Gutiérrez cuts through the field to win

In a race in which the safety car probably led the most laps, Esteban Gutiérrez managed to make the most of the times when the safety car was in to move from 5^th to 1^st.  At the start of the race the Mexican driver passed Max Chilton and Felipe Nasr to slot in to 3^rd, just behind Giedo van der Garde in 2^nd and James Calado, who maintained 1^st position from the start and began pulling out a lead over his rivals. Before the first time the safety car came out, Calado had a lead of 15 seconds over van der Garde.


The safety car was first brought out when debris off Tom Dillmann's chassis was scattered across the track.  Of the front runner's, only Calado was yet to pit, and his lead over the rest of the field was destroyed by the pack backing up behind the safety car.  When the safety car came in Calado was still in the lead, but was yet to pit.  Only a few laps passed before the safety car came in again, when Jolyon Palmer made contact with the back of Fabrizio Crestani's chassis, flipping Crestani's car twice before it came to rest upside down on the tarmac.  Thankfully Crestani was able to walk away from the accident, and it appears he escaped serious injury.


When the action resumed again, Calado led from Luiz Razia and Esteban Gutiérrez, but was still required to make a pitstop. Gutiérrez managed to pass Luiz Razia for 2^nd on lap 23.  Calado finally pit from the lead, just as the safety car came out for the third time of the race, after Giancarlo Serenelli stopped on the circuit after his car was tapped from behind, putting the Venezuelan driver into a spin.  When Calado emerged he was down in 10^th, and Gutiérrez became the race leader.  Marcus Ericsson also passed Razia to take 2^nd.

Results of the Valencia Feature Race

1.	Esteban Gutiérrez	1:00:31.895
2.	Marcus Ericsson	+1.615
3.	Luiz Razia	+6.064
4.	Fabio Leimer	+6.408
5.	Rio Haryanto	+6.928
6.	Nathanaël Berthon	+7.605
7.	Max Chilton	+8.384
8.	Davide Valsecchi	+10.573
9.	James Calado	+11.099
10.	Stefano Coletti	+15.404
11.	Simon Trummer	+15.782
12.	Giedo van der Garde	+15.962
13.	Julián Leal	+16.869
14.	Fabio Onidi	+17.715
15.	Stéphane Richelmi	+18.338
16.	Josef Král	+19.580
17.	Rodolfo González	+22.983
18.	Daniel de Jong	+23.456
19.	Johnny Cecotto, Jr.1	+39.627
20.	Víctor Guerin	+1 lap
R.	Giancarlo Serenelli	Retired
R.	Felip Nasr	Retired
R.	Jolyon Palmer	Retired
R.	Fabrizio Crestani	Retired
R.	Tom Dillmann	Retired
R.	Nigel Melker	Retired

¹ Johnny Cecotto, Jr. handed a penalty for an unsafe pit release.

Calado on pole at Valencia

James Calado's brilliant début season in GP2 Series continued with pole at the Valencia Street Circuit, just pipping Felipe Nasr to the top spot by 7 thousandths of a second.


Early on the session was called to a halt when Giancarlo Serenelli spun and stopped in the middle of the track, forcing red flags to be shown until his car could be removed.  When the session began again, series leader Davide Valsecchi went fastest, before seeing his time bettered by Esteban Gutiérrez and Nasr, before Calado claimed pole with his fastest laps.


In his first ever GP2 Series qualifying session, Daniël de Jong, who is replacing an ill Ricardo Teixeira this weekend, had a torrid time, qualifying 25^th.


Post-session penalties were handed to Gutiérrez, Valsecchi, Johnny Cecotto, Jr. and Simon Trummer as punishment for their impeding other drivers.  Gutiérrez, Valsecchi and Cecotto, Jr. were handed 3-place grid penalties, while Trummer was handed a 2-place grid penalty.
As he did not set a time, Serenelli will not be on the grid for the feature race.
EDIT: Actually, Serenelli will start, from 26^th.

