James Calado used a rocket start to claim victory in what will probably be his final GP2 Series race in race two in Abu Dhabi.
Starting third, Calado pierced his way past front-row starters Johnny Cecotto and Felipe Nasr to lead into the first corner. He was then gifted a comfortable advantage when Cecotto and Nasr collided at turn one, Nasr later receiving a drive-through penalty as a result.
Dani Clos took up second place ahead of champion Fabio Leimer, but was able to keep pace with Calado for much of the race. A late safety car brought him close but he settled for second as he finished his five-round return with MP Motorsport with a podium.
Leimer maintained the consistent form that won him the title in third. His rival Sam Bird came through to fourth from ninth on the grid to give Russian Time the teams’ title at their first attempt. Carlin led the standings at the start of the race but neither Nasr nor Jolyon Palmer would score points, the latter retiring out of tenth with a puncture.
Calado’s ART team-mate Daniel Abt finished his difficult rookie season with his best result to-date of fifth. Marcus Ericsson was sixth ahead of Simon Trummer and Sergio Canamasas with the top ten completed by Stefano Coletti and Julian Leal.
Race results
Pos. | Driver | Team | Time/Gap |
1 | James Calado | ART Grand Prix | 22 laps in 44:04.124 |
2 | Dani Clos | MP Motorsport | +0.787 |
3 | Fabio Leimer | Racing Engineering | +4.965 |
4 | Sam Bird | Russian Time | +9.440 |
5 | Daniel Abt | ART Grand Prix | +9.957 |
6 | Marcus Ericsson | DAMS | +11.981 |
7 | Simon Trummer | Rapax | +13.188 |
8 | Sergio Canamasas | Caterham Racing | +16.432 |
9 | Stefano Coletti | Rapax | +18.117 |
10 | Julian Leal | Racing Engineering | +18.487 |
11 | Jake Rosenzweig | Barwa Addax Team | +24.753 |
12 | Rio Haryanto | Barwa Addax Team | +33.689 |
13 | Nathanael Berthon | Trident Racing | +34.153 |
14 | Mitch Evans | Arden International | +34.485 |
15 | Gianmarco Raimondo | Trident Racing | +36.123 |
16 | Rene Binder | Venezuela GP Lazarus | +36.884 |
17 | Daniel de Jong | MP Motorsport | +37.471 |
18 | Felipe Nasr | Carlin | +40.271 |
19 | Vittorio Ghirelli | Venezuela GP Lazarus | +41.869 |
20 | Stephane Richelmi | DAMS | +79.122 |
21 | Adrian Quaife-Hobbs | Hilmer Motorsport | +3 laps |
Not classified | |||
Jolyon Palmer | Carlin | +5 laps | |
Jon Lancaster | Hilmer Motorsport | +13 laps | |
Johnny Cecotto | Arden International | +22 laps | |
Alexander Rossi | Caterham Racing | +22 laps | |
DNS | Tom Dillmann | Russian Time |
Championship standings
Pos. | Driver | Team | Pts. |
1 | Fabio Leimer | Racing Engineering | 201 |
2 | Sam Bird | Russian Time | 181 |
3 | James Calado | ART Grand Prix | 157 |
4 | Felipe Nasr | Carlin | 154 |
5 | Stefano Coletti | Rapax | 135 |
6 | Marcus Ericsson | DAMS | 121 |
7 | Jolyon Palmer | Carlin | 119 |
8 | Stephane Richelmi | DAMS | 103 |
9 | Alexander Rossi | Caterham Racing | 92 |
10 | Tom Dillmann | Russian Time | 92 |
11 | Jon Lancaster | Hilmer Motorsport | 73 |
12 | Julian Leal | Racing Engineering | 62 |
13 | Adrian Quaife-Hobbs | MP Motorsport | 56 |
14 | Mitch Evans | Arden International | 56 |
15 | Robin Frijns | Hilmer Motorsport | 47 |
16 | Johnny Cecotto | Arden International | 41 |
17 | Kevin Ceccon | Trident Racing | 28 |
18 | Dani Clos | MP Motorsport | 25 |
19 | Rio Haryanto | Barwa Addax Team | 22 |
20 | Nathanael Berthon | Trident Racing | 21 |
21 | Simon Trummer | Rapax | 20 |
22 | Daniel Abt | ART Grand Prix | 11 |
23 | Rene Binder | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 11 |
24 | Daniel de Jong | MP Motorsport | 3 |
25 | Sergio Canamasas | Caterham Racing | 3 |
26 | Conor Daly | Hilmer Motorsport | 2 |
27 | Vittorio Ghirelli | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1 |
28 | Jake Rosenzweig | Barwa Addax Team | 0 |
29 | Kevin Giovesi | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 0 |
30 | Gianmarco Raimondo | Trident Racing | 0 |
31 | Pal Varhaug | Hilmer Motorsport | 0 |
32 | Sergio Campana | Trident Racing | 0 |
33 | Fabrizio Crestani | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 0 |
34 | Ricardo Teixeira | Trident Racing | 0 |
35 | Ma Qing Hua | Caterham Racing | 0 |