2006 Hockenheimring Feature Race

The 2006 Hockenheim GP2 Series Race 1, otherwise known as the 2006 Hockenheimring Feature Race, was the fourteenth race of the 2006 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Hockenheimring in Hockenheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, on 29 July 2006. The race, staged in support of the LXVIII Großer Mobil 1 Preis von Deutschland, would see Gianmaria Bruni collect victory, resisting Championship leader Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages.

The Italian racer had been the man to beat in qualifying, as Bruni swept to pole position after rediscovering some of his form from earlier in the campaign. He would beat home hero Timo Glock to the front of the grid by almost a third of the second, with Glock himself only 0.018s ahead of title pretender Nelson Piquet Jr.

Bruni was not to be beaten at the start either, with the #26 Trident Racing storming into the lead when the lights went out. Glock, meanwhile, would make a slow start and slip behind Piquet and Giorgio Pantano, before the field poured into the deceptively tight first corner.

The familiar sight of cars scattering across the first corner at the Hockenheimring duly followed, with Franck Perera the first to hit strife when he tapped the back of Andreas Zuber and broke his front wing. Behind them, Luca Filippi pitched José María López into a pirouette, while Ferdinando Monfardini pulled off to the side with an issue of his own.

Fortunately those incidents, nor a spin for Hiroki Yoshimoto and Alexandre Negrão losing his front wing, would cause the race to be interrupted, allowing Piquet to latch onto the back of Bruni before the end of the opening tour. Behind, Glock would pounce on Pantano to reclaim third, while Lewis Hamilton passed Ernesto Viso and moved onto the tail of Pantano himself.

After that the race settled into a steady tempo, with Bruni easing clear out front, while Piquet shot his Bridgestone tyres early on and slipped behind Glock on lap sixteen. Hamilton, meanwhile, would be the first of the leaders to stop having passed Pantano, dropping to twelfth behind Javier Villa who would hold up several drivers.

Yet, once clear of Villa there was little stopping Hamilton, who instantly began lapping faster than the leaders' pace once in clear air. That prompted Bruni, Piquet and Viso to all dive in for their stops on lap sixteen, Bruni and Piquet emerging ahead of Hamilton, while Glock stayed out braving a longer first stint.

Indeed, only a quick stop for Glock when he stopped five laps later would keep the German racer in contention, for he emerged from the pits just ahead of Bruni to claim the lead. However, he was soon found to have sped in the pitlane and hence sent to complete a drive-through, as was Piquet after he had cut across the pit-exit line.

That left Bruni in the lead ahead of Hamilton, with the #2 ART stalking the #26 Trident as the race wore on. Indeed, the Brit would move into striking position on the final tour, and would potentially have the aid of teammate Alexandre Prémat as the Frenchman limped to the line at the back of the field.

Yet, there would be no outside intervention from Prémat in the final sector, with the Frenchman waving Bruni through unmolested to allow the Italian racer to claim his second victory of the season. Hamilton was, however a content second ahead of Glock, while Viso jumped Pantano late on to claim fourth. Adam Carroll was next up ahead of José María López, while Clivio Piccione secured the final point and reverse grid pole for the Sprint Race.

Background
The GP2 Series of 2006 was rapidly heading towards its conclusion as the field gathered at the Hockenheimring, supporting Formula One and the German Grand Prix for a second successive season. Indeed, the Baden-Württemberg circuit was unchanged for the 2006 visit for the series, with the field likewise unchanged since the trip to Magny-Cours. That was, until DPR Direxiv released Olivier Pla from their squad, replacing the Frenchman with Russian youth Vitaly Petrov.

Magny-Cours Moves
Lewis Hamilton had seen his Championship lead again receive a minor whack after the trip to Magny-Cours came to a conclusion, although he still held a healthy margin of fourteen points. Nelson Piquet Jr. had remained as the Brit's closest challenger on 56 points, while Alexandre Prémat had held third, some 22 off his teammate. Timo Glock, meanwhile, had breeched the top five after a strong weekend, moving into fourth ahead of Ernesto Viso.

ART Grand Prix had ended the trip to France with complete control of the Teams' Championship maintained, having again enhanced their already sizeable lead. Indeed, their advantage over Piquet Sports had grown to 54 points after the second battle of Magny-Cours, while iSport International had slipped 63 off the lead in third. Arden International and Trident Racing then completed the top five, while Durango had almost tripled their points after the trip to Magny-Cours.

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:

Grid

 * * di Grassi was unable to start the race due to an engine issue.

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

 * Debut race for Vitaly Petrov.
 * Third and final pole position for Gianmaria Bruni.
 * Bruni claimed his third and final victory.
 * Trident Racing claimed their second GP2 Series victory as an entrant.

Standings
Despite having to battle up the field, it was Championship leader Lewis Hamilton who emerged on top after the Hockenheim Feature, for the British racer had added eight points to his tally and his lead. Indeed, Nelson Piquet Jr. ended the afternoon some 22 points behind the Brit, while third placed Alexandre Prémat had also lost ground to fall 29 behind his teammate. Instead, the big winner of the afternoon had been Gianmaria Bruni, who shot into fifth behind Timo Glock with pole and victory, while there were no changes in the lower half of the field.

Likewise, it had been a positive afternoon for the leaders in the Teams' Championship, as ART Grand Prix again extended their advantage. They headed into the Hockenheim Sprint with a 61 point lead over iSport International, with the British squad having moved ahead of Piquet Sports after a strong double-score. Arden International and Trident Racing then completed the top five while, at the back of the field, DPR Direxiv had moved back ahead of Campos Racing.