2005 Barcelona Sprint Race

The 2005 Barcelona GP2 Series Race 2, otherwise known as the 2005 Barcelona Sprint Race, was the fourth round of the 2005 FIA GP2 Series, staged on 8 May 2005 at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain. The race, held in support of the XLVII Gran Premio Marlboro de España, would see José María López secure his maiden GP2 triumph, becoming the fourth straight new winner.

Reverse grid pole for the Barcelona Sprint had been handed to Alexandre Negrão after his eighth place finish in the Feature Race, while race winner Gianmaria Bruni would start from pole. However, the Brazilian racer would stall on the formation lap for the Sprint and hence was unable to convert pole into an early lead.

Instead, it was third placed López who took control of the race when the lights went out, storming past lone front-row started Adam Carroll to claim the lead. Carroll instead found himself fighting with Nelson Piquet Jr. for second into the first corner, while behind Neel Jani fended off the attentions of Scott Speed to hold fourth.

The race order would stabilise before the end of the opening tour, with Speed forcing his way past Jani, while Bruni elbowed his way past a fast starting Fairuz Fauzy for sixth. Indeed, it was only when Alexandre Prémat slammed into the pitwall exiting the final corner that the race got more interesting, with a Safety Car deployed to recover the errant bits of the #10 ART.

After a two lap intervention the race resumed, with Carroll mistiming his assault on López and hence had to back off before the final corner. As a result the Argentine racer was able to sprint away down the start/finish straight to re-secure the lead, while Carroll again had to fend off the attentions of Piquet for second.

Indeed, the fight for second would become the main source of entertainment for the rest of the afternoon, with López simply sweeping away out front. Indeed, Carroll's defence was so ferocious that it caused Piquet to take increasingly aggressive lunges, culminating with a barge by the #3 Hitech/Piquet Racing entry on the #8 Super Nova at the start of the final lap.

Piquet emerged from that incident with second place, although he would now have Speed bearing down on his tail through the final tour. Carroll, meanwhile, would scramble back onto the circuit down in sixth behind Jani, having just avoided stalling his car.

Unaffected by all of that, however, would be López, who duly swept across the line to claim a dominant maiden victory, well clear of Piquet and Speed. Nico Rosberg was next up ahead of Jani and Carroll, while fifteenth placed Ryan Sharp usurped Hiroki Yoshimoto on the penultimate tour to claim the bonus points for fastest lap.

Background
There were no revisions made to the Circuit de Catalunya ahead of the Sprint Race, with likewise no late revisions to the cars after the Feature Race. As a result, Alexandre Negrão was set to start from pole position as expected after finishing eighth in the Saturday race, while Gianmaria Bruni would start from eighth after his victory.

Bruni Brilliance
Heikki Kovalainen had retained his Championship lead and his 100% podium record in the fledgling 2005 GP2 Series after the Barcelona Feature, and would head into Sunday's race with a two point advantage. Bruni had been the literal and figurative winner of the Barcelona Feature, having leapt into second, while Scott Speed had likewise shot up the order to claim third. Adam Carroll, meanwhile, had slipped to fourth, a point ahead of José María López, while Alexandre Negrão had his name on the board for the first time.

In the Teams' Championship it was still Arden International who headed the charge after the third race, and would end Sunday's running with 24 points to their credit. That translated into a six point advantage over Coloni Motorsport after the Italian squad's maiden triumph, with iSport International having similarly moved up into the top three. Super Nova Racing had made way for them and slipped to fourth, while Campos Racing and Durango had again failed to open their respective accounts.

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:


 * * Negrão was unable to start the race from pole position after stalling on the formation lap.

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

Milestones

 * Maiden victory for José María López.
 * DAMS secured their maiden GP2 Series victory.
 * First podium finish for Nelson Piquet Jr.
 * Maiden (and only) fastest lap recorded Ryan Sharp.
 * This was also Sharp's only points finish.

Standings
Count-back had kept Heikki Kovalainen at the head of the Championship after the fourth round of the season, with the Finnish racer leaving Barcelona with twenty points to his credit. Indeed, Scott Speed had risen up to move level with the Finn at the head of the hunt, but was considered to be in second place having zero wins to Kovalainen's one. Gianmaria Bruni was next up, two off the lead, José María López a point further back in fourth, while Adam Carroll rounded out the top five as the only driver to have scored in every race to that point.

In the Teams' Championship it was still Arden International who headed the charge, the British squad leaving Spain with 24 points to their credit. Their closest challengers come the end of the Spanish weekend were iSport International, four off the lead, while Coloni Motorsport had claimed third on eighteen. DAMS were next up ahead of ART Grand Prix, while Campos Racing and Durango were still yet to score.

Only point scoring drivers are shown.