The 2010 GP2 Series got underway at the Circuit de Catalunya, with a series of unexpected faces taking the glory as the predicted title contenders struggled, while the inaugural GP3 Series round also produced a few surprises.
The GP2 and GP3 drivers assembled in Barcelona for the start of their respective seasons after a long pre-season. A number of last minute deals meant full grids in both series, with GP3 cobbling together a capacity 30 drivers, while GP2's final pair of available drives at Arden International and Trident Racing were filled by Rodolfo Gonzalez and Adrian Zaugg respectively.The two series started the weekend with the bad news that the standalone round of their championships, the Portimao event in Portugal scheduled for the 19th and 20th of June, had been cancelled over a breach in the circuit's contractual obligations. This meant that the 2010 GP2 Series was now a 20 round championship, with the GP3 Series a 16 round series, the younger drivers missing the Monaco and Abu Dhabi weekends.
GP2 Series Report
Qualifying
The first GP2 pole position of the 2010 season was taken by pre-season title favourite Jules Bianchi for reigning champions ART, the Frenchman impressing with a quick time good to give him pole position by nearly three teanths of a second, a big gap in the one-make series, and was secured despite his session ending early when he spun and stalled at the fiddly final chicane at Barcelona.
Mexican driver Sergio Perez managed a similarly comfortable performance to take the second spot on the grid for Barwa Addax, splitting the ART drivers and meaning that Sam Bird had to settle for a spot on the second row alongside fellow GP2 rookie Christian Vietoris (Racing Engineering). GP2 Asia race winner Oliver Turvey took fifth place in his iSport machine, with another French rookie, Charles Pic, taking sixth for Arden.
Some other pre-season favourites fared less well. A strong testing performance from Pastor Maldonado (Rapax) failed to translate into a great deal of pace, and he ended 9th, GP2 Asia champion Davide Valsecchi was only 10th, while Giedo van der Garde (Addax) only managed 13th.
Barcelona GP2 Grid Positions:
1 Jules Bianchi (ART) 1:27.727, 2 Sergio Perez (Addax) +0.284, 3 Sam Bird (ART) +0.514, 4 Christian Vietoris (Racing Eng) +0.527, 5 Oliver Turvey (iSport) +0.571, 6 Charles Pic (Arden) +0.573, 7. Dani Clos (Racing Eng) +0.645, 8 Marcus Ericsson (Super Nova) +0.649, 9 Pastor Maldonado (Rapax) +0.943, 10 Davide Valsecchi (iSport) +0.987, 11 Fabio Leimer (Ocean) +0.996, 12 Giacomo Ricci (DPR) +1.242, 13 Giedo van der Garde (Addax) +1.273, 14 Luiz Razia (Rapax) +1.338, 15 Johnny Cecotto Jr (Trident) +1.402, 16 Jerome D'Ambrosio (DAMS) +1.511, 17 Alberto Valerio (Coloni) +1.544, 18 Josef Kral (Super Nova) +1.655, 19 Max Chilton (Ocean) +1.710, 20 Michael Herck (DPR) +1.773, 21 Adrian Zaugg (Trident) +1.791, 22 Ho-Pin Tung (DAMS) +1.792, 23 Vladimir Arabadzhiev (Coloni) +2.185, 24 Rodolfo Gonzalez (Arden) +2.482.
Feature Race
The feature race in Barcelona kick-started the GP2 season, and it started in dramatic fashion. Bianchi led away into turn one, but the fast-starting Vietoris attempted a pass and ended up colliding with the ART car. Both Biancho and Vietoris were out on the spot, with Sam Bird forced wide and damaging his nosecone in the incident, forcing an unscheduled pit stop.
All the carnage allowed Perez through to take the lead from second on the grid, and the Mexican driver led the early laps from Arden's Charles Pic and the surprise package of the race, DPR's Giacomo Ricci, who got an incredible start from 10th on the grid to take third after the first corner melee.
Perez's lead was not to be sustained, though, and as the drivers made their mandatory tyre stops, his Addax team botched their changes and Perez dropped back, with Pic inheriting the lead, and the Frenchman went on to take victory for Arden, the first win in a GP2 feature race for Christian Horner's team since Bruno Senna won at the same track in 2007.
Pic was forced to defend his position from Ricci at first, but the Italian dropped back by the checkered flag. Nevertheless, it was a stellar result for the usual backmarkers at DPR, and follows Ricci's similarly incredible exploits in the GP2 Asia Series for the team.
The final podium spot was taken, again surprisingly, by former Williams F1 tester Dani Clos for Racing Engineering, the Spaniard also benefiting from the first corner incident and then executing the pass of the race on Pastor Maldonado's Rapax car just after the pit stops.
The recovering Perez took fourth, from iSport's Oliver Turvey and the ailing Maldonado. The second Rapax car of Virgin F1 tester Luis Razia was 7th, well clear of Fabio Leimer (Ocean Racing), who took the final point and pole position for the Sunday sprint race.
