2007 Valencia Feature Race

The 2007 Valencia Feature Race, otherwise known as the 2007 Valencia GP2 Series Race 1, was the twentieth and penultimate race of the 2007 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Cheste, Valencian Community, Spain, on 29 September 2007. The race would see Vitaly Petrov claim his maiden victory, as Timo Glock inched closer to the Championship title.

Qualifying had seen another driver claim a first, with Kazuki Nakajima securing his maiden pole position, just ahead of Championship leader Glock. That result would be a huge benefit to the German racer in his pursuit of the title, with main rival Lucas di Grassi starting from seventh just ahead of Petrov.

A heavy downpour before the race would leave the circuit damp, and would hence see a split in the field between starting on slick or wet tyres. Ultimately it would be Nakajima and Petrov who gambled on the slick tyres, while the title protagonists opted for the safer wet option.

The start revealed that the correct choice was slicks, with Nakajima powering into the lead, while Glock floundered on the grid. Petrov would also make a barnstorming start to streak into third, narrowly avoiding a clash between Lucas di Grassi and Nicolas Lapierre when they sideswiped each other trying to dive past Glock.

Nakajima would spend the rest of the opening tour opening out a lead as Petrov found a way past Luca Filippi for second, although the Japanese racer would not be leading come the end of the opening tour. Instead, it was local racer Roldán Rodríguez who led the field, the Spaniard miraculously having spun off-track and down an escape road, only to cut out part of the final sector and rejoin just before the final corner.

Rodríguez would carry on unashamedly in the lead, only to spin out of the race moments after he was handed a penalty for his novel route to the front. That handed the lead back to Nakajima, although when the Japanese racer was baulked by the returning Mikhail Aleshin, there was little he could do to deny Petrov from claiming the initiative.

With that Petrov was away, leaving Nakajima to unsuccessfully fend of the attentions of Giorgio Pantano with overheating tyres. At the back, meanwhile, ART Grand Prix threw slicks at di Grassi in a bid to get him back to the front, only for the Brazilian to throw himself into the gravel and out of the race.

In spite of the conditions the race would prove fairly tame over the remaining laps, with Petrov calmly driving to his maiden victory, two and a half seconds clear of teammate Pantano. The same margin would separate Pantano from Nakajima, while Marcos Martínez was a shock fourth, ahead of Borja García who was the last man on the lead lap. Andy Soucek was next up after another strong run, Glock ended up in seventh to inch two points closer to the crown, while Javier Villa claimed reverse-grid pole and made it four Spaniards in the top eight at the end of the race.

Background
After ten rounds and nineteen races the 2007 FIA GP2 Series arrived in Valencia, Spain, for its final round of the season, using the Circuit Ricardo Tormo for the second time. Indeed, the GP2 Series would hold its annual stand-alone event around the Spanish circuit for its finale, which had last held GP2 for the opening round of the 2006 campaign. The circuit itself was unchanged for the finale, unlike the GP2 field which had received some revisions after several drivers signed up to compete in the opening round of the A1 Grand Prix series.

Zaugg Options
The first change came at Arden International, with Adrian Zaugg announcing that he was to drive for Team South Africa in A1 GP. His spot was taken by fellow Red Bull Junior Team member Filipe Albuquerque for the GP2 finale, the Portuguese racer moving across from Formula Renault 3.5. Many cited Albuquerque's move as an audition to claim a GP2 seat for 2008, while Zaugg opted to commit to A1 GP for the 2008 season.

Buemi Bounty
Like Zaugg, Sébastien Buemi would opt to represent Team Switzerland at the opening bout of the 2007-08 A1 GP championship, meaning the Red Bull junior left a vacant seat at ART Grand Prix. His replacement would be Mikhail Aleshin, whom the Swiss racer had replaced after the Russian racer had stood in for Michael Ammermüller earlier in the campaign. Regardless, Aleshin knew what his role in Spain would be, with his teammate Lucas di Grassi aiming for the title at the finale.

Hernández Hope
Elsewhere, Sergio Hernández would make his return to the GP2 Series for the 2007 finale, the Spaniard signing up to Trident Racing. Hernández was to take over the #11 car for the finale, with Ricardo Risatti moved out of the team after his relatively quiet six race spell in place of Pastor Maldonado. For Hernández it would be his first appearance since the 2006 finale, although he had taken part in the mid-season Paul Ricard Test.

Spa Setup
Another poor weekend for Timo Glock had seen the German racer's Championship lead all but disappear with one round to go, with just one point in Spa leaving Glock with a two point lead. Indeed, Lucas di Grassi had ensured that he was a major pretender ahead of the finale, with those two now the only drivers who could take the title. However, Glock could still claim the crown during the 2007 Valencia Feature Race if he out-scored di Grassi by six points, while di Grassi could claim the title before the final race if he out-scored Glock by nine.

In the Teams' Championship iSport International would head into the finale with a sizeable advantage, with the British squad holding a 22 point lead leaving Spa. Indeed, ART Grand Prix would still have a hope of retaining their title, but would have to score at least ten points more than iSport in the Valencia Feature to keep their title hopes alive heading into the final race. Behind Super Nova Racing were out of the hunt in third despite the fact they were 32 points behind with 32 left to fight for, while Durango Corse had moved ahead of Trident Racing.

Entry List
The full entry list for the is displayed below:

Qualifying
Qualifying for the inaugural GP2 Series race would be staged via a thirty minute session on Friday afternoon, ahead of the Feature Race on Saturday. All 24 drivers would venture onto the circuit during the session, and were allowed to complete as many laps as they could to set their qualifying time. There was also a free choice of tyres, although drivers could not exceed their allocation of Bridgestone tyres.

Results
The final qualifying result for the are outlined below:

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.

Milestones

 * iSport International declared as the 2007 FIA GP2 Series Championship for Teams' Champions.
 * First race for Sergio Hernández since the 2006 Monza Sprint Race.
 * Maiden and only pole position for Kazuki Nakajima.
 * Vitaly Petrov claimed his maiden victory.
 * Also Petrov's maiden podium finish.
 * Third win for Campos Grand Prix as an entrant.
 * Sixth and final podium finish for Nakajima.
 * Maiden and only points finish for Marcos Martínez.
 * Karun Chandhok recorded his second and final fastest lap.

Standings
Timo Glock had inched closer to the Championship ahead of the final race of the season, the German racer having ended the Feature Race four points ahead of his closest challenger. Indeed, Lucas di Grassi would have to finish on the podium if he was to even hope of taking the title, and would likely have to see Glock fail to score regardless. In contrast, Glock would secure the title if he finished fourth, regardless of what di Grassi could do, and would crucially start the final race ahead of the Brazilian.

In the Teams' Championship the title fight was over, with iSport International having moved onto an unbeatable total of 111 points with a race to spare. That meant that ART Grand Prix had finally been defeated after claiming the two previous GP2 Teams' titles, and would instead look to consolidate second in the final race. Indeed, the French squad held a nine point advantage over Campos Grand Prix and ten ahead of Super Nova Racing in third and fourth, a comfortable but not unassailable tally with a maximum twelve points left to fight for.

Only point scoring drivers are shown.