The GP2 Series returned for the Valencia weekend, and provided plenty of bizarre moments and crashes. But Pastor Maldonado still managed to extend his early championship lead, despite the carnage unravelling around him.
After a few weeks off while the Formula One pack dallied around in North America, the GP2 and GP3 Series both returned for the Valencia weekend. And despite the limitations of the track, the youngsters managed to provide plenty of action by either wiping half the grid out into turn one at the start of every race, or by even controversially managing some moments of genuine overtaking.
By the time the dust and flying cars had settled though, the leaders in both series had strengthened their flimsy grips on their respective championships, with GP2 veteran and potential Sauber target Pastor Maldonado moving into a clear lead in GP2 and the highly impressive Esteban Gutierrez again proving to be the cream of the 30 car GP3 crop.
GP2 Series Report
Qualifying
Addax driver grabbed pole position for the feature race in Valencia, popping in the quickest time of the session at the very end to beat long-time session topper and points leader Pastor Maldonado (Rapax) to the front of the grid.
ART driver and recent Ferrari F1 tester Jules Bianchi, still struggling for consistency in 2010, took third place, from reigning GP2 Asia champion and all-round GP2 middleweight Davide Valsecchi (iSport). Pre-season championship tip Giedo van der Garde completed the top five times for Barwa Addax.
The surprise package of the session was DPR's Michael Herck, who grabbed 6th place, while championship frontrunners Dani Clos (Racing Engineering) and Luiz Razia (Rapax) could only manage 11th and 14th respectively.
Valencia GP2 Grid Positions:
1 Sergio Perez (Addax) 1:45.337, 2 Pastor Maldonado (Rapax) +0.125, 3 Jules Bianchi (ART) +0.321, 4 Davide Valsecchi (iSport) +0.561, 5 Giedo van der Garde (Barwa) +0.658, 6 Michael Herck (DPR) +0.780, 7 Charles Pic (Arden) +0.834, 8 Christian Vietoris (Racing Eng) +0.926, 9 Giacomo Ricci (DPR) +1.021, 10 Sam Bird (ART) +1.025, 11 Dani Clos (Racing Eng) +1.141, 12 Johnny Cecotto Jr (Trident) +1.167, 13 Alberto Valerio (Coloni) +1.171, 14 Luiz Razia (Rapax) +1.181, 15 Adrian Zaugg (Trident) +1.195, 16 Oliver Turvey (iSport) +1.296, 17 Josef Kral (Super Nova) +1.372, 18 Jerome D'Ambrosio (DAMS) +1.406, 19 Marcus Ericsson (Super Nova) +1.419, 20 Ho-Pin Tung (DAMS) +1.443, 21 Vladimir Arabadzhiev (Coloni) +1.531, 22 Rodolfo Gonzalez (Arden) +1.616, 23 Fabio Leimer (Ocean) +1.674, 24 Max Chilton (Ocean) +1.717.
Feature Race
A pleasingly action-packed feature race on Saturday began with a series of unconnected collisions on the opening lap, which saw no less than nine of the 24 starters eliminated and plenty more delayed, including the hapless Razia and Oliver Turvey's iSport car. In front of the carnage, though, Perez, Maldonado and Bianchi all made clean starts.
As the safety car pitted though, Maldonado slid wide at the final corner, allowing Bianchi cheekily past at the first safety car line. The French driver then made comfortably short work of Perez to take the lead of the race. After Bianchi passed the Mexican, Valsecchi tried to move through as well, only for the pair to make contact. Valsecchi picked up a drive-through penalty for his clunky move, while Perez ended up well down the field.
At the front, meanwhile, Maldonado pulled a move on Bianchi after the ART man was pressured into a mistake, continuing the inconsistent start to the pre-season one to watch's GP2 career. The Venezuelan driver, then, took a lead he would never lose, extending his lead for the rest of the race to pull further clear in the championship.
Bianchi held on for second place, while his ART team mate Sam Bird avoided the carnage to take third, from Giedo van der Garde (Addax), Clos and Charles Pic (Arden).
Super Nova's Marcus Ericsson and qualifying star Herck completed the points standings, with Herck then on pole position for the reverse grid sprint race on Sunday morning.
Perez finished well down after his recovery drive was further delayed when he met the odd sight of a bouncing car jack at turn four, which had fallen off Alberto Valerio's Coloni car after he pulled away from a pit stop with it still attached.
