Rosberg Takes First Double Win
Nico Rosberg has put the icing on his championship cake in Bahrain by winning race two ahead of Ernesto Viso and Alex Premat
Rosberg is the first man to win both races in a weekend.
Rosberg started from eighth courtesy of the reversed grid for race two, but was too fast for everybody else - he muscled his way through the field in a dominating drive, while teammate Premat tried to emulate but only got to third behind an impressively fast Viso.
Viso was the first man through turn one after starting on pole, with teammate Hiroki Yoshimoto dropping one place to third after Giorgio Pantano muscled his way through at the corner.
Heikki Kovalainen didn't get any further than that - he spun on the exit from turn one and was out of the race immediately. Teammate Nicolas Lapierre followed the first three around the lap, followed by a fast starting Rosberg and Premat.
Rosberg was able to carry far more speed through turn one, and it was only a matter of time before he got past Lapierre - two laps later and the move was made on the back straight.
Another lap later and it was Premat's turn - he pushed past Lapierre on the back straight and held him up just enough at the next turn that Jose Maria Lopez was also able to squeeze through.
Ahead of them and Rosberg was flying - he was able to easily dispatch Yoshimoto, who had a wayward looking car, and was already on the podium.
With Scott Speed starting from the pits and setting fastest lap early in the race, Premat now needed to finish in second place to take third in the championship away from the American.
The ART cars were flying, and Rosberg blew past Pantano for second as Premat forced his way inside Yoshimoto at turn one and headed off towards Pantano. Lapierre suffered a delaminated tyre on lap ten, compounding a tough weekend for Arden.
One lap later and Premat was on the podium - he pushed past Pantano for third while his teammate was all over the back of Viso and looking for yet another win.
Viso was driving superbly - he was wide but clean, and despite Rosberg's clear car advantage the Venezuelan kept him behind for lap after lap. But it was only a matter of time - Rosberg surgically passed Viso into turn one after a strong battle between the pair, and history beckoned.
Further back and Yoshimoto was having a tough day at the office - he was driving incredibly well, but it was clear that his car was not up to his expectations - Juan Cruz Alvarez and Adam Carroll were taking turns in trying to force him into a mistake.
Behind them there was a gaggle of cars passing and re-passing each other on every lap - the cars from sixth to thirteenth were split by mere seconds, and despite their proximity to each other there were no collisions in the bunch.
With Rosberg pulling away in the lead Viso now had Premat to contend with - the Frenchman was determined to take second, but Viso was equally adamant that he could resist.
And so it proved - Rosberg took the first ever back to back win in GP2 history, but Viso held on for second despite unrelenting pressure from Premat, who was behind a lapped Speed on the last lap but eventually got by to finish a second back from the Venezuelan.
Lopez was next across the line, having forced his way past Pantano a few laps earlier, and Yoshimoto held on for the final point from Clivio Piccione and Adam Carroll, while Speed's two points for fastest lap allowed him to just hold on to third in the championship from Premat.
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Rosberg ART 23 laps 2. Viso BCN Competicion + 8.335 3. Premat ART + 9.353 4. Lopez DAMS + 16.260 5. Pantano Super Nova + 22.649 6. Yoshimoto BCN Competicion + 30.698 7. Piccione Durango + 31.115 8. Carroll Super Nova + 32.974 9. Negrao Hitech Piquet + 33.853 10. Fauzy DAMS + 34.571 11. Monfardini Coloni + 34.844 12. Alvarez Campos Racing + 35.402 13. Jani Racing Enginerring + 38.027 14. Bruni Durango + 41.669 15. Piquet Hitech Piquet + 44.106 16. Artam iSport + 49.552 17. Garcia Racing Engineering + 50.243 18. Hernandez Campos Racing + 1:25.107 19. Speed iSport + 1 lap 20. Lapierre Arden + 1 lap 21. Lauda Coloni + 1 lap 22. Mondini DPR + 1 lap Fastest lap: Speed, 1:47.401 Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap Kovalainen Arden 1 Pla DPR 0 2005 Championship, Final Round: Drivers: Teams: 1. Rosberg 120 1. ART Grand Prix 187 2. Kovalainen 105 2. Arden International 126 3. Speed 67.5 3. Super Nova International 102 4. Premat 67 4. iSport International 69.5 5. Carroll 53 5. Racing Engineering 65.5 6. Pantano 49 6. Hitech Piquet Sports 50 7. Jani 48 7. Coloni Motorsport 36 8. Piquet 46 8. DAMS 36 9. Lopez 36 9. BCN Competicion 35 10. Bruni 35 10. DPR 22 11. Viso 21 11. Durango 21 12. Lapierre 21 12. Campos Racing 7.5 13. Pla 20 14. Garcia 17.5 15. Piccione 14 16. Yoshimoto 14 17. Monfardini 5 18. Alvarez 4.5 19. Negrao 4 20. Hernandez 3 21. Lauda 3 22. Artam 2 23. Sharp 2 All Timing Unofficial
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