Patronise F1

The first round of the truncated GP2 Asia Series took place supporting F1 2009's final race. GP2 veteran Davide Valsecchi dominated the weekend to take the lead of the championship, while meanwhile, some rookies impressed more than others.

Qualifying

Davide Valsecchi stuck his iSport Dallara onto the first pole position of the season in Abu Dhabi, scampering to top spot some two tenths of a second ahead of the rest of the pack, which was headed by impressive GP2 debutant Sam Bird in his ART Grand Prix machine.

Also impressing was the Formula Master champion, Swiss driver Fabio Leimer, who lined up third for Ocean Racing, with GP2 veteran Luca Filippi fourth for QI-Meritus, his car grinding to a halt towards the end of the session with gearbox issues.

Plamen Kralev, the Bulgarian businessman who bought himself a drive in the Asia series with Trident Racing, lined up for his first GP2 weekend in last place, a hilarious 6.2 seconds slower than the pole man Valsecchi.

Grid for feature race:
1 Davide Valsecchi (iSport), 2 Sam Bird (ART), 3 Fabio Leimer (Ocean), 4 Luca Filippi (Meritus), 5 Roldan Rodriguez (Coloni), 6 Rodolfo Gonzalez (Arden), 7 James Jakes (Super Nova), 8 Johnny Cecotto Jr (Trident), 9 Josef Kral (Super Nova), 10 Giacomo Ricci (DPR), 11 Edoardo Piscopo (DAMS), 12 Daniel Zampieri (Piquet), 13 Alexander Rossi (Ocean), 14 Christian Vietoris (DAMS), 15 Marcus Ericsson (ART), 16 Michael Herck (DPR), 17 Diego Nunes (Meritus), 18 Oliver Turvey (iSport), 19 Luiz Razia (Addax), 20 Charles Pic (Arden), 21 Max Chilton (Addax), 22 Vladimir Arabadzhiev (Piquet), 23 Will Brett (Coloni), 24 Plamen Kralev (Trident).

Feature Race

Valsecchi took victory in the opening round of the season, overcoming the surprisingly non-useless form of Luca Filippi, who led the race into the closing stages before Valsecchi forced his way past.

Valsecchi started from pole, but lost the lead almost immediately to the impressive Sam Bird, who led the field through the first few corners. However, Valsecchi was back ahead by the end of the first lap, outdragging the Brit in the ART car down the long back straight.

Third-placed qualifier Fabio Leimer (Ocean Racing) was already out of contention, having stalled on the formation lap, while fifth place man Roldan Rodriguez stalled at the start proper.

Bird then fell further back as both the quick-starting James Jakes for Super Nova and the Meritus car of Filippi forced their way past the debutant. The Italian then swept past Jakes on the third lap, leaving him right behind Valsecchi.

At the mandatory pit stops, Filippi stayed out for longer than Valsecchi and was able to pit and rejoin in the lead of the race, resuming on track just as an accident involving Luiz Razia's Addax car and Christian Vietoris's DAMS machine, which triggered a safety car.

After the restart, Filippi continued in the lead, but Valsecchi grabbed the lead in a spectacular move in the closing stages, the two drivers running side-by-side for a number of corners before Valsecchi made the move stick in turn 14. A second safety car followed when the hilariously slow Kralev spun into retirement, but Valsecchi controlled the restart to take victory by nearly five seconds.

Filippi came home second from Jakes, who caught but couldn't pass the Italian in the final couple of laps, with American Ocean Racing driver Alexander Rossi coming through from 13th on the grid to take 4th after long-time 4th placed car Sam Bird retired with brake problems. Josef Kral was 5th for Super Nova, while Vietoris survived his tangle with Razia to take sixth.

Johnny Cecotto Jr took 7th place for Trident, with Oliver Turvey (iSport) finishing 8th, taking the final point and the pole for the sprint race's reverse grid.

11 Marcus Ericsson (ART) +21.686, 12 Will Bratt (Coloni) +22.539, 13 Michael Herck (DPR) +22.881, 14 Rodolfo Gonzalez (Arden) +23.403, 15 Daniel Zampieri (Piquet) +23.786, 16 Max Chilton (Addax) +25.131, 17 Fabio Leimer (Ocean) +30.019, 18 Sam Bird (ART) +2 laps, R Charles Pic (Arden) 28 laps, R Vladimir Arabadzhiev (Piquet) 25 laps, R Plamen Kralev (Trident) 24 laps, R Luiz Razia (Addax) 12 laps, R Giacomo Ricci (DPR) 8 laps, R Diego Nunes (Meritus) 0 laps.

Sprint Race

The shorter sprint race was dominated by Christian Vietoris, the rookie driver racing for the DAMS team. The German jumped from third on the grid to lead into turn one, from Kral, Rossi and polesitter Turvey, who was swamped on the run to the first turn. Filippi and Valsecchi followed, from Cecotto Jr.

The feature race winner produced the drive of the race, biding his time behind Filippi before finally making a decisive pass down the long back straight on the 14th lap, with Filippi attempting to repay the favour into the tight hairpin, but the Italian ran wide and then lost his car trying to hold off Johnny Cecotto Jr.

Valsecchi then passed Turvey for fourth, before a safety car triggered by a crash between Will Bratt and Fabio Leimer closed the field up. At the restart, Vietoris and Kral remained first and second, but Valsecchi then passed Rossi for third, before harrying Kral over the remaining laps, finally making the move stick on the final lap, but Vietoris held on for the win from Valsecchi, who nevertheless took a big early championship lead.

Kral ended third, while Turvey snatched fourth from Rossi in the closing stages. Cecotto Jr took the final point in sixth. Sam Bird continued to entertain with a well-meaning recovery drive, but ended up spinning down to last place.

The reduced GP2 Asia Series for 2009-10 now goes on hiatus until February, when the teams will return to Abu Dhabi for rounds three and four. Valsecchi will be hoping for a similar result from that weekend as well.

11 Luiz Razia (Addax) +11.881, 12 Marcus Ericsson (ART) +12.315, 13 Diego Nunes (Meritus) +12.893, 14 Roldan Rodriguez (Coloni) +13.303, 15 Charles Pic (Arden) +13.777, 16 Rodolfo Gonzalez (Arden) +14.431, 17 Max Chilton (Addax) +19.485, 18 Sam Bird (ART) +21.421, R Vladimir Arabadzhiev (Piquet) 17 laps, R Fabio Leimer (Ocean) 14 laps, R Will Bratt (Coloni) 14 laps, R Daniel Zampieri (Piquet) 5 laps, R Giacomo Ricci( DPR) 1 lap, R Plamen Kralev (Trident) 0 laps.

Drivers Championship -
1 Valsecchi 19pts, 2 Vietoris 9pts, 3 Filippi, Kral 8pts, 5 Rossi 7pts, 6 Jakes 6pts, 7 Turvey 4pts, 8 Cecotto Jr 3pts.

Teams Championship -
1 iSport International 23pts, 2 Super Nova Racing 14pts, 3 DAMS 9pts, 4 Qi-Meritus 8pts, 5 Ocean Racing 7pts, 6 Trident Racing 3pts.