Leimer snatches GP2 title after Bird slips up

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Fabio Leimer has won the GP2 championship with one race to spare in Abu Dhabi.

Leimer started fourth on the grid for Saturday’s feature race but was quickly ahead of title rival Sam Bird who stalled on the front row of the grid.

Bird was able to rejoin the race after the Safety Car was deployed following a collision between Jon Lancaster and Tom Dillmann. He worked his way up to tenth place for the final point.

Leimer dropped off the podium in the final laps as Marcus Ericsson passed him, but with Bird unable to make further progress the Racing Engineering driver clinched the title.

Alexander Rossi took the race win, jumping ahead of Jolyon Palmer during the mandatory pit stops.

Leimer took the lead in the points standings five races ago but has had Bird in close company since then. Leimer’s three wins this season have all come in feature races in Malaysia, Bahrain and Italy.

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    Keith Collantine
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    13 comments on “Leimer snatches GP2 title after Bird slips up”

    1. That was awesome man! Hearing the joy of Fabio Leimer over the team radio after Racing Engineering told him he’d won was so surepme I can’t even spell supreme! Mega action on track too; nice seeing overtakes without DRS and the funny pitstop with Coletti. Great race!

    2. And Kvyat gets pole in GP3 :)

    3. I’m happy for him, he’s a good driver. I doubt he will get an F1 drive though he’s quick enough for one. He’s been linked with an Audi DTM seat in the past, that would be a good place for him :)

      1. @jmc200 He was linked to BMW, if I remember correctly, and not Audi.

        1. Either one would be great.

    4. Funny how things work, after the first races, he seemed to be off the pace for a while, but he made it through in the end. Congrats to him, but I too don’t think it’s likely to see him in F1..

      Meanwhile, I hope Sam Bird doesn’t develop any problems. He’s been in the junior categories for years and has done well, but not spectacular. Missing out on another title must hurt.

      1. @npf1 Bird’s a strange one. He struggled in F3 (beaten by Sims in 2009, which was his sophomore year and Sims’s rookie year, when they were teammates).
        But in GP2 and World Series, he’s been really good.

    5. Anyone able to fill me on on what happened to Mitch Evans? How was he going and what caused his DNF?

      Thanks

      1. @kkierann He tried to dive down Canamasas on the inside of the final corner, hit the spaniard causing him to spin, then he just stopped the car on the pit straight.

        If anything it was Evans fault this time though.

        1. Yeah, it was all Evans fault, no room to overtake there…

    6. Did anyone pay close attention to the Russian Time livary?
      I thought it was a Williams at first.

    7. Really excited to wake up to Alexander Rossi winning today. I think he’s come alive in the last several races, he could have won the sprint at Italy just a few rounds ago. The struggles aside, Caterham wouldn’t be making a huge mistake whether they decide to keep him in GP2 for another year, or promote him to a race seat in F1 in 2014.

      And Fabio Leimer too…I agree with Tiff Needell, his best offer for being GP2 champion shouldn’t be a GT/DTM drive, if he’s lucky. Yeah, he’s not a highly-rated prospect like Nasr, Calado, or Frijns, but all those guys underperformed a bit at some point during the season. It took him 4 years to win the title….so did Pastor Maldonado, an F1 race winner. At least give the man a test drive with a competent team!

    8. ohh sam bird…. the eternal gp2 contender.

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