Grid for Valencia Feature Race

1.	James Calado	1:47.342
2.	Felipe Nasr	1:47.349
3.	Giedo van der Garde	1:47.543
4.	Max Chilton	1:47.674
5.	Esteban Gutiérrez1	1:47.444
6.	Davide Valsecchi1	1:47.458
7.	Fabio Leimer	1:47.779
8.	Jolyon Palmer	1:47.801
9.	Marcus Ericsson	1:47.972
10.	Rio Haryanto	1:47.996
11.	Luiz Razia	1:48.155
12.	Tom Dillmann	1:48.176
13.	Stefano Coletti	1:48.222
14.	Stéphane Richelmi	1:48.288
15.	Nathanaël Berthon	1:48.518
16.	Fabio Onidi	1:48.578
17.	Johnny Cecotto, Jr.1	1:48.390
18.	Simon Trummer2	1:48.565
19.	Josef Král	1:48.626
20.	Julián Leal	1:48.641
21.	Fabrizio Crestani	1:48.846
22.	Rodolfo González	1:48.936
23.	Nigel Melker	1:49.021
24.	Víctor Guerin	1:49.335
25.	Daniël de Jong	1:49.900
26.	Giancarlo Serenelli

¹ Esteban Gutiérrez, Davide Valsecchi and Johnny Cecotto, Jr. handed 3-place grid penalties for impeding other cars.
² Simon Trummer handed a 2-place grid penalty for impeding other cars.

Cecotto on pole in Monaco

In qualifying for the GP2 feature race in Monaco, Johnny Cecotto, Jr. carried his form from practice through, setting a time of 1:21.195 to take pole.  At the street circuit qualifying had been split into two groups.  The driver that set the fastest lap time would take pole, with the fastest driver from the other group starting 2^nd. This means that although Max Chilton, the fastest driver from group A, set a lap-time slower than Marcus Ericsson's, the second fastest driver in group B, he will start from 2^nd on the grid. This is Cecotto, Jr.'s first pole in his GP2 career. Series leader Davide Valsecchi will start from 7^th on the grid.

Grid for Monaco Feature Race

1.	Johnny Cecotto, Jr.	1:21.195
2.	Max Chilton	1:21.320
3.	Marcus Ericsson	1:21.249
4.	Giedo van der Garde	1:21.475
5.	Luiz Razia	1:21.858
6.	Jolyon Palmer	1:21.530
7.	Davide Valsecchi	1:21.912
8.	Josef Král	1:21.776
9.	Fabio Leimer	1:22.053
10.	Esteban Gutiérrez	1:21.796
11.	Tom Dillmann	1:22.288
12.	Stefano Coletti	1:22.174
13.	James Calado	1:22.598
14.	Stéphane Richelmi	1:22.326
15.	Julián Leal	1:22.762
16.	Nathanaël Berthon	1:22.475
17.	Rodolfo González	1:22.873
18.	Felipe Nasr	1:22.650
19.	Nigel Melker	1:22.996
20.	Simon Trummer	1:22.997
21.	Fabio Onidi	1:23.020
22.	Fabrizio Crestani	1:23.193
23.	Rio Haryanto	1:23.539
24.	Víctor Guerin	1:23.792
25.	Giancarlo Serenelli	1:25.907
26.	Ricardo Teixeira	1:25.661

GP2 Series Round 4 Analysis

Best performance: Giedo van der Garde
Giedo van der Garde has been somewhat inconsistent so far this season, but at Catalunya he produced a great performance in the feature race, which he followed up with more points in the sprint race.  Qualifying 5^th itself represented a decent result, but in the feature race he got a good start, moving up to 3^rd. Timing his pitstop right managed to give him the lead, and he then drove very maturely to manage his tyres in order to finish 1^st.  In the sprint race he managed to move from 8^th to 6^th to take another 4 points.


Worst performance: Marcus Ericsson
At the start of the season it was thought that Marcus Ericsson would be challenging for the title.  While he had struggled in the first 3 rounds this could, in part, have been put down to him not having experience at the tracks.  At Catalunya, however, this cannot be used as an excuse, as he has driven there before, and finished on the podium in the same race last year.  His qualifying performance left him 14^th, with a lot of work to do. He only managed to move forward one place, finishing in 13^th. In the sprint race a points finish was looking a possibility, before he picked up a drive-through penalty for ignoring waved yellows, seeing him finish the race in 22^nd. Any chance of a title challenge is disappearing fast.


Race rating: 7/10
Not the greatest round, but some good action throughout the field and watching van der Garde's strategy unfold stopped the GP2 race from being as dull as the GP3 race was.

