2010 Bahrain International Circuit GP2 Asia Series round (February)

2010 Bahrain GP2 round
Round details
	Round 3 of 4 rounds in the ; 2010 GP2 Series
	; Bahrain International Circuit
Location	Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain
Course	Permanent racing facility ; 5.554 km (3.451 mi)
GP2 Series
Feature race
Date	26 February 2010
Laps	34
Pole position
Driver	Jules Bianchi
Time	1:43.474
Podium
First	Davide Valsecchi
Second	Luca Filippi
Third	Javier Villa
Fastest lap
Driver	Javier Villa
Time	1:47.035 (on lap 10)
Sprint race
Date	27 February 2010
Laps	23
Podium
First	Charles Pic
Second	Giacomo Ricci
Third	Javier Villa
Fastest lap
Driver	Jules Bianchi
Time	1:46.499 (on lap 9)

The 2009–10 Bahrain 1st GP2 Asia round was the third round of the

2009-10 Bahrain 2nd GP2 Asia round

. The layout used for this Race will not be used for the following event, as it acts as a F1 Support race.

Report

Race 1

Despite

Meritus' Luca Filippi and claim his third victory in five rounds. With Valsecchi's nearest rival and team-mate Oliver Turvey delayed in the pits and unable to score, the win gave Valsecchi an insurmountable points lead. Filippi and Villa burst from the second row into the lead at the start, while polesitter Jules Bianchi (ART

) immediately fell out of contention for victory for a very poor start. Villa looked faster than Filippi in the opening laps, but with no way past on track, he dived in for an early stop. The extra speed on fresh tyres paid dividends for Villa, and by the time the pitstops were complete he was in the lead ahead of Filippi and Valsecchi.

As has been the case throughout the championship, Valsecchi got quicker and quicker as the race progressed. An initial dive-bomb move on Filippi for second saw him skitter over the run-off at the Turn 10 hairpin, but he quickly regrouped and passed his countryman into Turn 1 with six laps to go. He then caught Villa in just one lap and took the lead with a straightforward outbraking move - only to then run wide at Turn 10 later in the lap and hand first place back again. It was only a brief respite for Villa though, as Valsecchi soon repassed him into the first corner and pulled away to secure victory. Villa lost more pace as his tyres faded, allowing Filippi to drive around the outside of him and take second.

Alvaro Parente and Addax's Sergio Pérez. Adrian Zaugg

got quicker throughout the race on his return with Trident, charging past Turvey and Bianchi in the closing stages to claim eighth and pole for race two. Turvey had lost several places in his pitstop with a wheelgun problem while Bianchi never got up to speed after dropping down the order at the start.

Race 2

In race 2

Meritus) spun down the order. Leader Zaugg did not have the pace to pull away and soon had Pic, Ricci, ART's fast-starting Jules Bianchi

and Villa queuing up behind him.

Pic dived ahead at the end of the backstraight on lap four, with Ricci then following him in the next corner. As Zaugg tried to fight back, Bianchi got alongside him as well, with all three cars wheel to wheel through the last turn, down the pitstraight and into the first complex - where it ended in tears as contact damaged Zaugg and Bianchi's cars. That settled the top three positions, Pic having pulled clear and Ricci eventually dropping Villa and securing second.

Alexander Rossi received a ten place grid penalty for the next round after forcing Ocean's Fabio Leimer off the track. The American eventually broke his front wing on the back of Leimer's car and then slid into Coloni's Will Bratt

, ending both their races early.

Previous round: 2009–10 Abu Dhabi 2nd GP2 Asia round	2009–10 season	Next round: 2009–10 Bahrain 2nd GP2 Asia round
Previous round: 2008–09 Bahrain 2nd GP2 Asia round	Bahrain GP2 Asia round	Next round: 2009–10 Bahrain 2nd GP2 Asia round

Report

Race 1

Race 2

See also