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Van der Garde takes Barcelona GP2 victory

Giedo van der Garde used a bold tyre strategy to take his first win since joining the Caterham team in the GP2 feature race at Catalunya

The Dutchman ran third behind battling leaders James Calado (Lotus) and Fabio Leimer (Racing Engineering) at first, and initially had to fend off charging Coloni driver Stefano Coletti.

But whereas most of the field changed all four tyres in their pitstops, Caterham opted to switch just two of van der Garde's, and the time saved - plus Calado and Leimer having emerged into traffic - allowed the Dutchman to jump to the front.

Van der Garde was able to hang on thereafter and win by just 0.8 seconds over poleman Calado. Leimer was given a drive-through penalty for an unsafe pit release after a close call with Calado when they pitted in unison, dropping him to 12th, and allowing Coletti to join the lead fight for a while before having to settle for third.

Championship leader Davide Valsecchi (DAMS) was a lonely fourth, while Nathanael Berthon salvaged something for Racing Engineering in fifth, with Coloni's Stefano Coletti fending off Max Chilton (Carlin) and Luiz Razia (Arden) to complete the top six.

Ocean's Nigel Melker was on course for eighth and race two pole until being penalised for pitlane speeding.

Assertive drives from iSport man Jolyon Palmer and Lotus's Esteban Gutierrez earned them the final points.

Results - 37 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team                    Time/Gap
 1.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham            1h00m22.966s
 2.  James Calado         Lotus                   + 0.878s
 3.  Stefano Coletti      Coloni                  + 3.811s
 4.  Davide Valsecchi     DAMS                   + 11.859s
 5.  Nathanael Berthon    Racing Engineering     + 15.795s
 6.  Fabio Onidi          Coloni                 + 19.379s
 7.  Max Chilton          Carlin                 + 19.768s
 8.  Luiz Razia           Arden                  + 20.072s
 9.  Jolyon Palmer        iSport                 + 27.624s
10.  Esteban Gutierrez    Lotus                  + 36.653s
11.  Felipe Nasr          DAMS                   + 45.264s
12.  Fabio Leimer         Racing Engineering     + 46.534s
13.  Marcus Ericsson      iSport                 + 47.087s
14.  Nigel Melker         Ocean                  + 47.356s
15.  Rodolfo Gonzalez     Caterham               + 53.555s
16.  Rio Haryanto         Carlin               + 1m00.879s
17.  Fabrizio Crestani    Lazarus              + 1m06.737s
18.  Johnny Cecotto       Addax                + 1m11.199s
19.  Victor Guerin        Ocean                + 1m11.397s
20.  Josef Kral           Addax                + 1m14.871s
21.  Stephane Richelmi    Trident              + 1m15.821s
22.  Tom Dillmann         Rapax                + 1m20.031s
23.  Simon Trummer        Arden                + 1m20.382s
24.  Julian Leal          Trident              + 1m28.989s
25.  Giancarlo Serenelli  Lazarus                  + 1 lap

Retirements:

     Ricardo Teixeira     Rapax                     8 laps

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Previous article James Calado takes pole position for Lotus GP in GP2 qualifying at Barcelona
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