2012 Bahrain 1st GP2 Series round

The 2012 Bahrain 1st GP2 Series round was the second round of the 2012 GP2 Series. It was held on 21 and 22 April 2012 at Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain. The race supported the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix. The second round was held one week later as an independent round of the championship, the only one of its kind on the 2012 calendar.

   2012 1st Bahrain GP2 round

Round details
Round 2 of 12 rounds in the 2012 GP2 Series
Location	Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.412 km (3.359 mi)
GP2 Series
Feature race
Date	21 April 2012
Laps	32
Pole position
Driver	Davide Valsecchi	DAMS
Time	1:41.200
Podium
First	Davide Valsecchi	DAMS
Second	Luiz Razia	Arden International
Third	Esteban Gutiérrez	Lotus GP
Fastest lap
Driver	Davide Valsecchi	DAMS
Time	1:44.380 (on lap 25)
Sprint race
Date	22 April 2012
Laps	23
Podium
First	Davide Valsecchi	DAMS
Second	Esteban Gutiérrez	Lotus GP
Third	James Calado	Lotus GP
Fastest lap
Driver	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham Racing
Time	1:45.650 (on lap 3)

The rounds were the first time the GP2 Series has visited the Bahrain International Circuit since 2007. The circuit was a regular fixture on the calendar of the now-defunct GP2 Asia Series from its inception in 2008 until 2011, when the race was cancelled due to anti-government protests. With the GP2 Asia series being discontinued at the end of the 2011 season and merged into its parent series, the Bahrain International Circuit returned to the larger GP2 Series as part of the series' expansion to include fly-away rounds.

In the week before the first race, Barwa Addax driver Josef Král was replaced by Dani Clos. Brendon Hartley also replaced Ocean Racing Technology's Jon Lancaster.

DAMS driver Davide Valsecchi qualified on pole for the first feature race, and won both the feature and sprint races.

The first race was also the first time that the series introduced the points system used by Formula One since 2010 for the feature race, with points awarded to the top ten drivers and twenty-five points awarded to the race winner. The points for the sprint race were changed too, with the winner receiving fifteen points and the top eight drivers scoring points. The points for pole and fastest lap were doubled as well.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time	Grid
1	3	Davide Valsecchi	DAMS	1:41.200	1
2	10	Esteban Gutiérrez	Lotus GP	1:41.479	2
3	4	Felipe Nasr	DAMS	1:41.785	3
4	5	Fabio Leimer	Racing Engineering	1:41.798	4
5	1	Johnny Cecotto Jr.	Barwa Addax Team	1:41.858	5
6	16	Stéphane Richelmi	Trident Racing	1:41.862	6
7	7	Marcus Ericsson	iSport International	1:41.933	171
8	9	James Calado	Lotus GP	1:41.939	7
9	23	Luiz Razia	Arden International	1:41.962	8
10	26	Max Chilton	Carlin	1:41.980	9
11	27	Rio Haryanto	Carlin	1:42.097	10
12	12	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham Racing	1:42.139	11
13	8	Jolyon Palmer	iSport International	1:42.156	12
14	2	Dani Clos	Barwa Addax Team	1:42.158	13
15	21	Tom Dillmann	Rapax	1:42.190	14
16	15	Fabio Onidi	Scuderia Coloni	1:42.374	15
17	11	Rodolfo González	Caterham Racing	1:42.409	16
18	6	Nathanaël Berthon	Racing Engineering	1:42.427	18
19	17	Julián Leal	Trident Racing	1:42.456	19
20	18	Fabrizio Crestani	Venezuela GP Lazarus	1:42.706	20
21	24	Brendon Hartley	Ocean Racing Technology	1:42.782	262
22	14	Stefano Coletti	Scuderia Coloni	1:42.853	21
23	25	Nigel Melker	Ocean Racing Technology	1:42.895	22
24	22	Simon Trummer	Arden International	1:43.014	23
25	19	Giancarlo Serenelli	Venezuela GP Lazarus	1:43.907	24
26	20	Ricardo Teixeira	Rapax	1:44.078	25

Notes:

• ^1 — Marcus Ericsson was given a ten-place grid penalty for causing an avoidable accident with Davide Valsecchi at Sepang.
• ^2 — Brendon Hartley received a five-place grid penalty for causing a collision with Giedo van der Garde during the qualifying session.

