Stefano Coletti went into the third round of the GP2 championship with a ten-point lead over Fabio Leimer. He left it with a much increased lead after several of his closest rivals hit trouble.
Marcus Ericsson looked on course to bounce back from a troubled start to the season when he claimed his first pole position for the feature race. But an early retirement meant he came away from the track with nothing more than the four points he earned on Friday.
Meanwhile Leimer tangled with James Calado at the start of the feature race which ruined both of their weekend.
That allowed Robin Frijns in to claim an impressive first win for him and Hilmer Motorsport in only his third start. Remarkably he came close to repeating it in the sprint race as well.
Feature race
Calado and Leimer collide again
Marcus Ericsson was surely hoping that starting from the front row again wouldn’t result in the same result as Bahrain, when he stalled on the grid. Thankfully the DAMS driver suffered no such bad luck, and made a fantastic start to lead the field away. His team mate Stephane Richelmi wasn’t so lucky, as he lost places to Coletti and Felipe Nasr with a poor start.
Further back both Calado and Leimer had only produced fairly average qualifying performances, leaving them in the midfield. Sam Bird got a fairly poor start and Leimer attempted to jink left around him. Calado – trying to avoid a slow starter in front of him – ended up pulling across straight into the path of Leimer, effectively eliminating them both from the race.
Frijns and Palmer make gains in the pits
Robin Frijns, Jolyon Palmer and Alexander Rossi were the first to pit as soon as the window opened on lap six. Ericsson, Bird and Jon Lancaster – who had replaced Pal Varhaug at Hilmer Motorsport – were forced to respond the lap after. The extra lap on the hard tyres and in clean air had helped the first men who pitted however, added with a slow stop for Ericsson meant the DAMS man held only a slight lead from Frijns.
The remaining front runners pitted soon after leaving those who had started on the hard tyres at the front of the pack. But with fresh tyres the front runners started to come back at the leaders.
With so many close in such close company the racing started out superb, with drivers giving each other just enough room. It got too close into the final chicane however as Giovesi baulked Ericsson and Bird was forced around the outside. The Russian Time driver clipped the rear of the DAMS car and Ericsson was forced to retire.
Nasr storms through
Frijns eventually took the lead of the race from Palmer, Bird and Coletti as Mitch Evans became the last man of the leaders to pit on lap 28. But Felipe Nasr was soon closing on the Hilmer driver, having saved his tyres, and began slicing his way through the field. He was soon up with Palmer and clipped his team mate as he fought his way past, fortunately without losing his front wing.
Bird tried to get passed Palmer too but the Carlin man pushed Bird off the circuit and the Russian Time driver’s day ended in the gravel four laps from home.
Frijns held on up front to claim a fantastic first win for himself and Hilmer, followed closely by Nasr with Palmer joining them on the podium in third. But Palmer was later demoted however for his incident with Bird which promoted Jon Lancaster, making it a double podium for Hilmer Motorsport.
Result
Pos | Driver | Team | Time/Lap Retired | Grid |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Robin Frijns | Hilmer Motorsport | 1hr 00’38.896 | 8 |
2 | Felipe Nasr | Carlin | 3.316 | 3 |
3 | Jon Lancaster | Hilmer Motorsport | 12.609 | 15 |
4 | Stefano Coletti | Rapax | 13.329 | 5 |
5 | Tom Dillmann | Russian Time | 14.325 | 14 |
6 | Alexander Rossi | Caterham Racing | 17.16 | 17 |
7 | Kevin Ceccon | Trident Racing | 17.504 | 9 |
8 | Johnny Cecotto | Arden international | 24.013 | 23 |
9 | Rio Haryanto | Barwa Addax Team | 32.024 | 22 |
10 | Jolyon Palmer | Carlin | 32.290* | 11 |
11 | Daniel Abt | ART Grand Prix | 32.823 | 12 |
12 | Mitch Evans | Arden international | 35.748 | 19 |
13 | Julian Leal | Racing Engineering | 39.922 | 18 |
14 | Jake Rosenzweig | Barwa Addax Team | 40.999 | 16 |
15 | Stephane Richelmi | DAMS | 42.69 | 2 |
16 | Daniel de Jong | MP Motorsport | 43.102 | 26 |
17 | Adrian Quaife-Hobbs | MP Motorsport | 54.532 | 25 |
18 | Fabio Leimer | Racing Engineering | 56.946 | 6 |
19 | Simon Trummer | Rapax | 57.935 | 24 |
20 | Rene Binder | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1 Lap | 20 |
21 | Sam Bird | Russian Time | 34 | 4 |
DNF | Kevin Giovesi | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 12 | 10 |
DNF | Marcus Ericsson | DAMS | 11 | 1 |
DNF | Sergio Canamasas | Caterham Racing | 6 | 13 |
DNF | Nathanel Berthon | Trident Racing | 5 | 21 |
DNF | James Calado | ART Grand Prix | 2 | 7 |
*Jolyon Palmer was given a 20-second penalty for forcing Sam Bird off of the track.
