Davide Valsecchi cruises to Bahrain GP2 feature race win for DAMS
Davide Valsecchi produced a sublime performance to take a commanding win in the GP2 feature race in Bahrain
The DAMS driver converted pole position into the lead from the start and simply drove away from the field.
When his team-mate Felipe Nasr was taken out by the Addax entry of Johnny Cecotto Jr, the safety car was deployed and Valsecchi's 12-second lead was eliminated. But the Italian made a fantastic restart and set about building up another huge lead with a series of laps his rivals simply could not match. He duly claimed his fourth GP2 win.
It was a thrilling battle for second, which was eventually won by current points leader Luis Razia. The Arden driver had to work hard for the spot, putting a great move on the Lotus entry of James Calado along the way.
Lotus had vaulted Calado up the order with an early stop, but the tactic failed to pay as for the final half-dozen laps he came under increasing pressure from the squabbling pack behind him. Birthday-boy Max Chilton (Carlin) nipped by to claim third, before Calado's team-mate Esteban Gutierrez breezed past.
Chilton and Gutierrez fought all the way to the finish, with Gutierrez taking the place on the final lap with a great move. Calado fended off Rapax driver Tom Dillmann for fourth, the pair shadowed by the Racing Engineering car of Fabio Leimer, who was set for a potential podium finish before being hobbled by a slow pitstop.
There was a big gap from the top seven back to eighth, which was taken by Coloni's Fabio Onidi, who will start Sunday's sprimt race from pole.
Rio Haryanto took ninth in the second Carlin car for his first GP2 points, while series returnee Brendon Hartley grabbed the final point for Ocean in 10th.
Results - 32 laps: Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. Davide Valsecchi DAMS 59m31.115s 2. Luiz Razia Arden + 7.770s 3. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus + 13.528s 4. Max Chilton Carlin + 14.088s 5. James Calado Lotus + 16.278s 6. Tom Dillmann Rapax + 16.559s 7. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering + 17.243s 8. Fabio Onidi Coloni + 28.109s 9. Rio Haryanto Carlin + 32.846s 10. Brendon Hartley Ocean + 36.093s 11. Stephane Richelmi Trident + 37.377s 12. Julian Leal Trident + 38.677s 13. Marcus Ericsson iSport + 40.627s 14. Fabrizio Crestani Lazarus + 41.009s 15. Rodolfo Gonzalez Caterham + 44.028s 16. Simon Trummer Arden + 44.552s 17. Ricardo Teixeira Rapax + 47.776s 18. Giancarlo Serenelli Lazarus + 52.464s Retirements: Dani Clos Addax 30 laps Nigel Melker Ocean 30 laps Nathanael Berthon Racing Engineering 29 laps Johnny Cecotto Addax 16 laps Felipe Nasr DAMS 16 laps Giedo van der Garde Caterham 16 laps Stefano Coletti Coloni 2 laps Jolyon Palmer iSport 0 laps
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments