Valsecchi wins outstanding Bahrain GP2 feature race

Italian GP2 driver Davide Valsecchi has won an outstandingly exciting feature race in Bahrain, after a lights to flag drive for DAMS. Further behind there was a melee of racing, as Luiz Razia eventually came home 2nd with Esteban Gutierrez finishing 3rd just ahead of birthday-boy Max Chilton.

Just prior to the start of the race, British driver Jolyon Palmer prematurely retired, not even taking to the grid for the start of the race. When the lights went out, Davide Valsecchi glided away, whereas Johnny Cecotto jr. had a stunning start jumping up to 3rd into turn 1. Marcus Ericsson, who suffered a grid penalty after his collision with Valsecchi in Malaysia, was up to 13th after the first lap.

After only two laps of racing, the Caterham of Giedo van der Garde and the Scuderia Coloni of Stefano Coletti made contact, as the Dutchman forced Coletti wide on the exit on turn 8. This incident was cleared up without the need of the Safety Car, with Stefano Coletti unfortunately retiring from the race as van der Garde continued on. The Caterham F1 reserve driver continued to suffer a miserable race, as he lost a piece of his front wing heading into turn 10, leaving him floundering around in 23rd.

With only 7 laps completed various drivers’ began pitting for new tyres, including Stephane Richelmi and Nigel Melker. Malaysian sprint race winner, James Calado, became the first front runner to pit for Lotus along with Giedo van der Garde, the latter in desperate need of a new front wing.

World Championship leader, Luiz Razia, was able to muscle his way passed Felipe Nasr for 4th on lap 9, before pitting on lap 11 along with Johnny Cecotto jr. and Esteban Gutierrez. The latter suffered a disastrous pit-stop, which in turn allowed Chilton and Calado to pass the Mexican.

There was utter confusion throughout the next few laps, as Nathanael Berthon was passed by James Calado, who then came under serious pressure from Luiz Razia. Berthon, who had yet to stop, was then locked on either side by cars’, as Razia, Chilton, Cecotto jr., and Gutierrez all jostled for position around him. As the Frenchman peeled off into the pits, he nearly collected Razia, who found huge amounts of pace and tried to pass Calado into turn 1.

With all the attention on this battle, Felipe Nasr and Johnny Cecotto jr. had become locked in a serious battle for track position, with the two coming seriously close to each other. On lap 17, their luck ran out as the two came together, stopping on the track and causing the Safety Car to emerge. Nasr and Cecotto were understandably furious with each other, both gesticulating and having a heated discussion afterwards.

The Safety Car returned to the pits on lap 19 as the race returned to green flag conditions, with Rodolfo Gonzalez having a tough time towards the rear of the pack. The Venezuelan driver violently bumped over the kerbs, running extremely wide on lap 21.

After coming under serious pressure from Luiz Razia, James Calado lost 2nd position to the Brazilian driver on lap 24. The British driver then subsequently lost out to Chilton and team-mate Gutierrez several laps later, as Gutierrez began a late surge against Max Chilton.

Esteban Gutierrez was able to just force his way passed Chilton on the final lap, amazingly being able to keep control of his Lotus around the outside at turn 11, on the marbles. Further ahead, however, Davide Valsecchi seemed undeterred, as he romped to his third GP2 victory, and his first in 2012.

In traditional GP2 fashion, the top 8 will be reversed for race two tomorrow morning, which will see Fabio Onidi start from pole in the Coloni in what could well be an equally exciting race at Sakhir.

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