Fastest Lap: Simon Trummer (Rapax – 1’33.409 (lap 33)
Fastest Lap Points: Jon Lancaster (Hilmer Motorsport) – 1’34.352 (lap 9)
Sprint Race
Coletti and Frijns fly from the start
Johnny Cecotto got a decent start from pole position while fourth-place Tom Dillmann stalled on the grid. Coletti got a flyer to move into second but the real surprise was Robin Frijns, who was up into third by turn one.
Cecotto tried to hold on but Coletti was around the outside and into the lead. The Arden man tried to fight back but a small mistake cost him further ground to Frijns and Nasr.
Cecotto causes mayhem
From then on the race became about saving the tyres until lap 20, when Palmer finally fought his way past Cecotto’s damaged Arden. With Cecotto so slow a train of more than ten cars formed up behind him as they began the last few laps.
Kevin Ceccon and Alexander Rossi both failed to pass Cecotto but it was Sergio Canamasas who got the best run on the exit of turn 12. Cecotto attempted to shove him wide, causing a domino effect behind them and left Rio Harayanto with nowhere to go.
He drove straight into the back of Canamasas while several drivers cut the final chicane in a desperate bid to avoid the mayhem. It was an unfortunate end to the race for Canamasas who’s been involved in a similar incident with Berthon the day before.
Up front Coletti held off the fast-closing Frijns to claim his second win of the season. Felipe Nasr rounded off the podium in third, meaning he has now finished all six races in the top four without winning one of them.
That consistency means Nasr is now Coletti’s closest rival in the championship. But the driver who scored the biggest points haul this weekend – Frijns – does not even know how many more races he will compete in this year.
Result
Pos | Driver | Team | Time/Lap Retired | Grid |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Stefano Coletti | Rapax | 41’49.895 | 5 |
2 | Robin Frijns | Hilmer Motorsport | 0.691 | 8 |
3 | Felipe Nasr | Carlin | 7.212 | 7 |
4 | Jolyon Palmer | Carlin | 12.129 | 10 |
5 | Johnny Cecotto | Arden International | 35.593 | 1 |
6 | Alexander Rossi | Caterham Racing | 36.991 | 3 |
7 | Kevin Ceccon | Trident Racing | 38.483 | 2 |
8 | Daniel Abt | ART Grand Prix | 39.645 | 11 |
9 | Fabio Leimer | Racing Engineering | 40.664 | 18 |
10 | Jon Lancaster | Hilmer Motorsport | 41.353 | 6 |
11 | James Calado | ART Grand Prix | 41.464 | 24 |
12 | Sam Bird | Russian Time | 41.876 | 25* |
13 | Mitch Evans | Arden International | 42.52 | 12 |
14 | Sergio Canamasas | Caterham Racing | 44.19 | 23 |
15 | Stephane Richelmi | DAMS | 44.277 | 15 |
16 | Simon Trummer | Rapax | 44.487 | 19 |
17 | Kevin Giovesi | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 44.628 | 21 |
18 | Daniel de Jong | MP Motorsport | 46.041 | 16 |
19 | Rene Binder | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 48.132 | 20 |
20 | Marcus Ericsson | DAMS | 53.65 | 22 |
21 | Adrian Quaife-Hobbs | MP Motorsport | 53.938 | 17 |
22 | Jake Rosenzweig | Barwa Addax Team | 1’02.518 | 14 |
23 | Nathanael Berthon | Trident Racing | 1’06.632 | 26** |
24 | Rio Harayanto | Barwa Addax Team | 1’25.590 | 9 |
25 | Julian Leal | Racing Engineering | 1’35.223 | 13 |
26 | Tom Dillmann | Russian Time | 1 Lap | 4 |
*Sam Bird was handed a 5-place grid penalty for a collision with Marcus Ericsson in the feature race.
