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Saturday, 21 April 2012 18:51 |
 GP2 Series report and result of the race in Bahrain - DAMS racer Davide Valsecchi dominated an action packed race to once again prove his speed and skill at the Bahrain International Circuit after the Italian ace dominated today’s Feature Race from start to finish in spite of a Safety Car period around mid-race.
Valsecchi crossed the finish line 7.7s ahead of Luiz Razia. Esteban Gutiérrez snatched third place over Max Chilton on the last lap.
When the lights went out, Valsecchi made the perfect start and kept the lead from Gutiérrez. Further down, Johnny Cecotto made his way to P3 whilst Razia moved up from eighth on the grid to P5, sneaking in behind Felipe Nasr.
From then on, Valsecchi pulled away and started to build up a gap that none of his closest rivals could ever reduce.
James Calado was the first of the top ten drivers to pit on Lap 8.
On track, Razia was on a mission and passed Nasr for P4 at Turn 1. At the front, Valsecchi was already 6.4s ahead of Gutierrez, so the Mexican decided to pit and so did Razia, but a problem on the Lotus GP man’s rear right tyres meant that he when he rejoined the track he had dropped behind Calado, Razia and Chilton (who had pitted one lap earlier).
When Valsecchi pitted on lap 13, he handed the lead to Fabio Leimer, but the Italian was back in control of the pack a lap later when the Racing Engineering man re-entered the pits.
Nathanaël Berthon then in P2 and who still had to observe his mandatory pit stop was much slower than his pursuers and Chilton, the closest one, was eager to pass him, but it was Calado who took advantage of the battle in front of him to sneak ahead of the pair.
The battle for P6 intensified and ended in tears for Nasr and Cecotto. The two cars collided and stopped on track calling for a safety car period. Valsecchi’s efforts to build a comfortable gap of 11.4s was reduced to nothing, and at the restart he pulled away again from Calado.
The British rookie started to struggle on his tyres and it became more and more difficult to fend off Razia’s attacks. The Brazilian finally got through on Calado to claim P2.
In response, Valsecchi pushed even harder and set the quickest lap time. Chilton and Gutierrez also overtook Calado and started a fight of their own for P3 that lasted until the last lap, the Carlin racer tried with all his might to block the Lotus man, but Gutierrez eventually passed him in a gutsy move to step onto the podium.
At the chequered flag, Valsecchi crossed the finish line ahead of Razia and Gutierrez. Chilton was fourth ahead of Calado. Tom Dillmann, back from P15 on the grid, was sixth and scored his first points in GP2, a just reward to a fantastic race from the French rookie.
Leimer was seventh ahead of Fabio Onidi, Rio Haryanto and Brendon Hartley, the latter who had started from last on today’s grid. Onidi will start from tomorrow’s Sprint Race in reverse pole position.
Fabio Leimer
"Today my start wasn't good and I lost positions. During the pit stop we also lost some time and I re-joined the race behind the group of drivers we thought we'd jump. Then our strategy didn't work the way we wanted and had planned it. But I am pleased that I crossed the finish line in the points and can start tomorrow's race from the front. But today there was more possible. It's certainly a good starting position for tomorrow and the goal will be to win and score more points. A very good start will be important and it's important for me and the team to win the race."
Nathanael Berthon
"I had a crash at the beginning of the race when I thought I had made a correct move, but the guy in front of me closed the door quite hard on me. From that moment on my car was not at all easy to drive as several things broke due to the contact. The steering was completely bent and the car pulled towards the right side. But I did the entire race with the bent steering and it was not easy to stay on track. Given this disadvantage, our strategy wasn't bad and we were lucky with the safety car as my tyres were in very good shape. I tried to overtake and made up some positions, but one driver, the same one I had contact with on lap 1, closed the door on me in the exact same way and the exact same place again and sent me into a spin again. After the second accident with the same driver the car was undrivable and I stopped for safety reasons as it was really hard to keep it on track, in corners and on the straights. It was a very hard race. Tomorrow I am starting in the back and it will be a hard race again, but I will try to do my best. Finally, I would like to apologize for the situation when I entered into the pits for the tire change as I didn't see what happened behind me. Due to the crash I had a broken mirror and I am really sorry for the others behind me, but I didn't see them."
Rodolfo Gonzalez
“I was up to P11 in the first lap and defending the position well. I felt like I was controlling the tyre degradation so as the cars around me began to pit we decided to stay out for a few more laps, but in hindsight we lost some time and positions as a result of staying out. However, I was pleased with the car today. It felt good until I was hit in the second half of the race and lost some downforce. It was definitely an eventful race and we are learning all the time so hopefully in future we will react better as the race unfolds. Now we move on to the next race in a positive frame of mind and make sure we come back fighting.”
