AutoGP – Monza, Italy
Race 1: Qualified 2nd, finished 4th
Race 2: Reverse grid start position 5th, finished 11th

Third in the championship for Duncan

Duncan showed fantastic pace in Italy for the final round of the AutoGP series, qualifying on the front row and securing third place in the championship.

He ran well in practice, running third, and then put in a near perfect lap to qualify second alongside team-mate and eventual title winner Romain Grosjean.

Yesterday’s race one proved a challenge when Duncan was pushed wide at the first corner, Primo Variente, and lost places. From there Duncan held onto fourth to the line.

Race two, today, saw Duncan starting from the opposite side of the track but it was the same first corner that caused problems. Having made a good start, Duncan was on the outside of the bend and again was pushed, this time with the only place to go being the wrong side of the chicane to avoid an accident.

Having run most of the race in third, and pushing for second from Jan Charouz just 0.645 seconds ahead, Duncan was penalised for the first corner error and took a drive through penalty. He emerged in 12th place and in the time remaining managed to salvage one position to finish 11th.

Thumbs up to a solid 2010 spent at the front of the field

Duncan has scored series points steadily throughout the season. Just one DNF at Spa mars his finishing record, with two podiums and a total of eight point scoring finishes from the 12 races contributing to his tally of 37 points that gives him the bronze spot for the inaugural AutoGP series.

Duncan said: “It’s been a very frustrating weekend as I’d got great pace again and it was the same corner that stopped me getting onto the podium in both races. I was so close and was really strong in race two because I’d saved a new set of tyres.

“It’s not the way I’d have chosen to end the season but I have to take away that I’ve put in solid performances at every event, have been a challenger for the title and finished third in the standings in an ultra-competitive series. The team has been great and I’m already looking forward to next season – whatever that might bring!”

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•   Filed under: Auto GP
•   Tagged as: Autodromo Nazionale Monza, DAMS