The 2013 Bahrain GP2 Series round was a pair of motor races held on 20 and 21 April 2013 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain as part of the GP2 Series. It was the second round of the 2013 GP2 Series and was run in support of the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix. The first race, a 32-lap feature event, was won by Racing Engineering driver Fabio Leimer from pole position. Stefano Coletti finished second for Rapax and Caterham Racing driver Alexander Rossi took third. Sam Bird won the following day's 30-lap sprint race for Russian Time, with Carlin's Felipe Nasr second and Coletti third.
Leimer held off the fast-starting Coletti to keep the lead and pulled out a significant gap in the following laps before ceding the lead to Adrian Quaife-Hobbs for ten laps after a mandatory pit stop for tyres. Leimer retook first place after Quaife-Hobbs's pit stop and held the position to win the race. Tom Dillmann started from pole position in the sprint race but lost the lead to teammate Bird before the end of the first lap. Coletti and Nasr gained on Bird in the final two laps as his tyres were worn. Coletti bowed out after running wide and lost second to Nasr before the final lap and Bird held off Nasr to win the race by 0.080 seconds, the closest margin of victory in GP2 Series history.
Leimer's feature race win was his second of the season and Bird's sprint event victory was the first for Russian Time after it took over from ISport International. Leimer lowered Coletti's lead in the Drivers' Championship to one point Nasr maintained third position and Bird's victory moved him to fourth. James Calado performed poorly and fell to fifth. Carlin lowered Rapax's lead in the Teams' Championship to two points. Racing Engineering fell to third and Russian Time moved to fourth with nine rounds left in the season.
Background
The 2013 Bahrain GP2 Series round was the second of eleven scheduled events in 2013. It was held on 20 and 21 April 2013 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, and supported the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix. Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the yellow-banded soft compound tyres and the orange-banded hard dry compound tyres to the race.
Before the race Rapax driver Stefano Coletti led the Drivers' Championship with 36 points, eleven ahead of Fabio Leimer in second, who in turn, was a further point in front of Felipe Nasr in third. James Calado was fourth on 18 points and Stéphane Richelmi in fifth was six points behind him. Rapax led the Teams' Championship on 42 points; Racing Engineering was seven points behind in second and Carlin were in third with 32 points. ART Grand Prix were in fourth position with 18 points and Arden International were one point behind in fifth. Leimer and Coletti had won the season's previous two races in the opening round in Sepang three weeks prior. Calado and Nasr each took one second-place finish and Mitch Evans had finished in third once.
A total of 26 drivers making up 13 teams were entered for the round with all of them piloting the Dallara GP2/11 car. There were two driver changes for the round. Having been in one of the Caterham Racing cars in the preceding round in Sepang, Ma Qinghua was replaced by the former Formula Renaullt 3.5 Series driver Alexander Rossi for the rest of the year. Robin Frijns, the reigning Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion and test and reserve driver for Sauber, was employed by Hilmer Motorsport to drive in lieu of Conor Daly who left the team after Sepang since he was on a one-round contract with them.
Practice and qualifying One half an hour practice session was held on Thursday before the two races. Leimer for Racing Engineering set a benchmark which led the sole practice session—held in variable weather and on a warm track—at 1:41.361 on the hard compound tyres, a second faster than any one else. His closest challenger was Sam Bird for Russian Time in second in front of third-placed Coletti. Rossi, Marcus Ericsson of DAMS, Nasr, Calado, Russian Time's Tom Dillmann, Johnny Cecotto Jr. of Arden International and Daniel Abt for ART Grand Prix were in positions four to ten. Frijns spun early on but recovered without external assistance. Smoke bellowed out of Cecotto's car at high-speed and he locked his tyres at turn one, overshooting into the sand. Julián Leal stalled at the exit of the pit lane and the stewards investigated whether his mechanics restarted the car outside the pit lane. Leal then narrowly avoided running into the rear of Rossi's car.
Friday afternoon's 30-minute qualifying session saw the drivers' fastest lap times determine the starting order for the first race. The pole position winner was awarded four points for the Drivers' and Teams' Championships. Qualifying began in cloudy weather and most of the field drove onto the track when it started. Rainfall after the first five minutes was not heavy enough to affect the track. Simon Trummer was the early pace setter but was soon eclipsed by his teammate Coletti, who in turn, was suppressed by Ericsson. Leimer then set a new GP2 Series lap record of the track, which he lowered to a 1:39.427 lap to take pole position. Ericsson appeared to challenge Leimer for pole but slowed after losing time in the final third of the lap to join him on the grid's front row with a time almost a second slower. Nasr equalled his qualifying result from the 2012 round in third. Coletti improved his own fastest lap to go fourth. Dillmann was best of the late improvers and qualified fifth. Richelmi was close by in sixth. Rossi was in the top three early on but fell to seventh by the end. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs (MP Motorsport) locked his tyres on his lap and took eighth. Bird improved late in the session to secure ninth and Frijns took tenth.
