Bahrain - Race result (1)

Davide Valsecchi marched away to an unbeatable lead in Bahrain, leaving the rest of the field to an entertaining battle for the runners-up positions.

Andrew Lewin_1

21 Apr 2012

DAMS driver Davide Valsecchi got a flying start off the grid at the beginning of the feature race at the Bahrain International Circuit. He promptly disappeared into the haze, pulling out a gap of almost 12s before a safety car for a collision between Valsecchi's team mate Felipe Nasr and Barwa Addax's Johnny Cecotto Jr. brought out a mid-race safety car and closed the field back up again.

Lotus GP rookie James Calado was in second place by this point, having made the use of a strategically early mandatory pit stop to switch to fresh tyres. But the early stop cost him later on and a fierce battle with Arden's Luiz Razia exhausted his rubber and meant that he also then lost positions to his team mate Esteban Gutierrez and Carlin's birthday boy Max Chilton. However, Calado had enough left to hold off a strong surge from fellow rookie Tom Dillmann in the Rapax who had already bested Racing Engineering's Fabio Leimer.

Coloni's Fabio Onidi finished in eighth position which means he inherits pole position for the Sunday sprint race under the reverse grid system.

Race results

1. Davide Valsecchi DAMS 59:31.115s (32 laps)
2. Luiz Razia Arden + 7.7s
3. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus GP + 13.5s
4. Max Chilton Carlin + 14.0s
5. James Calado Lotus GP + 16.2s
6. Tom Dillmann Rapax + 16.5s
7. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering + 17.2s
8. Fabio Onidi Coloni + 28.1s
9. Rio Haryanto Carlin + 32.8s
10. Brendon Hartley Ocean Racing + 36.0s
11. Stephane Richelmi Trident Racing + 37.3s
12. Julian Leal Trident Racing + 38.6s
13. Marcus Ericsson iSport + 40.6s
14. Fabrizio Crestani Lazarus + 41.0s
15. Rodolfo Gonzalez Caterham Racing + 44.0s
16. Simon Trummer Arden + 44.5s
17. Ricardo Teixeira Rapax + 47.7s
18. Giancarlo Serenelli Lazarus + 52.4s

Retirements

Dani Clos Addax 30 lapsNigel Melker Ocean Racing 30 lapsNathanael Berthon Racing Engineering 29 lapsJohnny Cecotto Addax 16 lapsFelipe Nasr DAMS 16 lapsGiedo van der Garde Caterham Racing 16 lapsStefano Coletti Coloni 2 lapsJolyon Palmer iSport 0 laps