Leimer beats Razia to sprint win
Fabio Leimer survived a late push from Luiz Razia to win today's GP2 Series sprint race at Barcelona
The Swiss driver, who was making his series debut this weekend, started from pole and opened a gap of as much as 4.3 seconds during the middle part of the race.
But Razia came back at him over the closing laps, and crossed the line just 0.7s in arrears. It was the second-ever win for the Ocean Racing squad, while third for Razia's team-mate Pastor Maldonado secured a two-three for Rapax.
The race was fairly processional at the front, but there was more competition for the minor points placings. ART's Sam Bird echoed his overtaking masterclass of the day before with another excellent performance, the Briton climbing from ninth to fourth, and he could potentially have challenged for third were it not a late excursion into the gravel that cost him six seconds.
Oliver Turvey held on to fifth despite lapping around 1.5s off the pace in an unco-operative iSport car, leading a train of cars behind him headed by a frustrated Dani Clos (Racing Engineering).
Once again it was a difficult day for some of the series favourites, with Jules Bianchi finishing 12th after banging wheels with Giedo van der Garde and sliding off the track, while Sergio Perez was unable to make the start after the engine in his Barwa Addax Dallara blew on the formation lap.
There could be more bad news ahead for the Mexican, who is facing a post-race investigation for trailing oil around the racing line on two thirds of the lap before finally pulling over, forcing the start to be delayed by 10 minutes while powder was laid down.
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. Fabio Leimer Ocean 38m31.849s 2. Luiz Razia Rapax + 0.755s 3. Pastor Maldonado Rapax + 4.850s 4. Sam Bird ART + 14.274s 5. Oliver Turvey iSport + 26.785s 6. Dani Clos Racing Engineering + 27.433s 7. Charles Pic Arden + 28.459s 8. Giacomo Ricci DPR + 29.077s 9. Giedo van der Garde Addax + 29.889s 10. Ho-Pin Tung DAMS + 31.323s 11. Davide Valsecchi iSport + 39.228s 12. Jules Bianchi ART + 39.564s 13. Jerome D'Ambrosio DAMS + 39.661s 14. Rodolfo Gonzalez Arden + 51.383s 15. Adrian Zaugg Trident + 51.971s 16. Max Chilton Ocean + 52.473s 17. Johnny Cecotto Trident + 53.489s 18. Christian Vietoris Racing Engineering + 54.129s 19. Josef Kral Super Nova + 54.772s 20. Vlado Arabadjiev Coloni + 56.388s 21. Michael Herck DPR + 1m06.461s Retirements: Marcus Ericsson Super Nova 2 laps Sergio Perez Addax 0 laps Alberto Valerio Coloni 0 laps
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