GP2 Circuit de Catalunya

The GP2 series continued in Spain at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, which is a very familiar track for most of the drivers. After Friday's practice session, Felipe Nasr was the man who most of the fans thought likely to grab the pole position as he was 0,7 seconds faster than anyone else in the session.

Qualifying:

The qualifying session itself threw up some surprises though as DAMS' Marcus Ericsson set a fastest time which it seemed very difficult for anyone to beat. Ericsson had a very good last sector and it was this sector where most of the drivers lost time to the Swede. Ericsson's team mate Stéphane Richelmi surprised though and made a faster time, but not for long as Ericsson crossed the line in a time which secured him the pole position. Richelmi got 2nd place on the grid, so the front row was all set for DAMS. It was a turnaround for the team who had experienced difficulties in Malaysia and Bahrain. Felipe Nasr took 3rd place and had Sam Bird next to him on the second row. Nasr's main championship rivals Coletti and Leimer would start on row three.

Race 1:

At the start of the feature race, Ericsson was able to keep the lead. Coletti had a very good start from 5th and dropped into second place, while Richelmi dropped to 3rd and Nasr to 4th. Nasr soon made a move on Richelmi though and it was really close call between these two and they had a very light touch when Nasr made his move. Nasr went to 3rd, and there was a stewards investigation of the move but no action was deemed necessary.

A couple of laps later there was a dramatic looking crash: Nathanaël Berthon made a late braking manoeuvre and hit the rear of Sergio Canamasas' car, which shot Berthon into the air over Canamasas and Tom Dillmann who was fighting for position with Canamasas at the same time. Dillmann was really lucky to escape from the accident without getting any damage to his car as Berthon's car flew just over him and only lightly touched Dillmann's right rear tyre, however It was race over for both Berthon and Canamasas as a result.

Drivers who started their race on the option tyre came into the pits very early to change for primes. It wasn't ideal for some of the top drivers, as the accident between Berthon and Canamasas caused a yellow flag which meant the drivers had to slow down a bit while they needed to pull the last out of their tyres before coming into the pits. Ericsson, Coletti, Nasr and Richelmi all lost quite a few places after making their pitstops. Cecotto, Dillmann and Evans were the top 3 at this point, but none of them had made their stops yet as they were ones who started the race on prime tyres. Ericsson was later fighting with Kevin Giovesi and Sam Bird, but it didn't turn out well for the Swede as he got stuck between Giovesi and Bird, and damaged his car, which caused him to retire, a big disappointment for the pole position man.

Cecotto, Dillmann and Evans finally made their pitstops and the race positions became clearer as everyone had now done their stops. Tom Dillmann's strange day continued as he was about to make a move on Richelmi, but instead getting past him cleanly, there was contact and both drivers went off the track. The cars were relatively unscathed however, but Dillmann lost several places whilst he got out of the sand.

Robin Frijins was now leading the race with Jolyon Palmer and Sam Bird behind him in 2nd and 3rd. Championship contenders Coletti and Nasr were running in 4th and 5th at this point and It seemed like Nasr was able to save his tyres again which he did very well in the earlier rounds too. He started to mount his attack in the final laps and made his move on both Coletti and Bird, moving himself up to 3rd behind his team mate Palmer in 2nd place and Nasr was now lining up a move on him too. The Carlin pair touched and were lucky not to take both cars out. Nasr however got past and pulled away in 2nd place as Palmer started to struggle with the cars behind. Bird tried to make a move on Palmer, but Palmer was defending and Bird spun out of the race. Tom Dillmann made a good recovery after his off with Richelmi and tried to challenge Palmer, but he went too wide and lost position to Jon Lancaster. In the end Frijins won the race, Nasr was 2nd and Palmer 3rd. It was a good day for Carlin, until Palmer received a penalty after the race: he received a 20 second time penalty for forcing Sam Bird off the track, which moved Jon Lancaster up to the third place, and as a result the newcomer Hilmer team had both of their cars on the podium.

Race 2:

The top 8 finishers of Saturday's race were turned around on the grid for Sunday's feature race, which meant Cecotto started from pole position with Kevin Ceccon next to him. Alexander Rossi started from 3rd with Dillmann next to him, with Coletti, Lancaster, Nasr and Frijins behind. Dillmann's eventful weekend continued as he stalled his car on the start. All the drivers noticed Dillmann's stall and there was no drama, but it was basically race over for Dillmann who could have had a good chance of a podium from the 4th place.

Coletti was fighting closely with Cecotto for the lead after the start, but the championship leader Coletti took the lead. Cecotto was struggling and went wide, which helped Frijins and Nasr to get past. Frijins and Nasr were flying through the field after starting from 7th, and found themselves in 2nd and 3rd after the first lap.

The race was fairly uneventful, but then things started to happen with 9 laps to go. A touch caused Binder to spin and he lost several positions as the drivers behind the top 3 were tightly packed at the time. A couple of laps later Canamasas tried to fight against Cecotto, and both locked their brakes. Cecotto kept his position, but was clearly under pressure from the guys behind. Canamasas tried to make a move again and he got close to Cecotto, but Cecotto made a very questionable move on Canamasas and the Catherham driver had to move which let Cecotto continue.. After this, Rio Hariyanto and Daniel Abt tried to find a way to pass Canamasas, but instead of a pass, Hariyanto smashed into Canamasas' rear. Canamasas tried to continue without a rear wing! The fight continued at the back of the field and just before the finish line, Julian Leal went off the track and lost severalpositions.. The field was so tightly bunched that even a minor mistake was cosying the drivers several places.

Coletti won the race, Frijins finished second and Nasr third. It was a double podium from the weekend from both Nasr and Frijins. Palmer made a good recovery and finished 4th, and Cecotto was 5th.

After Spain, Stefano Coletti leads the championship with 93 points. Felipe Nasr got up to third in the points with 76 points. Fabio Leimer is fourth with 54 points. The Carlin team now top the team championship standings.

GP2 returns in two weeks time in Monaco, where it's sure to be action packed once more. You can catch all of Sini's GP2 reports right here at Driving For Pleasure.