James Calado takes Abu Dhabi sprint race win on GP2 debut weekend
James Calado crowned his debut weekend in GP2 with victory for ART in the Abu Dhabi sprint race
This year's GP3 runner-up started from reversed grid pole position for the second race of the non-championship event after finishing eighth in yesterday's feature race, and kept the lead at the start, opening a 1.1 second gap over Antonio Felix da Costa (Ocean) on the first lap.
Marcus Ericsson (iSport) passed da Costa for second place into the Turn 8 chicane on lap nine and took up the chase, but despite closing to within a second of the leader, he proved unable to mount a serious attack and had to settle for second.
Ericsson's team-mate, Tom Dillmann, picked up the final podium slot after first da Costa and then AirAsia's Luiz Razia were hit with drive-through penalties for short-cutting the track and ignoring yellow flags respectively.
Jolyon Palmer backed up his maiden GP2 podium in the feature race with a solid run to fourth for Addax, finishing well clear of a stunning battle that could have resulted in any number of drivers claiming fifth place.
In the end, it was Esteban Gutierrez who took the position after climbing four places with a brilliant last lap. The ART driver started 21st on the grid, having been delayed in the feature race with rear wing damage, but after Stefano Coletti (Coloni) crashed on the last lap following contact with Fabio Leimer (Racing Engineering) he took advantage of the delay to work his way up to fifth.
Kevin Ceccon claimed what would normally have been the final point for Coloni ahead of AirAsia duo Alexander Rossi and Razia.
Results - 22 laps:
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. James Calado ART 41m26.194s
2. Marcus Ericsson iSport + 1.770s
3. Tom Dillmann iSport + 7.695s
4. Jolyon Palmer Addax + 13.040s
5. Esteban Gutierrez ART + 27.012s
6. Kevin Ceccon Coloni + 28.025s
7. Alexander Rossi AirAsia + 29.909s
8. Luiz Razia AirAsia + 30.022s
9. Dani Clos Rapax + 30.139s
10. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering + 30.570s
11. Fabio Onidi Super Nova + 33.066s
12. Josef Kral Arden + 40.517s
13. Antonio Felix da Costa Ocean + 44.351s
14. Jake Rosenzweig Addax + 45.524s
15. Simon Trummer Arden + 45.921s
16. Max Chilton Carlin + 46.846s
17. Jan Charouz Carlin + 48.347s
18. Stephane Richelmi Trident + 48.702s
19. Nathanael Berthon Racing Engineering + 49.101s
20. Nigel Melker DAMS + 49.778s
21. Julian Leal Trident + 50.399s
22. Nicolas Marroc Ocean + 53.398s
23. Giacomo Ricci Super Nova + 59.543s
24. Rio Haryanto DAMS + 1m12.642s
Retirements:
Stefano Coletti Coloni 21 laps
Mihai Marinescu Rapax 10 laps
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