Robin Frijns
GP2, Barcelona
After winning last year’s Formula Renault 3.5 title as a rookie, Robin Frijns began the year without a drive thanks to a lack of budget. He was handed a chance in GP2 by the new Hilmer team but had a tough baptism in Bahrain, getting the hang of the Pirelli tyres and close racing.
At the next round at Barcelona he qualified eighth, but made up a couple of places when James Calado and Fabio Leimer made contact at the start. He then made an early pitstop, and, once the top five had all stopped, he was up into second behind pole-sitter Marcus Ericsson. When Ericsson hit trouble in slower traffic, Frijns was able to capitalize to move into the lead. He managed the tyres perfectly and was able to keep Felipe Nasr at arm?s length in the closing stages to claim a three-second victory.
His win left him eighth on the reverse grid for the sprint race, but a phenomenal start saw him fly up to third place by the first corner. He passed Johnny Cecotto for second further around the first lap when the Venezuelan ran wide. Stefano Coletti opened up a four second lead up front, but although Frijns cut this to just six tenths by the checkered flag, he had to settle for second. Nonetheless, it would be the only occasion all season that the feature race winner made it back up the order onto the podium in race two.
Frijns proved in one weekend that his success the previous season had been no fluke and convinced more people of his abilities. Unfortunately he was unable to repeat these results over the following weekends and Spa would be his final appearance of the season.
Peter Allen