The 2013 Sepang GP2 Series round was a pair of motor races held on 23 and 24 March 2013 at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malaysia as part of the one-make single seater GP2 Series. It was the first round of the 2013 GP2 Series and was run in support of the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix. The first event, a 30-lap feature race, was won by Racing Engineering driver Fabio Leimer from a fourth position start. James Calado finished second for ART Grand Prix and Rapax's Stefano Coletti took third. Coletti won the 22-lap sprint race held the following day. Carlin's Felipe Nasr took second and Mitch Evans of Arden International was third.
Coletti won the first pole position of his career in the GP2 Series by posing the fastest lap in qualifying and he led the race until he made a pit stop for the hard compound tyres at the conclusion of lap six following pressure by Leimer. Coletti retook the lead after all drivers made their pit stops but he lost the position to Leimer on lap 25 because of tyre degradation. Leimer held the lead for the rest of the race to achieve his first victory in the GP2 Series since the 2011 Catalunya sprint race and the third of his career. Stéphane Richelmi began the sprint race from pole position but he lost the lead to Coletti at the second corner on the first lap. Although Nasr caught him in the closing laps, Coletti kept the lead to take his third GP2 Series career win.
The results of the first round of the season gave Coletti the early lead in the Drivers' Championship with 36 points and Leimer's victory in the feature race put him eleven points behind in second. Nasr was third and Calado fourth. In the Teams' Championship, Rapax took the lead with 42 points, 7 points ahead of Racing Engineering in second. Carlin in third were a further three points behind with ten rounds left in the season.
Background The 2013 Sepang GP2 Series round was the first of eleven scheduled one-make, single seater motor racing events of the 2013 GP2 Series. It was held on 23 and 24 March 2013 at the long Sepang International Circuit in Sepang, Selangor and was run in support of the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix. It was the second time in GP2 Series history that a race meeting was held in Malaysia after the 2012 round. The track is considered by drivers to be the toughest challenge of the season due to hot and unpredictable weather and the track's abrasive asphalt surface making tyre management necessary. As in the 2012 round, tyre supplier Pirelli brought the yellow-banded soft compound tyres and the orange-banded hard dry compound tyres to Malaysia. There were 26 drivers divided into 13 teams each entered for the round and every entrant utilised the Dallara GP2/11 vehicle.
Practice and qualifying One practice session lasting half an hour was held on the Thursday before the two races. James Calado set the fastest lap time for ART Grand Prix ten minutes in hot weather conditions at 1:45.403. Simon Trummer was second-fastest for Rapax and Russian Time's Tom Dillmann placed third. 2012 GP3 Series champion Mitch Evans of Arden International was the best-placed rookie in fourth and Marcus Ericsson in the faster of the two DAMS cars was fifth. The rest of the top ten were Felipe Nasr, Johnny Cecotto Jr., Stefano Coletti, Rio Haryanto and Stéphane Richelmi, who had a shoulder injury. While the session passed relatively peacefully, Julián Leal went into a gravel trap at turn four and Kevin Ceccon had to drive onto the run-off area to avoid hitting Sergio Canamasas.
Friday afternoon's qualifying session ran for half an hour. The drivers' fastest lap times determined the starting order for the first race. The pole position winner scored four points in the Drivers' and Teams' Championships Rain during the second practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix created a wet track but it completely dried up before the GP2 qualifying session began. Sam Bird, in his first GP2 Series qualifying session since the 2011 season, was the early pace setter and held pole position until Nasr went faster. It was taken by Fabio Leimer midway through the session, until Coletti set a time of 1:48.850 and improved it by more than four seconds to a 1:44.280 which was never bettered despite a small error putting him into the grass. Coletti took his first GP2 Series career pole position. He was joined on the grid's front row by Calado who was prevented from taking pole position because of a minor mistake late on his lap. Nasr started from third after locking his tyres entering the turn 15 hairpin and had an oversteer leaving the corner. Leimer did not improve on his second timed lap and was fourth. Bird was provisionally fifth as Evans continued to be the highest-placed rookie in sixth. In positions seven through ten were Haryanto, René Binder, Trummer and Dillmann. Leal was the fastest driver not to enter the top ten. Behind him the rest of the provisional field was Canamasas, Ericsson, Johnny Cecotto Jr., Adrian Quaife-Hobbs, Richelmi, Conor Daly, the Trident duo of Nathanaël Berthon, Ceccon, Ma Qinghua, Daniël de Jong, Daniel Abt, Jolyon Palmer, Jake Rosenzweig, Pål Varhaug and Kevin Giovesi.
Post-qualifying After qualifying, Berthon and Canamasas physically remonstrated about on-track etiquette as they waited in the weighbridge area for undisclosed reasons. The stewards deleted Cecotto's lap times because they deemed him to have made an "unacceptable" reaction and Bird was given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Cecotto. With five minutes left of qualifying, Bird delayed Cecotto at turns five and six because he was warming his tyres. He turned off the racing line to allow Cecotto through leaving turn six. Cecotto drew alongside Bird and retaliated for the latter's earlier impediment by swerving to his right into turn seven. putting Bird into the outside grass area.