**Nathanael Berthon was handed a 10-place grid penalty for a collision with Sergio Canamasas and Tom Dillmann in the feature race.
Fastest Lap: Tom Dillmann (Russian Time) – 1’33.337 (on lap 14)
Fastest Lap Points: Stefano Coletti (Rapax) – 1’33.727 (on lap 3)
Drivers’ championship points
Pos | Driver | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Stefano Coletti | 93 |
2 | Felipe Nasr | 76 |
3 | Fabio Leimer | 54 |
4 | Robin Frijns | 37 |
5 | Sam Bird | 33 |
6 | Jolyon Palmer | 31 |
7 | Alexander Rossi | 27 |
8 | James Calado | 24 |
9 | Tom Dillmann | 22 |
10 | Johnny Cecotto | 19 |
11 | Jon Lancaster | 17 |
12 | Stephane Richelmi | 12 |
13 | Mitch Evans | 11 |
14 | Julian Leal | 10 |
15 | Simon Trummer | 8 |
16 | Kevin Ceccon | 8 |
17 | Adrian Quaife-Hobbs | 7 |
18 | Marcus Ericsson | 4 |
19 | Daniel Abt | 3 |
20 | Conor Daly | 2 |
21 | Rio Harayanto | 2 |
22 | Rene Binder | 1 |
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RagingInferno (@raginginferno)
12th May 2013, 12:44
Is it just me or does “Wins with Frijns” sound like really cheesy sitcom name?
Andrew F
12th May 2013, 15:06
I don’t mean to rain on your party here but ‘Wins’ and ‘Frijns’ don’t rhyme
RagingInferno (@raginginferno)
12th May 2013, 17:41
http://www.pronouncehow.com/english/frijns_pronunciation
Fairly sure they do, though Will Buxton does pronounce it differently.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
13th May 2013, 7:29
I always try to pronounce the name the way it is intended in the own language. So Kubica is ‘Kubitsa’ and Bianchi is ‘Bianshee’. Then Wins and Frijns surely do not rhyme.
RagingInferno (@raginginferno)
13th May 2013, 10:46
In that case my apologies! No motor racing themed sitcoms for now.
aditya (@agara)
12th May 2013, 12:48
what a weekend, happy to see my countryman (its Haryanto btw) finally get his first point after a poor start of the season. too bad he have to be a victim of Ceccoto madness! what was he thinking?!
^Mo^
12th May 2013, 12:48
I seriously don’t get why Frijns is having so much trouble getting a seat. These are the guys you want to be racing. Why aren’t companies lining up to sponsor him? I think it’s a very impressive result to get a win and a second place in just his second GP2 race. It would be a disgrace if he doesn’t get a permanent seat, but I guess money talks.
mnmracer (@mnmracer)
12th May 2013, 13:31
Frijns showing his worth once again :D
alexf1man (@alexf1man)
12th May 2013, 14:37
What did I say yesterday about Frijns? https://twitter.com/alexf1man/status/333232262445416448
JCost (@jcost)
12th May 2013, 14:59
That end of the race was ridiculous, those drivers should show more respect to each other at that stage of their careers.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
13th May 2013, 7:43
To me, Cecotto not receiving a race ban is an equal big surprise as to Frijns winning (is that correct English?). Cecotto has some serious issues and should get himself checked.
Force Maikel (@force-maikel)
13th May 2013, 9:35
@matthijs It is Cecotto 3de “mad man” incident of the season. A one race ban would be nothing more then pure justice.
RagingInferno (@raginginferno)
13th May 2013, 10:49
I think it would be “an equally big surprise as Frijns winning”. I agree with you on Cecotto, something really has to be done. It’s no wonder drivers like Maldonado and Grosjean move up from GP2 to F1 and get involved in clumsy incidents if they haven’t been properly disciplined.
Hairs (@hairs)
13th May 2013, 10:52
The incidents this weekend were shockingly awful. I don’t normally watch the gp2 races so I have no idea if this stuff is par for the course or not, but drivers like cecotto have no business in any open wheel formula.