GP2 Hot News

Pic powers to victory in Barcelona

Autoracing1

Charles Pic

Charles Pic has claimed victory in his first GP2 race in Barcelona, keeping his head and driving a strong, sensible race as his rivals dropped away to lead home Giacomo Ricci and Dani Clos in today’s season opener.

The Frenchman’s race was set up at the start when polesitter Jules Bianchi and teammate Sam Bird struggled to get off the line as the lights went out. Sergio Perez tore away from the front row with Christian Vietoris pushing for a line inside the Mexican at the first turn: the pair came together out of the corner with the German spinning backwards into Bianchi, putting them both out on the spot and forcing Bird over the high curbs to avoid the melee.

As a result Pic was promoted to P2 behind the rapidly escaping Perez, with Ricci’s astonishing start pushing the Italian up from tenth on the grid to third on the road in a few corners, ahead of Pastor Maldonado, Dani Clos, Oliver Turvey and Diego van der Garde, although the Dutchman was soon to disappear from the proceedings after 2 drive through penalties, one for leaving the pits too late and the other for a jump start.

Up in front Perez was building a strong lead over his rivals as the pitstops shook out: Pic came in on lap 12 and returned 40 seconds down the track from the race leader, who looked to have everything under control, but a sticking right rear tire during his stop four laps later rained on his parade, pushing him back to P4 when he finally returned to the circuit.

And so it was fated to end: Pic drove a strong, intelligent race and held just enough of a lead for the rest of the race to deny a fast charging Ricci, with Clos overtaking Maldonado after his stop to claim a home podium ahead of a bitterly disappointed Perez, who pushed the Spaniard hard for the second half of the race without reward. Oliver Turvey finished fifth in a lonely but fruitful race for the rookie Briton, with Maldonado pushed to the line by teammate Luiz Razia and Fabio Leimer, while Sam Bird drove a race full of qualifying laps after replacing his broken nose on lap one to claim ninth and the final point for fastest lap.

Results

POS

 NO DRIVER NAT ENTRANT BEST LAPS GAP INT PIT
1 16 C. Pic FRA Arden Int. 1:31.939 37 – – 1
2 27 G. Ricci ITA DPR 1:32.084 37 1.4 – 1
3 7 D. Clos ESP Racing Eng. 1:32.310 37 4.2 2.7 1
4 4 S. Perez MEX Barwa Addax 1:31.834 37 5.1 0.9 1
5 9 O. Turvey GBR iSport Int. 1:32.726 37 18.3 13.2 1
6 15 P. Maldonado VEN Rapax 1:32.533 37 30.2 11.8 1
7 14 L. Razia BRA Rapax 1:32.419 37 30.5 0.3 1
8 19 F. Leimer SUI Ocean Racing 1:32.470 37 34.3 3.7 1
9 2 S. Bird GBR ART Grand Prix 1:31.754 37 35.9 1.6 2
10 10 D. Valsecchi ITA iSport Int. 1:33.045 37 44.0 8.1 1
11 6 M. Ericsson SWE Super Nova 1:33.140 37 50.3 6.2 1
12 5 J. Kral CZE Super Nova 1:33.414 37 51.6 1.3 1
13 12 H. Tung CHN Dams 1:32.833 37 53.4 1.7 1
14 20 A. Valerio BRA Scuderia Coloni 1:33.397 37 59.8 6.3 1
15 17 R. Gonzalez VEN Arden Int. 1:33.976 37 66.1 6.3 1
16 25 A. Zaugg RSA Trident Racing 1:33.571 37 66.3 0.2 1
17 26 M. Herck ROU DPR 1:32.226 37 66.6 0.2 2
18 18 M. Chilton GBR Ocean Racing 1:33.014 37 71.5 4.8 1
19 21 V. Arabadzhiev BUL Scuderia Coloni 1:33.347 37 76.2 4.7 1
20 3 G. Van Der Garde NED Barwa Addax 1:32.558 37 77.1 0.8 3
21 11 J. D'Ambrosio BEL Dams 1:33.281 12 DNF – 1
22 1 J. Bianchi FRA ART Grand Prix – 0 DNF – 0
23 8 C. Vietoris GER Racing Eng. – 0 DNF – 0
24 24 J. Cecotto VEN Trident Racing – 0 DNF – 0