Feature Race

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	3	Davide Valsecchi	DAMS	32	59:31.115	1	31 (25+4+2)
2	23	Luiz Razia	Arden International	32	+7.770	8	18
3	10	Esteban Gutiérrez	Lotus GP	32	+13.528	2	15
4	26	Max Chilton	Carlin	32	+14.088	9	12
5	9	James Calado	Lotus GP	32	+16.278	7	10
6	21	Tom Dillmann	Rapax	32	+16.559	14	8
7	5	Fabio Leimer	Racing Engineering	32	+17.243	4	6
8	15	Fabio Onidi	Scuderia Coloni	32	+28.109	15	4
9	27	Rio Haryanto	Carlin	32	+32.846	10	2
10	24	Brendon Hartley	Ocean Racing Technology	32	+36.093	26	1
11	16	Stéphane Richelmi	Trident Racing	32	+37.377	6
12	17	Julián Leal	Trident Racing	32	+38.677	19
13	7	Marcus Ericsson	iSport International	32	+40.627	17
14	18	Fabrizio Crestani	Venezuela GP Lazarus	32	+41.009	20
15	11	Rodolfo González	Caterham Racing	32	+44.028	16
16	22	Simon Trummer	Arden International	32	+44.552	23
17	20	Ricardo Teixeira	Rapax	32	+47.776	25
18	19	Giancarlo Serenelli	Venezuela GP Lazarus	32	+52.464	24
19	2	Dani Clos	Barwa Addax Team	30	Brakes3	13
20	25	Nigel Melker	Ocean Racing Technology	30	Accident damage3	22
21	6	Nathanaël Berthon	Racing Engineering	29	Accident damage3	18
Ret	1	Johnny Cecotto Jr.	Barwa Addax Team	16	Collision	5
Ret	4	Felipe Nasr	DAMS	16	Collision	3
Ret	12	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham Racing	16	Accident damage	11
Ret	14	Stefano Coletti	Scuderia Coloni	2	Collision	21
DNS	8	Jolyon Palmer	iSport International		Electrical	12
Fastest lap: Davide Valsecchi (DAMS) — 1:44.380 (lap 25)

Notes:

• ^3 — Dani Clos, Nigel Melker and Nathanaël Berthon were classified as having finished the race, as they had completed 90% of the winners race distance.

Sprint race

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	3	Davide Valsecchi	DAMS	22	39:22.363	8	15
2	10	Esteban Gutiérrez	Lotus GP	22	+0.399	6	12
3	9	James Calado	Lotus GP	22	+10.617	4	10
4	23	Luiz Razia	Arden International	22	+12.463	7	8
5	26	Max Chilton	Carlin	22	+13.573	5	6
6	4	Felipe Nasr	DAMS	22	+15.414	264	4
7	8	Jolyon Palmer	iSport International	22	+22.950	25	2
8	22	Simon Trummer	Arden International	22	+30.425	16	1
9	12	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham Racing	22	+31.976	23	2
10	21	Tom Dillmann	Rapax	22	+32.545	37
11	2	Dani Clos	Barwa Addax Team	22	+32.632	19
12	5	Fabio Leimer	Racing Engineering	22	+32.856	2
13	20	Ricardo Teixeira	Rapax	22	+36.275	17
14	15	Fabio Onidi	Scuderia Coloni	22	+36.477	1
15	27	Rio Haryanto	Carlin	22	+39.988	9
16	7	Marcus Ericsson	iSport International	22	+40.386	13
17	17	Julián Leal	Trident Racing	22	+47.410	12
18	25	Nigel Melker	Ocean Racing Technology	22	+56.196	20
19	18	Fabrizio Crestani	Venezuela GP Lazarus	22	+59.488	14
20	19	Giancarlo Serenelli	Venezuela GP Lazarus	22	+1:53.295	18
21	11	Rodolfo González	Caterham Racing	22	+2:12.9685	15
22	1	Johnny Cecotto Jr.	Barwa Addax Team	21	Retired6	22
23	14	Stefano Coletti	Scuderia Coloni	20	Retired6	24
Ret	6	Nathanaël Berthon	Racing Engineering	15	Retired	21
Ret	24	Brendon Hartley	Ocean Racing Technology	2	Retired	10
Ret	16	Stéphane Richelmi	Trident Racing	0	Retired	11
Fastest lap: Giedo van der Garde (Caterham Racing) — 1:45.650 (lap 3)

Notes:

• ^4 — Felipe Nasr was given a five-place grid penalty for causing an avoidable collision with Johnny Cecotto Jr. in the feature race. He later started from the pit lane.
• ^5 — Rodolfo González received a post-race 20-second penalty.
• ^6 — Johnny Cecotto Jr. and Stefano Coletti were both classified as having finished the race, as they had completed 90% of the winners race distance.
• ^7 — Tom Dillmann started from the pit lane.

Standings after the round

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
1	1	Davide Valsecchi	70
1	2	Luiz Razia	57
1	3	Esteban Gutiérrez	45
1	4	James Calado	35
1	5	Max Chilton	22

Teams' Championship standings

	Pos	Team	Points
	1	DAMS	92
	2	Lotus GP	84
	3	Arden International	58
	4	Carlin	39
	5	Racing Engineering	23

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

External links

• GP2 Series official website – Results