2005 Nürburgring Feature Race

The 2005 Nürburgring Feature Race, formally known as the 2005 Nürburgring GP2 Series Race 1, was the sixth race of the 2005 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Nürburgring in Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on 28 May 2005. The race, staged in support of the XLIX Allianz Grand Prix of Europe, would see Heikki Kovalainen sweep to victory, after a farcical start to the race.

Qualifying had seen Giorgio Pantano claim his maiden F2 pole position, despite setting his fastest lap in the opening moments of the session. His closest challenger would be fellow F1 refugee Gianmaria Bruni, while penalties for Nico Rosberg, Kovalainen and Alexandre Prémat for speeding under yellow flags elevated Neel Jani and José María López.

The start of the race would, however, be mess, with the first attempt having to be aborted when Ernesto Viso and Nicolas Lapierre stalled, and hence would join Hiroki Yoshimoto in the pitlane. The second attempt would likewise be abandoned when Ryan Sharp and Scott Speed stalled, resulting in a third formation lap and the grid reduced to nineteen cars.

At the third attempt the race did get underway, with Pantano leaping into the lead, while Bruni held second. Behind, however, there would be chaos in the first corner, as Borja García made a ridiculous lunge in the middle of the pack, which resulted in a melee that took García, Adam Carroll, Olivier Pla, Alexandre Negrão and Ferdinando Monfardini out of the race.

The Safety Car was unsurprisingly scrambled to allow the incident to be cleared, before Pantano controlled the restart well and eased back into the lead. Bruni gave chase ahead of Jani, López and Nelson Piquet Jr. at the start of lap four, while Kovalainen was sat just outside the top ten after gaining a handful of places in the opening lap chaos.

Kovalainen then made the crucial decision to make an early stop on lap five, gaining him clear air which, with fresh tyres, he was able to exploit and set a series of laps faster than the leaders. Indeed, such was the Finn's advantage that Pantano would emerge behind him when the Italian racer made his stop on lap ten, with Rosberg likewise jumping the ex-F1 racer after making an early swap himself.

Bruni, meanwhile, would try and go further into the shortened race, and duly made his stop on lap fifteen from the lead, with Clivio Piccione and López joining him from second and third. However, while Bruni would remain ahead of Rosberg, he would still emerge behind Kovalainen and Pantano, the Italian racer having elbowed his way past the German youth shortly after his stop.

Bruni's bid for victory ended a few moments later, when he spun on his cold tyres and dropped behind Rosberg. Elsewhere, López rammed Jani out of the way at turn one after misjudging a lunge, while Piquet and Prémat clashed at the Coca-Cola Kurve a few moments later. Prémat later got his revenge by passing Piquet on the final lap, having followed the Brazilian in elbowing past Jani and López.

Out front, meanwhile, there was no stopping Kovalainen, who controlled the pace in the second half of the race beautifully to claim an impressive second win ahead of Pantano. Rosberg was next up ahead of Prémat and Piquet, while Jani, Piccione and a frustrated Bruni rounded out the points, although the Italian racer would have some consolation in claiming reverse-grid pole for the Sprint Race.

Background
The inaugural FIA GP2 Series field arrived at the Nürburgring in Nürburg, Germany for their fourth round of the season, with 24 strong field set to use the GP-Strecke for the first time. Once again supporting the Formula One World Championship, but as the main draw on the undercard, it was announced before the weekend that the GP2 Series' Sprint Race would be extended due to a revision to the timetable. Otherwise, there were no changes to the GP2 field ahead of the sixth race of the campaign, although the series had plans to complete testing of several updated parts at the beginning of June to help improve reliability.

Monegasque Modifications
Championship leader Heikki Kovalainen remained undefeated at the head of the Championship after the fifth race of the campaign, and would leave Monte Carlo with 28 points to his credit. That meant he was two ahead of Gianmaria Bruni at the end of the Monegasque weekend, while Scott Speed had slipped three off the lead and dropped to third. Adam Carroll, meanwhile, had continued his upward climb up the table and moved to fourth, with José María López completing the top five.

Arden International retained command in the Teams' Championship leaving Monte Carlo, with the British squad holding 32 points and a three point lead. Coloni Motorsport were their closest challenger in second, with a two point margin of their own over iSport International in third. Super Nova Racing and ART Grand Prix then completed the top five, while Campos Racing were on the board for the first time, leaving Durango as the only non-scores.

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:
 * * Rosberg (1:43.939), Kovalainen (1:43.965) and Prémat (1:44.598) had their fastest times deleted for speeding under yellow flag conditions.

Grid

 * * Viso and Lapierre started the race from the pitlane after stalling at the first attempted start.
 * † Yoshimoto started the race from the pitlane after an engine issue on the formation lap.
 * ‡ Speed and Sharp started the race from the pitlane after stalling at the second attempted start.

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

 * Maiden pole position for Giorgio Pantano.
 * Also the first pole for Super Nova Racing as an entrant.
 * Second career victory for Heikki Kovalainen.
 * Second win for Arden International as an entrant.
 * Maiden podium finish for Pantano.
 * Also Pantano's first points finish.
 * Clivio Piccione claimed his first points finish.
 * Also the first points finish for Durango as an entrant.

Standings
Victory for Heikki Kovalainen left the Finn in charge of the Championship hunt after six races, as it enhanced his lead to a significant eleven point margin. That meant that neither Gianmaria Bruni nor Scott Speed could mathematically get ahead of the Finn in the Sprint Race, with those two ending Saturday level on 27 points. Adam Carroll was next up ahead of Nico Rosberg to complete the top five, while Giorgio Pantano had leapt from last to the top ten after his first points of the campaign.

In the Teams' Championship Arden International would head into Sunday's running at the Nürburgring with a fairly comfortable margin, having claimed their 42nd point of the campaign. That left them nine clear of second placed Super Nova Racing, who had moved up from fourth, while Coloni Motorsport had dropped to third on 31. ART Grand Prix and iSport International then completed the top five, while Durango were off the foot of the table and up to tenth after claiming their first points of the campaign.

Only point scoring drivers are shown.