Giedo van der Garde wins Spanish GP2 Feature Race

Dutchman Giedo van der Garde has won the main feature race for this weekends GP2 Series, after an excellent strategy in the pits which enabled him to leap-frog Fabio Leimer and pole man James Calado. The British driver came home 2nd after fighting to not only try and pass van der Garde, but to also defend from Coletti in a strong 3rd.

As the cars peeled away to begin their warm-up lap, GP2 rookie Victor Guerin unfortunately stalled his Ocean Racing Technology car, thus forcing the Brazilian to start from the pits. At the start, James Calado defended vigorously from Fabio Leimer, as the two kicked up dust and marbles on the already dirty track from the F1. As they battled on through turns one and two, van der Garde had a stab at taking 2nd away from Leimer, however the Swiss driver was able to remain in 2nd.

With Leimer defending against the Caterham of van der Garde, this enabled the Lotus of Calado to break out a gap at the front. Further behind, the usual melee of cars miraculously found their way around the opening two laps without any major incidents.

The first driver to enter the pits for his mandatory pit-stop was the Rapax of Ricardo Teixeira, who started the race on the softer Pirelli tyres. Only several corners after exiting the pits, and the Portuguese-Angolan driver was out of the race with suspected issues with his tyres. With the yellow flags out in force as the marshals retrieved the car, Giancarlo Serenelli was caught ignoring the yellow flags and was subsequently issued a drive-through penalty.

From lap 11 onwards, the field began making their mandatory pits-stops, with leader James Calado opting to change all four of his tyres. Fabio Leimer also pitted at the same time as the British driver, with the two exiting the pit-lane side-by-side. Calado led away as they both left the confines of the pits, with Leimer being issued a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release by his Racing Engineering team.

As the two leaders squabbled together in the pits, Giedo van der Garde remained out on track, and when pitted only opted to change the two rear tyres. This strategy enabled the Dutchman to leap-frog the leading pair, as Nigel Melker was issued a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit-lane.

With half of the race remaining, a battle was brewing for lead as the gap between Calado and van der Garde ebbed and flowed. As Leimer took his penalty, this enabled Stefano Coletti in the Coloni to close the gap and make it and potential three-way battle for the lead.

However, as the laps wore on, it became apparent that passing is still difficult around the Circuit de Catalunya, as the leading trio remained cemented in their respective positions. Giedo van der Garden eventually crossed the line to pick up his fourth career victory in GP2, whereas further back carnage ensued as Tom Dillmann, Julian Leal and Johnny Cecotto jr. came together battling for position. Dillmann spun off on the exit of turn 11, whereas Leal proceeded to spin at turn 12.

In traditional GP2 style, the top eight will be reversed ahead of tomorrow morning’s sprint race, which will see previous race winner Luiz Razia start from pole alongside British driver Max Chilton.

Follow me on Twitter - @AndyYoungF1