Qualifying classification Driver Team Time 1 18 Stefano Coletti Rapax 1:44.280 1 2 3 James Calado ART Grand Prix 1:44.284 2 3 9 Felipe Nasr Carlin 1:44.288 3 4 8 Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1:44.463 4 5 11 Sam Bird Russian Time 1:44.598 8 6 6 Mitch Evans Arden International 1:44.618 5 7 17 Rio Haryanto Barwa Addax Team 1:44.681 6 8 24 René Binder Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:44.687 7 9 19 Simon Trummer Rapax 1:44.692 9 10 12 Tom Dillmann Russian Time 1:44.731 10 11 7 Julián Leal Racing Engineering 1:44.732 11 12 14 Sergio Canamasas Caterham Racing 1:44.761 12 13 1 Marcus Ericsson DAMS 1:44.766 13 14 5 Johnny Cecotto Jr. Arden International 1:44.788 15 26 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs MP Motorsport 1:45.191 14 16 2 Stéphane Richelmi DAMS 1:45.262 15 17 22 Conor Daly Hilmer Motorsport 1:45.289 16 18 20 Nathanaël Berthon Trident Racing 1:45.378 17 19 21 Kevin Ceccon Trident Racing 1:45.491 18 20 15 Ma Qinghua Caterham Racing 1:45.497 19 21 27 Daniël de Jong MP Motorsport 1:45.522 20 22 4 Daniel Abt ART Grand Prix 1:45.593 21 23 10 Jolyon Palmer Carlin 1:45.662 22 24 16 Jake Rosenzweig Barwa Addax Team 1:45.708 23 25 23 Pål Varhaug Hilmer Motorsport 1:45.830 24 26 19 Kevin Giovesi Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:45.985 25 Source: Notes — Sam Bird was given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Johnny Cecotto Jr. during Cecotto's final flying lap. — Johnny Cecotto Jr. was excluded from qualifying and moved to the back of the grid for forcing Bird off the circuit in retaliation for blocking him, which race stewards described as "an unacceptable reaction".
Races The first race was held over or 60 minutes (which ever came first) and all drivers were required by regulations to make one pit stop. The first ten finishers scored points, with two given to the fastest lap holder. The grid for the second race was determined by the finishing order of the first but the first eight drivers were in reverse order of where they finished. It was run for or 45 minutes (which ever came first). In contrast to the prior race drivers were not required to make pit stops. The top eight finishers earned points towards their respective championships.
Feature race The feature race began in hot and humid weather at 11:15 Malaysian Standard Time (UTC+08:00) on 23 March. Leimer made a fast start from fourth place to slalom straight past Calado and Nasr. He drew to the outside of Coletti to contest the lead into the first corner but lost the duel. Evans, ill with food poisoning, took over fourth as an overtake from Calado on Nasr at turn four put both drivers wide. The first retirement came on lap one as the field braked for turn nine and Ericsson misjudged his braking point and ran into the rear of Palmer's car. Ericsson stopped his car in the barrier alongside the circuit. Once a rhythm was established, it became apparent that tyre wear would become a factor as Leimer put race leader Coletti under heavy pressure but he withstood all of his challenges, giving Calado, Nasr and Evans, who were duelling over third, the opportunity to draw closer. On lap three, Quaife-Hobbs mistimed a pass on his teammate de Jong at turn 15 and two retired following a collision with each other. Calado struggled with tyre temperatures but repassed Evans on the same lap.
Having been known for being hard on his tyres, Coletti struggled as his soft compound tyres degrading and he made a pit stop for the hard compound tyres as soon as drivers were permitted by series officials to do so at the end of lap six, three laps earlier than he aimed for. That allowed Leimer into the lead who immediately began setting a series of consecutive fast laps in clear air in the hope of providing himself with a small lead over Coletti after his pit stop. However Leimer's tactic greatly slowed him compared to Coletti. In the meantime, Abt triggered localised yellow flags on lap ten when he spun off the track and marshals were required to move his car. Leimer emerged close behind Coletti after he made his pit stop on the 11th lap. The yet-to-pit Bird became the new leader when Leimer made his pit stop but his opportunity of claiming a strong result was diminished when he received a drive-through penalty for overtaking under yellow flag conditions. Palmer took the lead on lap 12 and held it until his lap 21 pit stop for the soft compound tyres. On lap 23, Evans and Richelmi ran wide at turn one and Bird overtook them for seventh. Leal overtook Cecotto for fifth on the next lap.
Coletti re-took the lead but began to struggle on the hard compound tyres, allowing Leimer to close up as his tyres degraded and frequently locked his wheels. However, Leimer could not immediately overtake Coletti because he lacked the straightline speed on the straight linking turns 14 and 15. Leimer's awareness of Calado getting closer grew more as the race progressed and he knew he had to pass Coletti as soon as possible. He tried doing this leaving the final corner on lap 25 but was unsuccessful despite exiting faster than Coletti. On the next lap, Coletti put Leimer onto the outside but Leimer overtook him on the racing line at the exit of turn four for the lead. By this point, Calado got close to Coletti and out-braked him at the final corner in attempting to pass but ran deep. Coletti got back through but Calado then tucked into his slipstream and had the grip to overtake him on the inside at the first corner for second place.