Drivers' Championship

1.	Davide Valsecchi	129
2.	Luiz Razia	104
3.	James Calado	69
4.	Giedo van der Garde	60
5.	Esteban Gutiérrez	59
6.	Max Chilton	57
7.	Fabio Leimer	41
8.	Felipe Nasr	28
9.	Tom Dillmann	27
10.	Stefano Coletti	26
11.	Nathanaël Berthon	23
12.	Rio Haryanto	16
13.	Fabio Onidi	12
14.	Marcus Ericsson	8
15.	Jolyon Palmer	4
16.	Johnny Cecotto, Jr.	2
17.	Simon Trummer	1
18.	Brendon Hartley	1
19.	Fabrizio Crestani	1

Teams' Championship

1.	DAMS	157
2.	Lotus GP	128
3.	Arden International	105
4.	Carlin	73
5.	Racing Engineering	64
6.	Caterham Racing	60
7.	Scuderia Coloni	38
8.	Rapax	27
9.	iSport International	12
10.	Barwa Addax	2
11.	Ocean Racing Technology	1
12.	Venezuela GP Lazarus	1

Razia wins from pole

Luiz Razia took his second win of the season in the sprint race at Catalunya, having started on pole.  At the start Razia got away cleanly, while Max Chilton, who was 2^nd on the grid, started poorly, holding up the cars behind him. Razia was then able to steadily pull away from the chasing pack, finishing the race over 5 seconds ahead of 2^nd place.  Just as in the GP3 races at Catalunya this weekend there was a jump start, and Víctor Guerin was given a drive-through penalty by the stewards.


Thanks to the Carlin driver getting a poor start, Nathanaël Berthon and Davide Valsecchi were able to pass Chilton, who then came under pressure from James Calado.  On lap 4 the Lotus GP driver passed his fellow Brit to take 4^th place. On lap 11 Marcus Ericsson was handed a drive-through penalty for ignoring yellow flags.


Having passed Chilton, Calado began to close the gap on Davide Valsecchi, and for most of the final laps of the race was close enough to try and pass the DAMS driver, but the series leader managed to hold off the challenge, finishing 3^rd behind Berthon who was 2^nd. The fastest lap was set by Víctor Guerin.

Results of the Catalunya Sprint Race

1.	Luiz Razia	40:08.411
2.	Nathanaël Berthon	+5.256
3.	Davide Valsecchi	+5.897
4.	James Calado	+6.575
5.	Max Chilton	+13.117
6.	Giedo van der Garde	+14.362
7.	Esteban Gutiérrez	+14.874
8.	Stefano Coletti	+19.223
9.	Felipe Nasr	+19.703
10.	Fabrizio Crestani	+21.570
11.	Fabio Leimer	+22.852
12.	Tom Dillmann	+23.312
13.	Johnny Cecotto, Jr.	+30.155
14.	Rodolfo González	+30.601
15.	Rio Haryanto	+31.281
16.	Josef Král	+31.834
17.	Julián Leal	+32.817
18.	Fabio Onidi	+34.371
19.	Stéphane Richelmi	+34.818
20.	Simon Trummer	+35.426
21.	Víctor Guerin	+38.977
22.	Marcus Ericsson	+39.878
23.	Ricardo Teixeira	+41.979
24.	Nigel Melker	+48.441
R.	Giancarlo Serenelli	Retired
R.	Jolyon Palmer	Retired

Giedo van der Garde wins for the first time in 2012

Having qualified 5^th for the feature race at Catalunya it seemed that it would be difficult for Giedo van der Garde to win today, but he did just that, timing his pitstop and managing his tyres perfectly to take his first win in GP2 Series since 2009.


At the start van der Garde managed to move from 5^th up to 3^rd, behind Fabio Leimer, who had also started well, forcing polesitter James Calado to fight for his position. Stefano Coletti also had a fantastic start from 8^th, and was able to move up to 4^th on the first lap.


On lap 13 race leaders Calado and Leimer entered the pits to change their tyres from 1^st and 2^nd respectively, giving van der Garde the lead.  When van der Garde pitted on lap 14 he only changed two tyres, allowing him to stay ahead of James Calado.  Fabio Leimer was later handed a drive-through penalty for a unsafe release, dropping him from 3^rd to 13^th, with Coletti taking 3^rd from him and challenging Calado for 2^nd.


Calado was unable to catch van der Garde, but did hold off the challenge of Coletti, meaning the Dutch driver was able to take Caterham Racing's second ever win in GP2 Series.  8^th place and pole for the sprint race tomorrow was taken by Luiz Razia. The fastest lap was set by Esteban Gutiérrez.