Just out of the points was the recovering Bird, who produced the drive of the race to storm back from his early enforced pit stop to eventually finish 9th, taking some seven seconds out of Leimer on the last three laps alone. The GP2 Asia champion Davide Valsecchi found none of his winter form in Barcelona, but completed the top ten.
| Race Result | ||||
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Pts |
| 1 | Charles Pic | Arden International | 57:54.177 | 10 |
| 2 | Giacomo Ricci | DPR | +1.489 | 8 |
| 3 | Dani Clos | Racing Engineering | +4.209 | 6 |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | Barwa Addax Team | +5.111 | 5 |
| 5 | Oliver Turvey | iSport International | +18.339 | 4 |
| 6 | Pastor Maldonado | Rapax Team | +30.211 | 3 |
| 7 | Luiz Razia | Rapax Team | +30.568 | 2 |
| 8 | Fabio Leimer | Ocean Racing Technology | +34.321 | 1 |
| 9 | Sam Bird | ART Grand Prix | +35.961 | |
| 10 | Davide Valsecchi | iSport International | +44.064 |
11 Marcus Ericsson (Super Nova Racing) +50.352, 12 Josef Kral (Super Nova Racing) +51.682, 13 Ho-Pin Tung (DAMS) +53.450, 14 Alberto Valerio (Scuderia Coloni) +59.837, 15 Rodolfo Gonzalez (Arden International) +1:06.180, 16 Adrian Zaugg (Trident Racing) +1:06.394, 17 Michael Herck (DPR) +1:06.689, 18 Max Chilton ( Ocean Racing Technology) +1:11.572, 19 Vladimir Arabadzhiev (Scuderia Coloni) +1:16.292, 20 Giedo van der Garde (Barwa Addax Team) +1:17.173, Ret Jerome D'Ambrosio (DAMS) 12 laps, Ret Jules Bianchi (ART Grand Prix) 0 laps, Ret Christian Vietoris (Racing Engineering) 0 laps, Ret Johnny Cecotto Jr (Trident Racing) 0 laps.
Sprint Race
Leimer duly lined up on the front row for the sprint race then, on pole and alongside Razia, and that pair went on to dominate the shorter Sunday event. Leimer, the 2009 International Formula Master champion, held off Razia's challenge to take the win at his first GP2 Series weekend.
Leimer dominated the first half of the race, extending a comfortable margin ahead of the chasing pack, but then found himself hauled in by Razia in the closing stages. Still, the Virgin tester couldn't find a way past, and Leimer held on, with Razia taking second and his Rapax team mate Maldonado finishing a lonely third.
Further back, Sam Bird continued his impressive recovery from the feature race, moving up from 9th to 4th by the end, only blotting his copybook with a late gravelly moment when trying to reel in Maldonado.
Fellow Brit Oliver Turvey took firth for iSport, leading home a train of cars including Dani Clos, who took the final point for the sprint race in 6th, and feature race stars Pic and Ricci.
Pre-season favourite Jules Bianchi endured another pointless race, starting at the back after his race 1 crash and only making it up to 12th by the end, while Sergio Perez failed to add to his feature race points total after his Dallara Renault blew an engine on the formation lap.
The races come thick and fast for the GP2 drivers, and they head to another double-header at Monaco next weekend with Pic leading the championship by two points from Leimer and Ricci.
| Sprint Race Result | ||||
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Pts |
| 1 | Fabio Leimer | Ocean Racing Technology | 38:31.849 | 6 |
| 2 | Luiz Razia | Rapax Team | +0.755 | 5 |
| 3 | Pastor Maldonado | Rapax Team | +4.850 | 4 |
| 4 | Sam Bird | ART Grand Prix | +14.274 | 3 |
| 5 | Oliver Turvey | iSport International | +26.785 | 2 |
| 6 | Dani Clos | Racing Engineering | +27.433 | 1 |
| 7 | Charles Pic | Arden International | +28.459 | |
| 8 | Giacomo Ricci | DPR | +29.077 | |
| 9 | Giedo van der Garde | Barwa Addax Team | +29.889 | |
| 10 | Ho-Pin Tung | DAMS | +31.323 |
11 Davide Valsecchi (iSport International) +39.228, 12 Jules Bianchi (ART Grand Prix) +39.564, 13 Jerome D'Ambrosio (DAMS) +39.661, 14 Rodolfo Gonzalez (Arden International) +51.383, 15 Adrian Zaugg (Trident Racing) +51.971, 16 Max Chilton (Ocean Racing Technology) +52.473, 17 Johnny Cecotto Jr (Trident Racing) +53.489, 18 Christian Vietoris (Racing Engineering) +54.129, 19 Josef Kral (Super Nova Racing) +54.772, 20 Vladimir Arabadzhiev (Scuderia Coloni) +56.388, 21 Michael Herck (DPR) +1:06.461, Ret Marcus Ericsson (Super Nova Racing) 2 laps, Ret Sergio Perez (Barwa Addax Team) 0 laps, Ret Alberto Valerio (Scuderia Coloni) 0 laps.
GP2 Series Drivers Championship after Round 2 of 20 -
1 Pic 10pts, 2 Leimer, Ricci 8pts, 4 Razia, Clos, Maldonado 7pts, 7 Turvey 6pts, 8 Perez 5pts, 9 Bird 4pts, 10 Bianchi 2pts.