Giedo van der Garde
“My anti-stall came on whilst I was on the grid which ruined my start and I lost a number of positions, but I picked up pace and had a good battle with Coletti before he hit my rear left wing and pushed me off the track and into the gravel. I rejoined the race but by then I was at the back the field and it was evident that the car had been damaged. I came in for a pit stop but I had severe understeer so after several laps I was back in the pit lane and we made the call to retire early. It’s been a frustrating day but we’ll look at what went wrong tonight and make sure we come back stronger tomorrow.”
Luiz Razia
“We knew yesterday that the car was fast enough to qualify in the top three, and the race would definitely have been easier if I’d been able to do that! I’m very happy, though, with my performance, and have to thank the team for doing such a good job with the car. I stayed at the circuit until 10pm last night, discussing set-ups with my engineer as we contemplated how to preserve tyres over a race distance. We made some fairly significant changes and the car felt good right away on the soft tyres. If I had pitted two laps earlier, I might have been able to jump both Max Chilton and James Calado, but I was still behind them when the safety car came out. Calado gave me a hard time, but eventually I worked my way ahead of both and was then able to run at a controlled pace in clear air. It was too late to catch Davide Valsecchi, but second still feels like a remarkable result given where I started. I hope for more of the same tomorrow.”
Simon Trummer
“I made a flying start, picked up a few places and seemed to have pretty good pace. I was up to sixth on the road by the time I came in for my stop. I know that was a result of other guys already having pitted, but I was on target to rejoin in about 10th and really that’s where I should have finished. The speeding penalty compromised my afternoon, of course, so I have to reflect on a possible points finish that got away. It was an encouraging race in many ways, though, and I’ll try to build on that in the sprint.”
Stephane Richelmi
“I wasted the sixth place I got in qualifying with a start which I won't remember as one of my best ones. In addition to losing a lot of positions,I suffered from traction issues, and so we opted for an early stop. With the fresh tires the situation changed dramatically and I kept a great pace. I knew that the last laps would have been though due to the tire wear, and that's what happened. I'm sorry not to have ended up into the points zone because I think the team and I would have deserved it".
Julian Leal
"I was off to a great start, but at the first corner I didn't want to take risks due to the chaos situation out front. In the first few laps I lost some spots because of brake issues that forced me to early braking points, but then everything was sorted out. After the pit stop I kept a great pace and I recovered several positions up to 12th. I think that our pace has been really good and we just need to optimize the car's handling in qualifying in order to score some great results."
Bahrain– Feature race results
| Pos. |
Driver |
Team |
| 1 |
Davide Valsecchi |
DAMS |
| 2 |
Luiz Razia |
Arden International |
| 3 |
Esteban Gutiérrez |
Lotus GP |
| 4 |
Max Chilton |
Carlin |
| 5 |
James Calado |
Lotus GP |
| 6 |
Tom Dillmann |
Rapax |
| 7 |
Fabio Leimer |
Racing Engineering |
| 8 |
Fabio Onidi |
Scuderia Coloni |
| 9 |
Rio Haryanto |
Carlin |
| 10 |
Brendon Hartley |
Ocean Racing Technology |
| 11 |
Stéphane Richelmi |
Trident Racing |
| 12 |
Julian Leal |
Trident Racing |
| 13 |
Marcus Ericsson |
iSport International |
| 14 |
Fabrizio Crestani |
Venezuela GP Lazarus |
| 15 |
Rodolfo Gonzalez |
Caterham Racing |
| 16 |
Simon Trummer |
Arden International |
| 17 |
Ricardo Teixeira |
Rapax |
| 18 |
Giancarlo Serenelli |
Venezuela GP Lazarus |
| 19 |
Dani Clos |
Barwa Addax Team |
| 20 |
Nigel Melker |
Ocean Racing Technology |
| 21 |
Nathanael Berthon |
Racing Engineering |
| NC |
Johnny Cecotto |
Barwa Addax Team |
| NC |
Felipe Nasr * |
DAMS |
| NC |
Giedo van der Garde |
Caterham Racing |
| NC |
Stefano Coletti |
Scuderia Coloni |
| NC |
Jolyon Palmer |
iSport International |
Fastest lap: Davide Valsecchi (DAMS) - 1'44.380 on lap 25
* Felipe Nasr received a five place grid penalty for causing a collision with Johnny Cecotto.
F1SA.com
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