The Coloni team picked up a fine for the incident, while second Coloni driver Vladimir Arabadzhiev and Super Nova man Josef Kral were handed 10 place penalties for the sprint race grid after they were deemed to have caused the carnage on the opening lap.
| Race Result | ||||
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Pts |
| 1 | Pastor Maldonado | Rapax Team | 56:55.681 | 10 |
| 2 | Jules Bianchi | ART Grand Prix | +8.296 | 8 |
| 3 | Sam Bird | ART Grand Prix | +16.094 | 6 |
| 4 | Giedo van der Garde | Barwa Addax Team | +16.788 | 5 |
| 5 | Dani Clos | Racing Engineering | +38.974 | 4 |
| 6 | Charles Pic | Arden International | +42.415 | 3 |
| 7 | Marcus Ericsson | Super Nova Racing | +42.914 | 2 |
| 8 | Michael Herck | DPR | +43.722 | 1 |
| 9 | Alberto Valerio | Scuderia Coloni | +48.508 | |
| 10 | Davide Valsecchi | iSport International | +50.411 |
11 Sergio Perez (Barwa Addax Team) +51.308, 12 Christian Vietoris (Racing Engineering) +55.338, 13 Vladimir Arabadzhiev (Scuderia Coloni) +1 lap, 14 Adrian Zaugg (Trident Racing) +1 lap, Ret Fabio Leimer (Ocean Racing Technology) 25 laps, Ret Rodolfo Gonzalez (Arden International) 0 laps, Ret Josef Kral (Super Nova) 0 laps, Ret Luiz Razia (Rapax) 0 laps, Ret Giacomo Ricci (DPR) 0 laps, Ret Ho-Pin Tung 0 laps, Ret Jerome D'Ambrosio (DAMS) 0 laps, Ret Johnny Cecotto Jr (Trident Racing) 0 laps, Ret Oliver Turvey (iSport International) 0 laps.
Sprint Race
The sprint race at Valencia was one of mixed emotions for the Super Nova team. Having failed to score a single point in the first three meetings of the year, the only team to have achieved such a dubious result, they got their first points with Ericsson in the feature.
And the Swede gave them an even better result when he leapt into the lead from Herck into the first corner, and then proceeded to hold off a challenge from van der Garde over the closing stages to take a welcome victory.
But the former champion F3000 team's glee at breaking their season's duck, and taking only their seventh win in six years of GP2 competition, was tempered by a violent crash for their other driver. Czech driver Josef Kral was launched over the back of the Arden car of Rodolfo Gonzalez, in what was to become a theme of the Valencia weekend.
Kral slammed heavily into the barriers at turn 17 of the track, and was taken to hospital complaining of back pain and an injury to his right arm. He remains in hospital for observation.
The accident, which followed another first lap pile-up, precipitated a long safety car period, and the race failed to complete its full distance, becoming a timed event. So Ericsson hung on for victory from van der Garde. Poleman Herck took third after holding off a last-gasp challenge from Maldonado out of the final corner.
Charles Pic and Davide Valsecchi completed the points finishers.
With Perez, Razia, Dani Clos and Bianchi all enduring poor races, Maldonado's three points extended his points lead still further. The Venezuelan now leads Clos and van der Garde by 15 points as the series heads to the British GP weekend at Silverstone.
| Sprint Race Result | ||||
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Pts |
| 1 | Marcus Ericsson | Super Nova Racing | 45:33.442 | 6 |
| 2 | Giedo van der Garde | Barwa Addax Team | +0.883 | 5 |
| 3 | Michael Herck | DPR | +5.120 | 4 |
| 4 | Pastor Maldonado | Rapax Team | +5.292 | 3 |
| 5 | Charles Pic | Arden International | +9.233 | 2 |
| 6 | Davide Valsecchi | iSport International | +17.778 | 1 |
| 7 | Dani Clos | Racing Engineering | +18.315 | |
| 8 | Jerome d'Ambrosio | DAMS | +18.910 | |
| 9 | Vladimir Arabadzhiev | Scuderia Coloni | +21.318 | |
| 10 | Sam Bird | ART Grand Prix | +23.831 |
11 Max Chilton (Ocean Racing Technology) +25.997, 12 Oliver Turvey (iSport International) +30.387, 13 Ho-Pin Tung (DAMS) +32.713, 14 Johnny Cecotto Jr (Trident Racing) +33.394, 15 Adrian Zaugg (Trident Racing) +1 lap, 16 Sergio Perez (Barwa Addax Team) +1 lap, Ret Luiz Razia (Rapax Team) 15 laps, Ret Rodolfo Gonzalez (Arden International) 1 lap, Ret Josef Kral (Super Nova Racing) 1 lap, Ret Jules Bianchi (ART Grand Prix) 0 laps, Ret Alberto Valerio (Scuderia Coloni) 0 laps, Ret Christian Vietoris (Racing Engineering) 0 laps, Ret Fabio Leimer (Ocean Racing Technology) 0 laps, Ret Giacomo Ricci (DPR) 0 laps.
Drivers Championship after 8 of 20 rounds -
1 Maldonado 42pts, 2 Clos, van der Garde 27pts, 4 Razia 20pts, 5 Perez, Bianchi 19pts, 7 Bird 17pts, 8 Pic 15pts, 9 Valsecchi 14pts, 10 Herck 10pts, 11 Ericsson, Leimer, Ricci 8pts, 14 d'Ambrosio 7pts, 15 Turvey 6pts, 16 Valerio 4pts, 17 Cecotto Jr 3pts, 18 Vietoris 2pts.
Teams Championship after 8 of 20 rounds -
1 Rapax Team 62pts, 2 Barwa Addax Team 46pts, 3 ART Grand Prix 36pts, 4 Racing Engineering 29pts, 5 iSport International 20pts, 6 DPR 18pts, 7 Arden International 15pts, 8 Super Nova Racing, Ocean Racing Technology 8pts, 10 DAMS 7pts, 11 Scuderia Coloni 4pts, 12 Trident Racing 3pts.