GP2 Series Teams Championship after Round 2 of 20 -
1 Rapax Team 14pts, 2 Arden International 10pts, 3 Ocean Racing Technology, DPR 8pts, 5 Racing Engineering 7pts, 6 ART Grand Prix, iSport International 6pts, 8 Barwa Addax Team 5pts.
GP3 Series Report
The inaugural rounds of the new GP3 Series produced plenty of action, and a few early impressive performances. Mucke Motorsport's Nigel Melker had taken pole position for the first round of the championship, topping the times in a damp qualifying session to beat Pal Varhaug (Jenzer) and Status GP pair Robert Wickens and Daniel Monrad to top spot.
But the German's joy didn't last long in the race itself, as he bogged down at the start, before being hit by an out-of control Morad, who had been tagged off the line. Varhaug inherited the lead as the field streamed away, from Canadian driver Wickens and ART driver Esteban Gutierrez.
Wickens challenged Varhaug early on, but couldn't find a way past the Norweigan, and in the latter half of the race he fell back into the clutches of Gutierrez, just holding off the pre-season title favourite to take second. Gutierrez had to settle from third from Dean Smith (Carlin), Jean-Eric Vergne (Tech 1) and Simon Trummer (Jenzer).
Further back, American driver Alexander Rossi produced the drive of the race in his ART car to come through from 28th on the grid to take 8th place, just failing to take 7th away from Carlin man Lucas Foresti in the closing stages. It was enough, though, to give Rossi the pole for the reverse grid second race.
If Rossi's overtaking abilities had come to the fore in the first race, the second race on Sunday morning allowed him to demonstrate his abilities in leading a race. The American jumped into an immediate lead from pole position, and despite an early safety car period following a crash that eliminated race 1 winner Varhaug, Rossi led the whole way to win by over ten seconds.
His efforts were helped at the safety car restart, when second placed man Foresti failed to follow him as he made the jump to go racing again, giving the American an immediate advantage. Foresti was left to spend the rest of the race manfully holding off a train of cars behind him, chiefly from Gutierrez.
Although Gutierrez eventually let frustration get the better of him, running deep and losing third to Vergne, he reclaimed third when the Frenchman was handed a drive-through for some overly feisty driving at the start of the race. Gutierrez then held off Wickens to the end of the race, with Smith and Pedro Nunes (ART) completing the points scorers.
Wickens took the early lead of the championship as the series takes a break until the Turkish GP in late May, from Varhaug and Gutierrez, but it is Alex Rossi that will have made the biggest impression on watching GP2 and F1 team bosses at the first ever GP3 event.
| Feature Race Result | ||||
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Pts |
| 1 | Pal Varhaug | Jenzer Motorsport | 26:58.573 | 10 |
| 2 | Robert Wickens | Status Grand Prix | +1.563 | 8 |
| 3 | Esteban Gutierrez | ART Grand Prix | +1.958 | 6 |
| 4 | Dean Smith | Carlin Motorsport | +3.446 | 5 |
| 5 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Tech 1 Racing | +6.722 | 4 |
| 6 | Simon Trummer | Jenzer Motorsport | +8.734 | 3 |
| 7 | Lucas Foresti | Carlin Motorsport | +13.604 | 2 |
| 8 | Alexander Rossi | ART Grand Prix | +14.208 | 1 |
| 9 | James Jakes | Manor Racing | +15.847 | |
| 10 | Miki Monras | MW Arden | +16.628 |
| Sprint Race Result | ||||
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Pts |
| 1 | Alexander Rossi | ART Grand Prix | 27:06.594 | 6 |
| 2 | Lucas Foresti | Carlin Motorsport | +10.535 | 5 |
| 3 | Esteban Gutierrez | ART Grand Prix | +11.005 | 4 |
| 4 | Robert Wickens | Status Grand Prix | +11.699 | 3 |
| 5 | Dean Smith | Carlin Motorsport | +14.154 | 2 |
| 6 | Pedro Nunes | ART Grand Prix | +17.082 | 1 |
| 7 | James Jakes | Manor Racing | +17.537 | |
| 8 | Simon Trummer | Jenzer Motorsport | +18.346 | |
| 9 | Mico Muller | Jenzer Motorsport | +18.937 | |
| 10 | Oliver Oakes | Atech CRS GP | +24.906 |
GP3 Series Drivers Championship after Round 2 of 16 -
1 Wickens 11pts, 2 Varhaug, Gutierrez 10pts, 4 Rossi 8pts, 5 Foresti, Smith 7pts, 7 Vergne 4pts, 8 Trummer 3pts, 9 Melker 2pts, 10 Nunes, Monras 1pt.
GP3 Series Teams Championship after Round 2 of 16 -
1 ART Grand Prix 19pts, 2 Carlin Motorsport 14pts, 3 Jenzer Motorsport 13pts, 4 Status Grand Prix 11pts, 5 Tech 1 Racing 4pts, RSC Mucke Motorsport 2pts, 7 MW Arden 1pt.
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