and take the victory.
“It sounds really good, especially because it’s almost the end of the season and I was expecting to win maybe a bit earlier this year… But the important thing is that the victory finally arrived,” said Ghiotto on gp2series.com.
“I’m really happy, even more because I think we have been quite quick all weekend. Today, we struggled a little bit more compared to other races: in terms of pace, we had more in previous races, which could have helped winning. So this win today is more about the fact that we chose the right strategy.
“I made a good start. I managed to save the tyres. It was quite tough as Marciello was coming faster on the final laps but I’m really, really happy.”
Ghiotto admitted that one of his pre-season aims had been achieved with his Sepang victory, and is still in with a chance of his second aim to finish inside the top five in the championship, with just eleven points separating himself from Jordan King who currently holds that position with just the round in Abu Dhabi remaining.
“My goal was to finish the season in the top five which is still possible and to win a race,” admitted Ghiotto. “So one has been done.
“As for my second goal, we will do our maximum in Abu Dhabi. We will try to pass in front of the Racing Engineering in the drivers’ standings. Then, let’s think about the 2017 season.”
