 2008 Catalunya GP2 Series Race 2
| ||
|---|---|---|
 The Circuit de Catalunya in 2008. | ||
| Race Information | ||
| Date | 27 April 2008 | |
| No. | 67 (2 of 2008) | |
| Event | L Gran Premio de España Telefónica
| |
| Location | Circuit de Catalunya Montmelo, Barcelona, Spain | |
| Format | 120 km / 45 minutes (Sprint Race) | |
| Lap length | 4.655 km (2.893 mi) | |
| Distance | 26 laps / 121.030 km (75.204 mi) | |
| Fastest lap | ||
| Driver |  Kamui Kobayashi
| |
| Team |  DAMS
| |
| Time | 1:30.045 on lap 5 | |
| Podium | ||
| First | Second | Third |
| Kamui Kobayashi
|
 Sébastien Buemi
|
 Giorgio Pantano
|
| Winner Team | DAMS
| |
| Time | 40:27.229 | |
| Race Guide | ||
| Previous | Next | |
| 2008 Barcelona Feature Race
|
 2008 Istanbul Feature Race
| |
The 2008 Catalunya GP2 Series Race 2, otherwise known as the 2008 Barcelona Sprint Race, was the second race of the 2008 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo, Barcelona, Spain, on 27 April 2008.[1] The race would see Kamui Kobayashi sweep to his maiden GP2 victory, after race leader Romain Grosjean was handed a late-race penalty for illegal blocking after a Safety Car period.[2]
Kobayashi would start the Sprint Race from pole position, after finishing in eighth in the Feature Race, the Series' rules meaning that the top eight finishers from the Feature were reversed for the Sprint.[3] He would share the front row with Sébastien Buemi, while Vitaly Petrov and Grosjean were to share the second row ahead of Giorgio Pantano and Andreas Zuber.[3]
The start of the race saw Kobayashi make a strong initial launch, although a better second phase saw Buemi draw alongside on the run to the first corner, with the inside line.[2] Kobayashi and Buemi would weave across the circuit before hitting the brakes for the first corner, with the Japanese pilot braking later to snatch the lead after squeezing Buemi to the inside.[2]
That move would also work wonders for Grosjean, who having out-lauched Petrov would take full advantage of the empty track ahead of him to lunge around Buemi for second, and instantly tuck himself under Kobayashi's rear wing.[2] Further back, meanwhile, Karun Chandhok was tipped into a spin, while a poor start for Zuber saw him fall into the sights of teammate Pastor Maldonado, although the Emirati-registered driver would block the Venezuelan's lunge into the right hander.[2]
The opening tour saw Grosjean weigh up his options behind Kobayashi, before slithering down the inside of the Japanese pilot into the first corner at the start of the second tour.[2] With that the Frenchman was away, spending the rest of the early phase of the race building a lead over Kobayashi, who was himself able to simply ease clear of Buemi in third as the Swiss racer found Pantano looming in his mirrors.[2]
With that the race began to settle, with most of the fighting to be found in the midfield, with Luca Filippi getting himself involved in the Zuber-Maldonado fight, while Ben Hanley and Adrián Vallés exchanged blows further back.[2] Filippi's race soon came to an end with an engine failure, before the two Piquet Sport entries made hard enough contact to send both cars into the pits, after a lunge from Zuber to try and get back ahead of Maldonado.[2]
That collision came moments after the Safety Car had been sent into the pits, which had been scrambled when Giacomo Ricci spun himself out of the race at the final corner, coming to a rest stranded in the middle of the circuit.[2] Grosjean then made a mess of the restart by trying to bolt at the chicane, missing his braking point and compromising his exit, allowing Kobayashi to get a run on him down the start/finish straight.[2]
That mistake prompted Grosjean to put together a very aggressive defence from Kobayashi, lunging across to squeeze the #10 DAMS towards the grass on the outside line to turn one as they went for the brakes.[2] The officials looked at the incident and awarded Grosjean a drive-through penalty on the spot, which the Frenchman would serve at the start of the final lap.[2]
With Grosjean effectively out the race was over, with Kobayashi sweeping across the line to secure victory, as well as the bonus point for fastest lap with a healthy margin over Buemi.[2] Buemi himself had put up a strong defence to deny Pantano, while Bruno Senna had had a relatively quiet run to fourth.[2] Davide Valsecchi was next up having fought his way up from tenth, with a similarly battle hardened Javier Villa claiming the final point in sixth after he had struggled his way up from fourteenth.[2]
Background[]
There were no changes to the Circuit de Catalunya ahead of the second race of the 2008 campaign, with the field likewise remaining unchanged barring a withdrawal for Christian Bakkerud as his trapped nerve issue reoccured.[1] In terms of the grid it would be Kamui Kobayashi who would start the race from pole position, after the Japanese racer had finished in eighth in the Feature Race.[3]
Parente's Ace[]
Unsurprisingly his opening day victory, combined with fastest lap, left Álvaro Parente at the head of the Championship, the Portuguese pilot holding a three point lead over Bruno Senna. Andreas Zuber was two points further back in third, with Giorgio Pantano, Romain Grosjean, Vitaly Petrov, Sébastien Buemi, pole sitter Pastor Maldonado, and Kamui Kobayashi also having scored on the opening day.
