Fabio Leimer was able to turn pole position into victory during the reverse grid Sprint Race at the Circuit de Catalunya this morning, jumping away at the start while his rivals behind squabbled for position into Turn 1. Dani Clos and Marcus Ericsson completed the rostrum, while Italy’s Davide Valsecchi stole fourth from Sam Bird with just two laps remaining.
The race started in dramatic style when Giedo van der Garde sent Jules Bianchi sliding into the wall on the pit-straight, with the latter cutting back across the circuit and into the Dutchman’s line. This bought out the Safety Car until the end of Lap 5 and when the action got going again, the top six sprinted away from the rest of the field.
Charles Pic had to make an early stop when the race got going again to fix his front wing, while at the front Leimer wasted no time in pulling away. The Swiss driver quickly built up a comfortable gap to the drivers behind, while Clos behind held his advantage over iSport team-mates Bird and Marcus Ericsson.
With five laps to go Romain Grosjean demonstrated some inspired overtaking as he continued to battle through the field from the back of the grid, overtaking three cars in two corners en route to 11th. There was a significant development further up the order in the closing stages, with AirAsia’a Valsecchi passing Bird at Turn 7 for a well-earned fourth place.
Behind the top five runners, Fairuz Fauzy secured the final point on offer for Super Nova, inheriting the position when Stefano Coletti and Josef Kral collided at the first corner. Van der Garde and Sam Bird are now tied for the championship lead on a total of 21 points each, while Charles Pic sits in third with 15 points to his name.
Round 3 of the championship will be staged in Monte-Carlo next weekend
Series
GP2
Personalities
Fabio Leimer
Teams
Rapax
Other
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  F. Leimer | Rapax | 45:26.885 |
| 2. | D. Clos | Racing Engin. | +10.190 |
| 3. | M. Ericsson | iSport | +20.711 |
| 4. | D. Valsecchi | Team Air Asia | +20.926 |
| 5. | S. Bird | iSport | +27.339 |
| 6. | F. Fauzy | Super Nova | +38.974 |
| 7. | A. Parente | Racing Engin. | +40.280 |
| 8. | P. Varhaug | DAMS | +41.855 |
| 9. | R. Grosjean | DAMS | +41.925 |
| 10. | R. Gonzalez | Trident | +51.503 |
| Full results | |||
| Fabio Leimer | |||
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| More Fabio Leimer photos | |||
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