GP3 Series Report
Esteban Gutierrez dominated the feature race in Valencia for ART Grand Prix, starting from pole position and leading every lap to wrap up his second feature race win in a row.
The only threat to his lead came from an early safety car, triggered after an enormous opening lap accident put eight cars out of action, including Felipe Guimaraes (Addax), who aped Mark Webber's GP shunt when he flew over the top of Nigel Melker's RSC Mucke car.
But Gutierrez controlled the restart and finished some 2.4 seconds clear of Canadian Robert Wickens, who equalled his best result of the season so far with second for Status GP. Roberto Merhi, making his debut in the series after replacing Patrick Reiterer at ATECH GP, secured an impressive podium in third.
Further back in what was a largely processional race, Jean-Eric Vergne (Tech 1) secured fourth place, holding off MW Arden's Miki Monras in the closing stages. Manor's Rio Haryanto took 6th with Nico Muller (Jenzer) 7th and James Jakes (Manor) finishing 8th and taking pole position for the sprint race.
The biggest casualty from the opening lap shunt was second place man in the points Alexander Rossi, who dropped out in the melee.
The sprint race on Sunday was a departure from the norm at the Valencia weekend, given that it didn't begin with an enormous pile-up. Indeed the only retirement throughout the 30 car field was the luckless Rossi, who failed on lap 3.
But that isn't to say that it wasn't entertaining. From the start, Nico Muller took the lead from a slow-starting Jakes, and pulled away comfortably. Further back, though, Atech CRS driver Roberto Merhi fought through from 6th on the grid to take second, and was closing Muller's lead when the chequered flag came out.
Further back, Jakes won a scrap with fellow Manor driver Ryo Haryanto for 3rd place, while behind them, poshly-named Adrian Quaife-Hobbs came through to take 5th after Gutierrez had been removed from contention following a crash with Wickens. Quaife-Hobbs picked up fifth late on when Stefano Coletti (Tech 1) and Tobias Hegewald (Mucke) collided when fighting for position.
Coletti survived the crash and recovered to take the final point from Gutierrez. Despite his pointless sprint race outing, the Mexican ART driver extended his lead out to 16 points over Wickens, as the GP3 field heads to Silverstone for rounds 7 and 8.
| Race 1 Result | ||||
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Pts |
| 1 | Esteban Gutierrez | ART Grand Prix | 28:00.338 | 10 |
| 2 | Robert Wickens | Status Grand Prix | +2.484 | 8 |
| 3 | Roberto Merhi | ATECH CRS GP | +8.699 | 6 |
| 4 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Tech 1 Racing | +11.634 | 5 |
| 5 | Miki Monras | MW Arden | +12.030 | 4 |
| 6 | Ryo Haryanto | Manor Racing | +20.832 | 3 |
| 7 | Nico Muller | Jenzer Motorsport | +21.415 | 2 |
| 8 | James Jakes | Manor Racing | +23.335 | 1 |
| 9 | Tobias Hegewald | Mucke Motorsport | +29.646 | |
| 10 | Stefano Coletti | Tech 1 Racing | +30.534 |
| Race 2 Result | ||||
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Pts |
| 1 | Nico Muller | Jenzer Motorsport | 28:01.567 | 6 |
| 2 | Roberto Merhi | ATECH CRS GP | +3.208 | 5 |
| 3 | James Jakes | Manor Racing | +6.641 | 4 |
| 4 | Ryo Haryanto | Manor Racing | +15.423 | 3 |
| 5 | Adrian Quaife-Hobbs | Manor Racing | +17.054 | 2 |
| 6 | Stefano Coletti | Tech 1 Racing | +18.172 | 1 |
| 7 | Esteban Gutierrez | ART Grand Prix | +18.779 | |
| 8 | Pal Varhaug | Jenzer Motorsport | +24.997 | |
| 9 | Pablo Sanchez Lopez | Addax Team | +26.149 | |
| 10 | Mirko Bortolotti | Addax Team | +29.817 |
Drivers Championship after 6 of 16 rounds -
1 Gutierrez 35pts, 2 Wickens 19pts, 3 Rossi 17pts, 4 Muller 14pts, 5 Haryanto, Jakes 12pts, 7 Merhi, Monras 12pts, 9 Varhaug 10pts, 10 Vergne 9pts, 11 Foresti, Guimaraes, Smith 7pts, 14 Morad 6pts, 15 Melker 4pts, 16 Trummer 3pts, 17 Quaife-Hobbs 2pts, 18 Coletti, Nunes 1pt.
Teams Championship after 6 of 16 rounds -
1 ART Grand Prix 53pts, 2 Manor Racing 28pts, 3 Jenzer Motorsport 27pts, 4 Status Grand Prix 25pts, 5 Carlin 14pts, 6 ATECH CRS GP, MW Arden 12pts, 8 Tech 1 Racing 10pts, 9 Addax Team 7pts, 10 Mucke Motorsport 4pts.
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