Results of the Catalunya Feature Race

1.	Giedo van der Garde	1:00:22.966
2.	James Calado	+0.878
3.	Stefano Coletti	+3.811
4.	Davide Valsecchi	+11.859
5.	Nathanaël Berthon	+15.795
6.	Fabio Onidi	+19.379
7.	Max Chilton	+19.768
8.	Luiz Razia	+20.072
9.	Jolyon Palmer	+27.624
10.	Esteban Gutiérrez	+36.653
11.	Felipe Nasr	+45.264
12.	Fabio Leimer	+46.534
13.	Marcus Ericsson	+47.087
14.	Nigel Melker	+47.356
15.	Rodolfo González	+53.555
16.	Rio Haryanto	+1:00.879
17.	Fabrizio Crestani	+1:06.737
18.	Johnny Cecotto, Jr.	+1:11.199
19.	Víctor Guerin	+1:11.397
20.	Josef Král	+1:14.871
21.	Stéphane Richelmi	+1:15.821
22.	Tom Dillmann	+1:20.031
23.	Simon Trummer	+1:20.382
24.	Julián Leal	+1:28.989
25.	Giancarlo Serenelli	+1 lap
R.	Ricardo Teixeira	Retired

Calado on pole at Catalunya

In qualifying for race 1, rookie driver James Calado took his first ever pole in GP2 Series, with a time of 1:30.655.  Most drivers chose to go out early in the session, to take advantage of the rubber which had been left on the track by the Formula One practice session that had preceded GP2 qualifying.  Stéphane Richelmi was the first driver to go faster than 1:31.000, but his time was soon bettered by Calado.  Championship leader Davide Valsecchi only qualified 7^th, having been slowed down by traffic and yellow flags. Josef Král, returning to GP2 after sitting out the rounds at Bahrain, was 16^th, having gone fastest in practice, while Víctor Guerin was 21^st on his GP2 Series debut.

Grid for Catalunya Feature Race

1.	James Calado	1:30.655
2.	Fabio Leimer	1:30.865
3.	Stéphane Richelmi	1:30.902
4.	Max Chilton	1:30.962
5.	Giedo van der Garde	1:31.006
6.	Fabio Onidi	1:31.167
7.	Davide Valsecchi	1:31.212
8.	Stefano Coletti	1:31.212
9.	Jolyon Palmer	1:31.269
10.	Nathanaël Berthon	1:31.308
11.	Esteban Gutiérrez	1:31.320
12.	Nigel Melker	1:31.332
13.	Luiz Razia	1:31.377
14.	Marcus Ericsson	1:31.391
15.	Johnny Cecotto, Jr.	1:31.565
16.	Josef Král	1:31.599
17.	Fabrizio Crestani	1:31.677
18.	Tom Dillmann	1:31.682
19.	Simon Trummer	1:31.939
20.	Rodolfo González	1:31.966
21.	Víctor Guerin	1:32.270
22.	Felipe Nasr	1:32.325
23.	Julián Leal	1:32.691
24.	Rio Haryanto	1:33.010
25.	Ricardo Teixeira	1:33.083
26.	Giancarlo Serenelli	1:33.329

Guerin to drive for Ocean Racing Technology

This weekend the number 24 Ocean Racing Technology Car will be driven by Víctor Guerin, who is driving in Auto GP World Series this season, and also drove at the Portimão round of Formula Two. This makes him the third driver in the number 24 car this season, as Jon Lancaster had originally held the seat, before budgetary problems forced him to give it up; it was then filled by Brendon Hartley for the races in Bahrain. Given that Guerin is driving in Auto GP World Series this year, it is possible that the team are still hoping Lancaster will return with funding.


In the other team that made a driver change for Bahrain, Josef Král is returning to Barwa Addax for Barcelona, as Dani Clos, who had replaced him, will be driving in free practice for HRT F1 Team.

GP2 Series Round 3 Analysis

Best performance: Davide Valsecchi
While he wasn't as dominant as he had been at the previous round in Bahrain, Davide Valsecchi managed to have a good weekend yet again, winning the feature race from 2^nd on the grid before going from 8^th to 3^rd in the sprint race to take another podium. Honourable mentions to Tom Dillmann, winner in the sprint race, largely let down by unspectacular performances in qualifying and the feature race, and to Luiz Razia, who had a strong weekend, but should have got past Dillmann in the sprint race.


