Luiz Razia dominates GP2 Sprint race in Spain

Luiz Razia has won his second GP2 race of the season in dominating fashion, completing a lights to finish victory at the front. The Brazilian driver was followed home in 2nd by Nathaneal Berton, with Championship leader Davide Valsecchi holding off a charging James Calado for the final podium position.

After a delayed start due to Jolyon Palmer stalling halfway around the initial formation lap, Luiz Razia stormed away at the front as alongside him Max Chilton suffered a disastrous getaway which saw the Brit drop to 4th. Davide Valsecchi completed belter of a start, jumping up around the outside of the pack into turn 1 up to 3rd place, battling hard with Berthon in 2nd.

With many drivers’ in the GP3 Series getting penalized for jump starts in both the feature and sprint races, the GP2 Series was no exception today as rookie Victor Guerin was caught jumping the start and was subsequently issued a drive-through penalty.

After setting the fastest lap of the race at the back of the pack, Giancarlo Serenelli’s race was short-lived as the Venezuelan driver spun his Venezuela GP Lazarus car into the gravel at turn 4. This caused yellow flags to be waved as the marshals retrieved the stricken car, whereas elsewhere on the track James Calado began his race charge as he stormed up the inside of fellow countryman Max Chilton for 4th.

In the midfield, the usual jostling for position was well and truly underway, with Fabio Onidi and Nigel Melker unfortunately coming together through turn 12. Onidi was busy trying to defend against Johnny Cecotto jr., when the Coloni driver lost the rear end and collected the unlucky Dutchman of Melker. Both were able to continue after the incident, albeit well down the order. Nigel Melker was forced to pit for a new front wing, after Onidi’s car caused damage to the Ocean Racing Technology car.

With Jolyon Palmer’s race ending prematurely on the formation lap, iSport International’s race failed to improve as Marcus Ericsson was handed a drive-through penalty for ignoring yellow flags. This resulted in the Swede eventually finishing the race a lowly 22nd.

As the race entered it’s closing stages, Luiz Razia began to open up a considerable gap to Nathanael Berthon, as Davide Valsecchi came under serious pressure from James Calado. However, as much as the Brit tried to force the issue on Valsecchi, the top three remained the same as Luiz Razia crossed the line to take his third career GP2 victory.

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