iSport's Marcus Ericsson emerged victorious over Lotus GP's James Calado at the end of the longest
GP2 race in the series' history, after a red flag stoppage lasting an hour following a head-on crash into the tyre wall at Eau Rouge for Nigel Melker.
The high-speed impact did extensive damage to the tyre wall that took some time to repair, and resumption of the race was further delayed by the need to wait for the return of the medical helicopter to the circuit. Melker was reported to have been released from hospital and was back in his hotel in the evening, but will not take part in Sunday's sprint race because of the damage to the car.
The Spa feature race was eventful throughout, with numerous in-track incidents that included Rio Haryanto spinning out on cold tyres behind the safety car and having to work hard to battle back through the field. A number of collisions kept the race stewards late, but the only penalty announced was a four-place drop on the sprint race grid for Venezuela GP Lazarus driver Sergio Canamasas for causing a dangerous contact with Racing Engineering's Nathanaël Berthon.
Feature race 1 results1.
#7 Marcus Ericsson iSport
1:55:36.519s (25 laps)2.
#9 James Calado Lotus GP
+ 11.530s3.
#3 Davide Valsecchi DAMS
+ 13.604s4.
#2 Josef Král Barwa Addax
+ 15.098s5.
#12 Giedo van der Garde Caterham Racing
+ 15.482s6.
#23 Luiz Razia Arden
+ 16.903s7.
#17 Julián Leal Trident Racing
+ 26.615s8.
#4 Felipe Nasr DAMS
+ 28.903s9.
#16 Stéphane Richelmi Trident Racing
+ 29.230s10.
#27 Rio Haryanto Carlin
+ 29.568s11.
#10 Esteban Gutiérrez Lotus GP
+ 31.182s12.
#26 Max Chilton Carlin
+ 32.160s13.
#21 Daniel de Jong Rapax
+ 37.340s14.
#6 Nathanaël Berthon Racing Engineering
+ 39.130s15.
#22 Simon Trummer Arden
+ 49.936s16.
#15 Fabio Onidi Scuderia Coloni
+ 54.918s17.
#1 Johnny Cecotto Jr. Barwa Addax
+ 58.788s18.
#20 Ricardo Teixeira Rapax
+ 1:25.639s19.
#19 René Binder Venezuela GP Lazarus
+ 1 laps20.
#14 Stefano Coletti Scuderia Coloni
(not running)Retirements#24 Victor Guerin Ocean Racing Technology
(retirement on lap 21)#8 Jolyon Palmer iSport
(collision on lap 18)#18 Sergio Canamasas Venezuela GP Lazarus
(collision on lap 11)#25 Nigel Melker Ocean Racing Technology
(spun off on lap 2)#5 Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering
(retirement on lap 0)#11 Rodolfo González Caterham Racing
(retirement on lap 0)Fastest lap:
2:00.083s, by Esteban Gutiérrez on lap 12