Worst performance: Rodolfo González
James Calado should have performed better, but he apparently was suffering mechanical problems all round, compromising his performance.  Instead, then, I have selected Rodolfo González.  The Venezuelan driver spent the weekend going backwards.  Having qualified 7^th for the feature race, a points finish looked on the cards, but he dropped down to 18^th, and was not able to improve much in the sprint race. His team-mate, Giedo van der Garde managed pole in qualifying, 3^rd in the feature race, and probably would have finished higher had he avoided Esteban Gutiérrez at the start of the sprint race. González's reward for his poor performance in Bahrain was to test for Caterham F1 Team at Mugello. Money might not buy happiness, but it will buy a test in a Formula One team.


Race rating: 6/10
In the feature race the battle for the lead was all over by lap 8.  The sprint race was more interesting, with a good battle over 3^rd position and a close finish, with Dillmann having to hold off Luiz Razia.


Drivers' Championship

1.	Davide Valsecchi	107
2.	Luiz Razia	83
3.	Esteban Gutiérrez	54
4.	Max Chilton	45
5.	Fabio Leimer	41
6.	James Calado	39
7.	Giedo van der Garde	31
8.	Felipe Nasr	28
9.	Tom Dillmann	27
10.	Rio Haryanto	16
11.	Stefano Coletti	10
12.	Marcus Ericsson	8
13.	Fabio Onidi	4
14.	Jolyon Palmer	2
15.	Johnny Cecotto, Jr.	2
16.	Nathanaël Berthon	1
17.	Simon Trummer	1
18.	Brendon Hartley	1
19.	Fabrizio Crestani	1

Teams' Championship

1.	DAMS	135
2.	Lotus GP	93
3.	Arden International	84
4.	Carlin	61
5.	Racing Engineering	42
6.	Caterham Racing	31
7.	Rapax	27
8.	Scuderia Coloni	14
9.	iSport International	10
10.	Barwa Addax	2
11.	Ocean Racing Technology	1
12.	Venezuela GP Lazarus	1

First win for Dillmann

In a thrilling sprint race in Bahrain Tom Dillmann took his first ever GP2 Series victory, leading from start to finish.  He made a fantastic start from pole position, pulling out a lead over Marcus Ericsson.  Also having a good start was Luiz Razia, who rose from 5^th to 3^rd.  At turn 1 Esteban Gutiérrez and Giedo van der Garde had a coming together, causing van der Garde to spin and drop down to 22^nd, having started 6^th on the grid.


Ericsson soon came under pressure from Razia, who passed the Swedish driver on lap 3.  Ericsson then had Rio Haryanto on his tail who passed him when Ericsson ran wide, before being passed by Gutiérrez on lap 6.  Gutiérrez then closed the gap between himself and Haryanto, and passed him for 3^rd position a lap later.  Ericsson kept slipping down the field, as Davide Valsecchi passed him on lap 8, as did Felipe Nasr on lap 11.  Valsecchi was then able to get passed Haryanto, before closing in on Gutiérrez and passing him on lap 17.


Toward the end of the race Dillmann's rear tyres were worn, causing Dillmann to slide across the track, and allowing Razia to reduce the gap between them.  Despite being all over the back of Dillmann, Razia was unable to pass the French driver, who won by less than 2-tenths of a second, with Valsechhi finishing 3^rd.  The fastest lap was set by Jolyon Palmer, who finished 22^nd.


Results of the Bahrain Sprint Race

1.	Tom Dillmann	41:16.276
2.	Luiz Razia	+0.198
3.	Davide Valsecchi	+3.958
4.	Esteban Gutiérrez	+16.488
5.	Felipe Nasr	+18.602
6.	Rio Haryanto	+20.425
7.	Marcus Ericsson	+26.294
8.	Fabio Leimer	+29.605
9.	Fabio Onidi	+33.490
10.	Nathanaël Berthon	+34.078
11.	Nigel Melker	+43.463
12.	James Calado	+44.371
13.	Max Chilton	+46.743
14.	Julián Leal	+47.439
15.	Rodolfo González	+54.991
16.	Brendon Hartley	+59.764
17.	Stéphane Richelmi	+1:00.655
18.	Stefano Coletti	+1:02.090
19.	Giedo van der Garde	+1:02.632
20.	Ricardo Teixeira	+1:07.468
21.	Giancarlo Serenelli	+1:08.293
22.	Jolyon Palmer	+1:18.688
23.	Fabrizio Crestani	+1:26.049
24.	Simon Trummer1	Retired
R.	Dani Clos	Retired
R.	Johnny Cecotto, Jr.	Retired

¹ Simon Trummer classified as he completed 90% of the race winner's distance