In the Teams' Championship Super Nova Racing had opened the season at the head of the Championship hunt, the British squad holding a three point lead over iSport International. iSport themselves were level with Piquet Sports on eight, the only team whose drivers had both scored in the opening race, while Racing Engineering were three behind in fourth. ART Grand Prix, Barwa Campos, Trust Team Arden and DAMS were the other scorers on the opening day.
Entry List[]
The full entry list for the 2008 Barcelona Sprint Race is displayed below:
Grid[]
The grid for the Sprint Race was set by reversing the top eight finishers from the Feature Race, as per the FIA GP2 Series' rules:
| Pos. | Pos. | |
|---|---|---|
| Driver | Driver | |
| ______________ | ||
| Row 1 | 1 | ______________ |
| Kamui Kobayashi | 2 | |
| ______________ | Sébastien Buemi | |
| Row 2 | 3 | ______________ |
| Vitaly Petrov | 4 | |
| ______________ | Romain Grosjean | |
| Row 3 | 5 | ______________ |
| Giorgio Pantano | 6 | |
| ______________ | Andreas Zuber | |
| Row 4 | 7 | ______________ |
| Bruno Senna | 8 | |
| ______________ | Álvaro Parente | |
| Row 5 | 9 | ______________ |
| Karun Chandhok | 10 | |
| ______________ | Davide Valsecchi | |
| Row 6 | 11 | ______________ |
| Luca Filippi | 12 | |
| ______________ | Pastor Maldonado | |
| Row 7 | 13 | ______________ |
| Alberto Valerio | 14 | |
| ______________ | Javier Villa | |
| Row 8 | 15 | ______________ |
| Diego Nunes | 16 | |
| ______________ | Giacomo Ricci | |
| Row 9 | 17 | ______________ |
| Paolo Nocera | 18 | |
| ______________ | Adrián Vallés | |
| Row 10 | 19 | ______________ |
| Yelmer Buurman | 20 | |
| ______________ | Ben Hanley | |
| Row 11 | 21 | ______________ |
| Jérôme d'Ambrosio | 22 | |
| ______________ | Roldán Rodríguez | |
| Row 12 | 23 | ______________ |
| Ho-Pin Tung | 24 | |
| ______________ | Mike Conway | |
| Row 13 | 25 | ______________ |
| Miloš Pavlović | 26 | |
| ______________ |
Race[]
Report[]
Results[]
The final classification of the 2008 Barcelona Sprint Race is displayed below:
| 2008 Barcelona Sprint Race Race Result | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | No. | Name | Team | Laps | Race Time | Strat. | Fastest lap | Pts. |
| 1st | 10 | Kamui Kobayashi
|
DAMS
|
26 | 40:27.229 | 
|
1:30.045 | 7 |
| 2nd | 14 | Sébastien Buemi
|
 Trust Team Arden
|
26 | +1.176s |
|
1:30.507 | 5 |
| 3rd | 12 | Giorgio Pantano
|
Racing Engineering
|
26 | +1.962s |
|
1:30.497 | 4 |
| 4th | 2 |  Bruno Senna
|
 iSport International
|
26 | +2.808s |
|
1:30.351 | 3 |
| 5th | 16 | Davide Valsecchi
|
Durango
|
26 | +3.501s |
|
1:30.422 | 2 |
| 6th | 11 | Javier Villa
|
Racing Engineering
|
26 | +8.480s |
|
1:30.414 | 1 |
| 7th | 8 |  Álvaro Parente
|
Super Nova Racing
|
26 | +8.573s |
|
1:30.585 | |
| 8th | 20 | Mike Conway
|
Trident Racing
|
26 | +9.593s |
|
1:31.151 | |
| 9th | 6 | Ben Hanley
|
Barwa Campos
|
26 | +11.469s |
|
1:31.016 | |
| 10th | 15 | Yelmer Buurman
|
Trust Team Arden
|
26 | +16.974s |
|
1:31.454 | |
| 11th | 19 | Adrián Vallés
|
FMS International
|
26 | +22.871s |
|
1:31.485 | |
| 12th | 27 |  Miloš Pavlović
|
BCN Competición
|
26 | +23.360s |
|
1:31.942 | |
| 13th* | 4 | Romain Grosjean
|
ART Grand Prix
|
26 | +23.558s |
|
1:29.204 | |
| 14th | 21 |  Ho-Pin Tung
|
Trident Racing
|
26 | +25.486s |
|
1:31.148 | |
| 15th | 9 |  Jérôme d'Ambrosio
|
DAMS
|
26 | +47.929s |
|
1:30.399 | |
| 16th | 25 | Diego Nunes
|
DPR
|
25 | +1 Lap |
|
1:30.804 | |
| Ret | 22 |  Andreas Zuber
|
Piquet Sports
