2006 Monza Feature Race

The 2006 Monza Feature Race, otherwise known as the 2006 Monza GP2 Series Race 1 was the twentieth and penultimate race of the 2006 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Monza, Lombardy, Italy, on 9 September 2006. The race would see Giorgio Pantano claim victory, as Lewis Hamilton secured the Championship crown with a race to spare after a post-race decision to strip Pantano of fastest lap.

Qualifying for the final Feature Race of the 2006 campaign had seen Hamilton's main title rival, Nelson Piquet Jr. claim pole position, meaning the Brazilian cut the Brit's Championship lead to eight points. Pantano would then line up alongside Piquet on the front row, while Hamilton secured third on the grid ahead of Adam Carroll.

The start of the race saw the title fight immediately shift, with Pantano blitzing his start to secure the lead ahead of a cautious Piquet. Hamilton, meanwhile, would secure third ahead of Carroll, with the rest of the field making it off the grid largely in grid order.

The opening lap would prove eventful, however, with Piquet managing to elbow his way back past Pantano for the lead, before the Italian surged back past. Behind, Hamilton was caught napping by Carroll towards the end of the lap, before Ernesto Viso took himself and Alexandre Negrão at the Parabolica with Andreas Zuber spinning off in their wake.

Pantano and Piquet would continue their fight throughout the early stages, exchanging fastest laps as Hamilton got back past Carroll. Indeed, the top three were soon in a race of their own out front, with Carroll falling away from them in a lonely fourth.

Carroll would go on to trigger a Safety Car shortly after making his stop on lap ten, a wheel coming off of his car and bouncing across the circuit halfway around the circuit. That prompted the top three all to pit, although with Pantano and Piquet resumed in first and second, Hamilton found himself caught behind Fairuz Fauzy and Jason Tahincioğlu who had gambled on a long first stint.

When the race resumed Piquet instantly went on the attack on Pantano into the Rettifilo chicane, only to lock up and cut across the chicane. He was forced to hand the position back to the Italian on the exit, as behind Hamilton could find now way past the two out of position back markers.

Once they pitted, however, Hamilton was the fastest driver on track, setting a succession of fastest laps to close back onto the tail of the leaders. Elsewhere, Alexandre Prémat and Timo Glock had an almighty scrap for fourth, with those two also fighting over third in the Championship, which was ultimately settled when Glock lost out to Ernesto Viso prior to be taken out late on by Adrián Vallés.

Into the final stages and Hamilton looked to have the Championship title wrapped up, for Piquet would slip five seconds off the back of Pantano, while third and fastest lap would mean Hamilton would hold the seven point lead over Piquet he required to claim the crown. However, on the final lap Pantano would steal the fastest lap point with a stunning lap, ensuring that the title fight would head to the final day.

Indeed, Pantano claimed an impressive victory on top of that fastest lap, five seconds clear of Piquet, with the Brazilian racer only a second clear of Hamilton. Luca Filippi was next up after forcing his way past Prémat, while Nicolas Lapierre beat Clivio Piccione and Hiroki Yoshimoto to sixth.

However, after the race there would be an investigation into Pantano's lap, due to the presence of yellow flags at the Parabolica. The Italian was duly stripped of fastest lap and the bonus point handed to Hamilton, meaning the Brit secured the title having established a seven point lead over Piquet with a race to spare.

Background
The 2006 FIA GP2 Series arrived at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza for the season finale in early September, after opting not to replace the planned trip to the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps after the cancellation of the Belgian Grand Prix. The legendary Italian circuit was unchanged since the GP2 Series made its debut in Monza in 2005, with the GP2 field likewise unchanged ahead of the finale after the penultimate round in Turkey.

A Title Duel
Lewis Hamilton finally reversed the late charge from Nelson Piquet Jr. over recent races, meaning he could add to his ever decreasing lead. Indeed, the Brit left Istanbul with a ten point lead in the title hunt, meaning he could win the 2006 FIA GP2 Series crown at the 2006 Monza Feature Race if Piquet failed to outscore him by three points in the race. Behind, Alexandre Prémat had seen his hold on third reduced to four points by Timo Glock, while Ernesto Viso held fifth.

In the Teams' Championship ART Grand Prix had already claimed the Championship crown, and had increased their tally to 163 points with two races to go. The fight for second, however, was still alive ahead of the finale, with Piquet Sports leading the fight by three points from iSport International leaving Turkey. Arden International, meanwhile, would fight with Trident Racing for fourth at the finale, having slipped too far back to challenge for second.

Entry List
The full entry list for the is displayed below:

Qualifying
Qualifying for the inaugural GP2 Series race would be staged via a thirty minute session on Friday afternoon, ahead of the Feature Race on Saturday. All 24 drivers would venture onto the circuit during the session, and were allowed to complete as many laps as they could to set their qualifying time. There was also a free choice of tyres, although drivers could not exceed their allocation of Bridgestone tyres.

Results
The final qualifying result for the are outlined below:

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Pantano had his fastest lap of the race deleted for ignoring yellow flags at the final corner.

Milestones

 * Lewis Hamilton declared as the 2006 FIA GP2 Series Championship Champion.
 * Sixth and final pole position recorded by Nelson Piquet Jr.
 * Second career victory for Giorgio Pantano.
 * Coloni Motorsport claimed their third win as an entrant.
 * Final points finish for Alexandre Prémat.

Standings
The post-race decision to strip fastest lap from Giorgio Pantano had settled the 2006 GP2 Series Championship with a race to spare, for that bonus point instead went to Lewis Hamilton. That meant that the Brit had a seven point lead over Nelson Piquet Jr. ahead of the final Sprint Race of the season, meaning Piquet could only match Hamilton's tally of 108 points with victory. Indeed, even with victory Piquet would match Hamilton on race wins, but lose out on countback as the Brit had more second place finishes than the Brazilian.

In the Teams' Championship ART Grand Prix had once again added to their already unbeatable tally, moving onto 174 points for the campaign. Piquet Sports, meanwhile, had secured second on 114 points, which left them thirteen ahead of iSport International who could now only match the Brazilian squad's tally with a one-two, but then missout on countback. Indeed, it was only the fight for fourth that would run onto the final day, with Arden International nine ahead of Trident Racing ahead of the final battle.