2005 Silverstone Sprint Race

The 2005 Silverstone Sprint Race, otherwise formally known as the 2005 Silverstone GP2 Series Race 2, was the eleventh race of the 2005 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, Northamptonshire, UK on 10 July 2005. The race, held in support of the LVIII Foster's British Grand Prix, would see Olivier Pla sweep to his first GP2 victory from pole position.

Pla would start the race from pole position, having finished eighth in the Feature Race, sharing the front row with Gianmaria Bruni. Bruni then made a mess of his start by creeping forward and jumping on the brakes before the lights went out, meaning he was powerless to prevent Pla from charging into the lead.

Indeed, Bruni would instead slipped to third behind Clivio Piccione, with the Monegasque duly sprinting off after Pla out front in the early laps. Bruni was therefore left to head a queue of cars containing Neel Jani, Alexandre Prémat, Nicolas Lapierre and main title protagonists Nico Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen.

The latter duo would soon take advantage of Bruni's queue, easing past Lapierre before pulling sequential moves on Prémat and Jani. Up front, meanwhile, Piccione was throwing everything he had at Pla for the lead, only for their fight to be interrupted by a Safety Car when Nelson Piquet Jr. spun and stopped at Becketts on the eighth lap.

When the race resumed Piccione went back on the attack, while Bruni abandoned third as he had to serve a drive-through penalty for jumping the lights. That allowed Speed, Kovalainen and Rosberg to close up onto the tail of the lead fight, with all three slipping through when Piccione slid wide at Bridge.

That mistake allowed Pla to build up a small lead, one that he would hold until the chequered flag despite Speed's impressive late race pace. Behind, Kovalainen fended off Rosberg to complete the podium, while Prémat and Jani completed the points after falling away from the lead group once again.

Background
There would be no modificiations made to the Silverstone Circuit overnight and into Sunday morning, with the GP2 Series field also remaining stable with no revisions. As a result, Olivier Pla and Gianmaria Bruni would share the front row as expected after finishing eighth and seventh respectively in the Feature Race, with the extended 120 km / 45 min race format in use once again.

Silver Saturday
Heikki Kovalainen had seen his Championship lead remain largely intact after the first race in Silverstone, the Finn's advantage having been slightly reduced to nineteen points. The man to do the damage had been race winner Nico Rosberg, with the German racer's strong mid-season form having carried him up to second, seven points ahead of Adam Carroll. Scott Speed was next up having moved level with Carroll, while Gianmaria Bruni had slipped to fifth.

In the Teams' Championship it was Arden International who continued to head the charge, although their lead had been cut. Indeed, a double podium for ART Grand Prix had seen the French squad move up into second with 63 points, leaving them nine behind the British squad. They had also overhauled Super Nova Racing, who headed into the Silverstone Sprint 28 points off the lead, with no other changes to the order.

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

Grid
The grid for the Sprint Race was formed from the finishing positions from the Feature Race, with the top eight reversed as per-FIA GP2 Series rules:


 * López, Yoshimoto and Fauzy were unable to start the race due to engine and mechanical failures respectively.

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

Milestones

 * Maiden victory for Olivier Pla.
 * Also Pla's first podium finish.
 * First win for David Price Racing as an entrant in the GP2 Series.
 * Also their first podium finish in GP2.

Standings
There had been little change atop the Championship as the inaugural 2005 Championship reached its halfway mark, with Heikki Kovalainen heading into the second half of the campaign as the favourite. Indeed, eight podiums in just eleven races had left the Finn on 64 points, meaning he was twenty clear of second placed Nico Rosberg on 44. Scott Speed, Adam Carroll and Gianmaria Bruni then completed the first half top five, with twenty-one drivers having scored in the first eleven races.

In the Teams' Championship, pre-season favourites Arden International led the way with half the season completed, the British squad having claimed 76 points after eleven races. That left them eight ahead of ART Grand Prix in second, while Super Nova Racing were sat in third, some 32 off the lead. iSport International and Coloni Motorsport then completed the top five, with all twelve teams having scored in the first half of the 2005 season.