|
22 | Collision |
|
1:30.427 | |
| Ret | 23 |  Pastor Maldonado
|
Piquet Sports
|
22 | Collision |
|
1:30.549 | |
| Ret | 24 | Giacomo Ricci
|
DPR
|
18 | Spin |
|
1:31.475 | |
| Ret | 1 |  Karun Chandhok
|
iSport International
|
18 | Damage |
|
1:31.148 | |
| Ret | 5 |  Vitaly Petrov
|
Barwa Campos
|
15 | Retired |
|
1:30.614 | |
| Ret | 17 | Alberto Valerio
|
Durango
|
14 | Retired |
|
1:30.522 | |
| Ret | 18 | Roldán Rodríguez
|
FMS International
|
13 | Clutch |
|
1:31.907 | |
| Ret | 26 | Paolo Nocera
|
BCN Competición
|
12 | Clutch |
|
1:31.763 | |
| Ret | 3 | Luca Filippi
|
ART Grand Prix
|
3 | Engine |
|
1:32.092 | |
| DNS† | 7 |  Christian Bakkerud
|
Super Nova Racing
|
|||||
| Source:[5] | ||||||||
- Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
- * Grosjean set the fastest lap of the race (1:29.204) but was ineligible to claim the bonus point as he finished outside of the top ten.[2]
- † Bakkerud was unable to start the race due to a back injury.[2]
Milestones[]
- Second and final race for Paolo Nocera.
- Maiden (and only) victory for Kamui Kobayashi.
- Also Kobayashi's first podium and fastest lap.
- Kobayashi also became the first Japanese driver to win a GP2 Series race.
- DAMS claimed their fourth win as an entrant in GP2.
- First points finish for Davide Valsecchi.
Standings[]
Álvaro Parente would lead the Championship leaving the opening round in Barcelona, the Portuguese racer holding eleven points courtesy of his win in the Feature Race. Bruno Senna would, however, end the weekend level on points with Parente, but was behind on countback, while Giorgio Pantano occupied third with nine points. Kamui Kobayashi, meanwhile, used his Sprint Race triumph to hold fourth ahead of Sébastien Buemi, with eleven drivers having claimed points during the opening weekend.
In the Teams' Championship Super Nova Racing and iSport International had ended the opening weekend level on points, the former deemed ahead courtesy of Parente's victory as both ended the day on eleven points. Racing Engineering were next up in second, just one point behind, while DAMS were up to fourth as a result of Kobayashi's maiden triumph. The French squad were hence level on points with Piquet Sports, Trust Team Arden were a point further back in sixth, while ART Grand Prix, Barwa Campos and Durango had also registered points in the first two races.
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.
See Also[]
|
See the related event on the Formula One Wiki |
| 2008 Spanish Grand Prix |
|---|
References[]
Images and Videos:
References:
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedCal - ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 [Archived] 'Kobayashi fights to win in race two', gp2series.com, (GP2 Series, 27/04/2008), https://web.archive.org/web/20080430210406/http://www.gp2series.com/en//website/2008gp2series/news/newsgp2/newsdetail.php?articleid=1839, (Accessed 05/06/2022) - Original
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 [Archived] 'Parente powers to first win', gp2series.com, (GP2 Series, 26/04/2008), https://web.archive.org/web/20080430211933/http://www.gp2series.com:80/en//website/2008gp2series/news/newsgp2/newsdetail.php?articleid=1837, (Accessed 05/06/2022) - Original
- ↑ Matt Salisbury, 'Name changes and numbers confirmed.', crash.net, (Crash Media Group, 14/12/2006), https://www.crash.net/gp2/news/67687/1/name-changes-and-numbers-confirmed, (Accessed 17/11/2020)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedResults