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GP2 Round 3 Monaco Feature Race will be out of prediction, Giedo van der Garde has lost pole position for the Monaco
feature race on friday after being handed a five place starting grid
penalty for causing a collision with Carlin stand-in driver Oliver
Turvey early in the session.
Marcus Ericcson was similarly penalised for crashing into his team mate Sam Bird, who is the driver to inherit hold from van der Garde. Romain Grosjean was also penalised for an accident with his team mate Pal Varhaug, but was at the bottom of the timesheets anyway and lucky to be allowed to start the race, having missed the 107 per cent cut-off.
Jules Bianchi already had a five-place grid penalty for causing an accident in the Barcelona sprint race.
Revised starting grid
1. #9 Sam Bird iSport International
2. #27 Davide Valsecchi Team AirAsia
3. #8 Alvaro Parente Racing Engineering
4. #21 Stefano Coletti Trident Racing
5. #14 Josef Král Arden International
6. #4 Giedo Van Der Garde Barwa Addax Team *
7. #24 Max Chilton Carlin 1:22.664s
8. #5 Jules Bianchi Lotus ART *
9. #6 Esteban Gutiérrez Lotus ART
10. #23 Johnny Cecotto Ocean Racing Technology
11. #17 Luca Filippi Super Nova Racing
12. #3 Charles Pic Barwa Addax Team
13. #20 Rodolfo González Trident Racing
14. #1 Fabio Leimer Rapax 1:23.217s
15. #25 Oliver Turvey Carlin 1:23.373s
16. #26 Luiz Razia Team AirAsia
17. #7 Dani Clos Racing Engineering
18. #15 Jolyon Palmer Arden International
19. #2 Julian Leal Rapax 1:23.752s
20. #10 Marcus Ericsson iSport International *
21. #19 Kevin Ceccon Scuderia Coloni
22. #16 Fairuz Fauzy Super Nova Racing
23. #22 Kevin Mirocha Ocean Racing Technology
24. #18 Michael Herck Scuderia Coloni
25. #12 Pal Varhaug Dams
26. #11 Romain Grosjean Dams *
* = the driver penalised five grid positions for causing an avoidable accident
The experienced Davide Valsecchi was a safe pair of hands to deliver AirAsia a maiden GP2 win in their first season in the series in the Monaco feature race.
He succeeded in holding off Alvarao Parente to the flag, while Luca Filippi and Romain Grosjean used impressive pit stop strategies to recover from poor grid positions.
But it was a bad day for iSport - again - as their cars clashed on track for the second day running and retired.
Oliver Turvey had expected to start the sprint race on the front row after finishing seventh, but he had failed to serve a drive-thru penalty for a jump start and was demoted to 15th.
Race 1 results
1. #27 Davide Valsecchi Team AirAsia 1:00:23.957s after 41 laps
2. #8 Alvaro Parente Racing Engineering + 1.471s
3. #17 Luca Filippi Super Nova Racing + 2.199s
4. #11 Romain Grosjean Dams + 4.219s
5. #21 Stefano Coletti Trident Racing + 14.023s
6. #14 Josef Král Arden International + 14.467s
7. #24 Max Chilton Carlin + 16.071s
8. #3 Charles Pic Barwa Addax + 19.524s
9. #1 Fabio Leimer Rapax + 19.934s
10. #22 Kevin Mirocha Ocean Racing Technology + 26.692s
11. #19 Kevin Ceccon Scuderia Coloni + 27.315s
12. #6 Estaban Gutiérrez Lotus ART + 33.427s
13. #18 Michael Herck Scuderia Coloni + 44.243s
14. #16 Fairuz Fauzy Super Nova Racing + 1 lap
15. #25 Oliver Turvey Carlin + 1 lap *
Retirements
Julian Leal Rapax Lap 36
Jolyon Palmer Arden International Lap 34
Sam Bird iSport Lap 31
Marcus Ericcson iSport Lap 31
Giedo van der Garde Barwa Addax Lap 23
Dani Clos Racing Engineering Lap 22
Rodolfo Gonzalez Trident Lap 20
Luiz Razia AirAsia Lap 20
Johnny Cecotto Jr Ocean Racing Technology Lap 18
Jules Bianchi Lotus ART Lap 12
Pal Varhaug Dams Lap 11
Fastest lap: Davide Valsecchi, 1:23.011 on lap 40
* = Penalised for not taking drive-thru penalty for a jump-start.
