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James Calado has picked up a GP2 race victory on only his first weekend in the series, taking the chequered flag in Sunday morning’s Sprint Race. The Englishman led home Lotus GP team-mate Esteban Gutiérrez, the Sauber F1 reserve driver, as British Formula 3 Champion Felipe Nasr completed the podium for DAMS.
Starting from pole, the impressive Calado was never headed as he led lights-to-flag. Both Lotus cars made ideal getaways, with Nasr shooting up the order and passing Stefano Coletti; as the Monegasque driver attempted to make up ground he ran wide and plummeted to ninth behind Davide Valsecchi.
It was Valsecchi himself who retired early in a spectacular crash; running off-track and being hit by Marcus Ericsson as he rejoined, the latter was sent flipping into a barrel-roll.
It was a strong morning for Giedo van der Garde, the Dutch Caterham F1 reserve who managed fourth place for the GP2 operation. Luiz Razia – winner of yesterday’s season-opening Feature Race - narrowly stayed out of trouble for a top five result, with seventh-placed Max Chilton being the second Briton in the top ten.
Ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix Formula 1 race, rain is in the vicinity of Sepang and will almost certainly begin to fall before the red lights go out.
GP2 continues in Bahrain in four weeks’ time
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Lotus | 41:08.048 | |
| 2. | Lotus | +2.004 | |
| 3. | DAMS | +3.440 | |
| 4. | Caterham | +10.760 | |
| 5. | Arden | +11.430 | |
| 6. | Racing Engin. | +14.689 | |
| 7. | Carlin | +15.685 | |
| 8. | Racing Engin. | +16.578 | |
| 9. | Addax | +18.175 | |
| 10. | Carlin | +24.033 | |
| Full results | |||
| James Calado | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| More James Calado photos | |||