Valsecchi the Bahrain master

Davide Valsecchi made it three wins from the last three races in the feature race in Bahrain today, winning from 2^nd on the grid.  Having only qualified 22^nd, Lotus GP’s James Calado had more bad luck when he stalled on the pre-grid, forcing him to start from the pitlane.  Pole-sitter Giedo van der Garde had a good start, keeping his lead off the line.   Marcus Ericsson also had a good start, going from 9^th to 4^th, capitalising on Max Chilton’s poor start, which saw him fall back to 8^th from a 4^th place start.

After the start, however, Valsecchi began closing the gap on van der Garde, and by lap 8 was close enough to overtake for the lead.  Fabio Leimer had also closed on van der Garde, and passed the Dutchman on lap 9.  After the leaders had pitted Valsecchi was still in the lead, with Leimer 2^nd and van der Garde 3^rd, and it remained this way to the finish.  Marcus Ericsson finished 8^th, giving him pole for the sprint race tomorrow, and scoring his first points of the season.  Johnny Cecotto, Jr. also made it into the points, finishing 10^th, giving Barwa Addax their first point finish of the season.  The fastest lap was set by James Calado on lap 28, providing consolation for a difficult day on which he only finished 17^th.

Results of the Bahrain Feature Race

1.	Davide Valsecchi	57:35.088
2.	Fabio Leimer	+7.711
3.	Giedo van der Garde	+14.824
4.	Luiz Razia	+24.142
5.	Max Chilton	+24.705
6.	Rio Haryanto	+40.965
7.	Felipe Nasr	+45.772
8.	Marcus Ericsson	+50.645
9.	Tom Dillmann	+52.522
10.	Johnny Cecotto, Jr.	+55.578
11.	Esteban Gutiérrez	+56.211
12.	Nathanaël Berthon	+1:06.906
13.	Brendon Hartley	+1:07.254
14.	Rodolfo González	+1:09.206
15.	Simon Trummer	+1:15.486
16.	Julián Leal	+1:16.363
17.	James Calado	+1:20.506
18.	Stéphane Richelmi	+1:21.441
19.	Nigel Melker	+1:29.955
20.	Fabio Onidi	+1:47.146
21.	Stefano Coletti	+1 lap
22.	Giancarlo Serenelli	+1 lap
23.	Ricardo Teixeira	+1 lap
24.	Jolyon Palmer1	Retired
R.	Fabrizio Crestani	Retired
R.	Dani Clos	Retired

¹ Jolyon Palmer classified as he completed 90% of the race winner's distance