Calado was the fastest driver not to qualify in the top ten and was demoted ten places on the grid for causing an accident at the previous round in Sepang. Trummer moved to eleventh and Palmer twelfth, followed by Cecotto and Abt. Sergio Canamasas (Caterham Racing) set the 16th-fastest lap but was sent to the back of the grid after being adjudged by the race stewards to have deliberately forced Trident's Kevin Ceccon off the track while attempting to pass him after qualifying. Kevin Giovesi (Lazarus) was also penalised after the stewards ruled that he impeded Cecotto between turns nine and ten and dropped three places on the grid. Mitch Evans (Arden International) was the only driver to be affected by electrical problem in his car and pulled off onto a run-off area. Evans was restricted to starting 16th. The rest of the field lined up as Ceccon, Leal, René Binder (Lazarus), Jake Rosenzweig (Addax), Nathanaël Berthon (Trident), Pål Varhaug (Hilmer Motorsport), Rio Haryanto (Addax) and Daniël de Jong (MP Motorsport).
Qualifying classification Driver Team Time Gap 1 8 Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1:39.427 — 1 2 1 Marcus Ericsson DAMS 1:40.420 +0.993 2 3 9 Felipe Nasr Carlin 1:40.520 +1.093 3 4 18 Stefano Coletti Rapax 1:40.585 +1.158 4 5 12 Tom Dillmann Russian Time 1:40.689 +1.262 5 6 2 Stéphane Richelmi DAMS 1:40.704 +1.277 6 7 15 Alexander Rossi Caterham Racing 1:40.756 +1.329 7 8 26 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs MP Motorsport 1:40.769 +1.342 8 9 11 Sam Bird Russian Time 1:40.842 +1.415 9 10 22 Robin Frijns Hilmer Motorsport 1:40.865 +1.438 10 11 3 James Calado ART Grand Prix 1:40.878 +1.451 21 12 19 Simon Trummer Rapax 1:40.892 +1.465 11 13 10 Jolyon Palmer Carlin 1:41.033 +1.606 12 14 5 Johnny Cecotto Jr. Arden International 1:41.043 +1.616 13 15 4 Daniel Abt ART Grand Prix 1:41.070 +1.646 14 16 14 Sergio Canamasas Caterham Racing 1:41.229 +1.802 26 17 25 Kevin Giovesi Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:41.236 +1.809 19 18 6 Mitch Evans Arden International 1:41.237 +1.810 15 19 21 Kevin Ceccon Trident Racing 1:41.243 +1.816 16 20 7 Julián Leal Racing Engineering 1:41.504 +2.077 17 21 24 René Binder Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:41.553 +2.126 18 22 16 Jake Rosenzweig Barwa Addax Team 1:41.687 +2.260 20 23 20 Nathanaël Berthon Trident Racing 1:41.730 +2.303 22 24 23 Pål Varhaug Hilmer Motorsport 1:41.980 +2.553 23 25 17 Rio Haryanto Barwa Addax Team 1:41.981 +2.554 24 26 27 Daniël de Jong MP Motorsport 1:42.284 +2.857 25 Source: Notes: — James Calado was demoted ten places on the grid for causing an accident at the previous round of the season in Sepang. — Kevin Giovesi was given a three-place grid penalty for blocking another competitor during qualifying. — Sergio Canamasas was moved to the back of the grid after race stewards ruled that he had deliberately attempted to force Kevin Ceccon off the circuit.
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 first race commenced on 15:45 Arabia Standard Time (UTC+03:00) on 20 April. The weather at the start was dry and sunny with an air temperature of and a track temperature of . Ericsson stalled on the grid while the field began the formation lap and had to begin from the pit lane. As the five red lights went out to begin the race, Leimer held off the fast-starting Coletti to lead the field in the opening sequence of corners. Coletti had forced Leimer to defend the lead at turn four and drew alongside through turns five and six but failed to overtake. Bird made a quick start, overtaking Rossi and Quaife-Hobbs on the centre of the circuit for third position. Palmer also made a fast getaway and ran in fifth place after passing Rossi on the main straight. De Jong became the first retirement after the first lap was over when he limped back to the pit lane. He was joined by Varhaug on lap five who had mechanical trouble.
Once the race had calmed down, Leimer was able to lead Coletti by two seconds by the start of lap five and set what was at that point the race's fastest lap. Both were also focused on ensuring their soft tyres lasted for as long as possible. The mandatory pit stops for the switch to the hard compound tyres began on the following lap when several drivers entered the pit lane. Quaife-Hobbs and Dillmann elected to run on an alternative strategy with the latter falling from fifth. During the pit stop sequence, Rossi re-passed Palmer and Frijns battled Leal for tenth and later Giovesi before his own stop. Canamasas was penalised for the second day running as the stewards imposed a drive-through penalty on him, deeming him to have deliberately forced Calado off the circuit. Bird and Nasr had slow pit stops and both drivers fell down the order. Leimer and Coletti made their stops from the top two at the end of the 10h lap and emerged ahead of those who had already made their pit stops.