2005 Bahrain Feature Race

The 2005 Bahrain GP2 Series Race 1, otherwise known as the 2005 Bahrain Feature Race, was the 22nd and penultimate round of the 2005 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Southern Governorate, Bahrain on 29 September 2005. The race, which was the first stand-alone GP2 Series race to be held, would see Nico Rosberg claim a dominant victory and secure the inaugural GP2 Series title.

A unique two-part qualifying session was arranged for the Bahraini Feature, with Robserg ultimately emerging on pole to extend his Championship lead. Indeed, the German racer would put together a late run in the second session to take top spot on the grid, a position that had been occupied by title rival Heikki Kovalainen for most of the morning.

The start of the race would see Rosberg and Kovalainen both make relatively slow starts, although they would manage to both fend off a challenge from Giorgio Pantano into the first corner. Behind, Nicolas Lapierre and Alexandre Prémat, Kovalainen and Rosberg's respective teammates, would both pass Pantano as the Italian recovered from his ill-fated move, with the rest of the field making it through the first corners without issue.

Indeed, it was a surprisingly tame start to proceedings in the Bahraini heat, with Rosberg easing into an early lead, while Kovalainen dived in to the pits on lap two to serve his mandatory stop. He rejoined at the back of the field but with new Bridgestone tyres, and duly began exchanging fastest laps with Rosberg.

As the race wore on attention switched to the pitlane, with Kovalainen steadily climbing back up the field as others stopped. Indeed, the pit-phase would hinder, rather than help, the on-track action, with Lapierre and Prémat's fight for third broken up, Pantano and Ernesto Viso's fight fading, and Gianmaria Bruni and Scott Speed retiring with mechanical issues.

Rosberg, meanwhile, would remain in control of the race, although he was almost taken out by Lapierre in the pitlane when he served his stop on lap eleven. Regardless, Rosberg was able to rejoin safely ahead of Kovalainen, who now had Rosberg's teammate Prémat hounding him for de facto second of those that had made their stops.

Rosberg and co. soon began reeling in the last of those who had yet to stop, with Hiroki Yoshimoto, Juan Cruz Álvarez and Alexandre Negrão left at the head of the field having opted for a long first stint. Once they stopped Rosberg was left in the lead ahead of Kovalainen and Prémat, although that would change late on when Prémat dived past the Finn into the first corner to claim second.

With that the race, and the Championship, was over, with Rosberg sweeping across the line to claim victory, while Prémat collected fastest lap and second. Kovalainen was a distraught third ahead of José María López, while Pantano beat Lapierre to fifth after a post-pits fight. Yoshimoto then claimed seventh after his gamble on the long first stint, while Viso would claim the final point and reverse-grid pole for the Sprint with eighth.

Background
For the final race weekend of the inaugural 2005 FIA GP2 Series, the GP2 field would travel to the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, to headline its own race meeting for the first time. Indeed, the GP2 Series arrived in Bahrain without accompanying parent series Formula One, which meant that GP2 could try an experimental schedule for its finale. A condensed two-day weekend, staged on Thursday and Friday would result, with the field getting two qualifying sessions for the Feature Race as the other major change.

Coloni Contours
Ahead of the season finale there would be another seat change at Coloni Motorsport, who released Toni Vilander from his race seat after just four races. Vilander had requested the change in order to focus on the Italian F3000 Championship finale in Misano, leaving Coloni to hire Ferdinando Monfardini for the GP2 finale. The Italian's arrival completed a month long driver swap between Coloni and Durango, after Gianmaria Bruni had quit the former to join the latter, replacing Monfardini, on the eve of the 2005 Monza Feature Race.

Winter Workout
Elsewhere, the FIA and GP2 Series bosses unveiled the winter test schedule for the winter of 2005, which would allow all twelve active teams, as well as any potential new entrants, to test either new drivers or new spec-parts. The first test was to be held on 11 - 12 October at Circuit Paul Ricard, before a second test a month later at Jerez. A third and final two-day test was then planned on 1 - 2 December, with the teams again running at the Paul Ricard test track.

The planned upgrades for the GP2/05 were also unveiled, with minor changes to the front and rear wings, as well as a test for the new fully slick Bridgestone tyres ahead of their planned implementation 2006 season.

Rosberg Revolution
The half-points awarded for the Spa Sprint may have had a crucial role in the Championship fight ahead of the finale, for freshly promoted leader Nico Rosberg had only added a single point to his slim lead. Indeed, the German youth would arrive in Bahrain with a three point lead over Heikki Kovalainen, as they headed to Sakhir as the only title pretenders. Indeed, Scott Speed was too far behind in third on 65.5, with a thirteen point gap over Adam Carroll and Alexandre Prémat in the fight to complete the top three.

In the Teams' Championship the title fight was over, for ART Grand Prix had claimed the crown with a race weekend to spare, ending the Spa visit on 155 points. That meant they held a 38 point lead over Arden International, with only 35 points left to fight for in Bahrain, leaving the British squad in a fight for second rather than for the crown. However, Arden did have a healthy margin over compatriots Super Nova Racing heading to the finale, with 21 points separating the entries.

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: Bold indicates a driver's fastest/qualifying time.
 * * Piquet and Carroll had their two fastest times deleted for speeding under yellow flags during Q2.

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

 * Nico Rosberg declared as the 2005 FIA GP2 Series for Drivers' Champion.
 * First stand-alone GP2 Series round to be staged.
 * Rosberg claimed his fourth and final pole position.
 * Fifth pole for ART Grand Prix as an entrant.
 * Fourth victory for Rosberg.
 * ART Grand Prix claimed their sixth win.
 * Twelfth and final podium finish for Heikki Kovalainen.

Standings
Victory and pole position for Nico Rosberg ensured that the German racer claimed the inaugural 2005 FIA GP2 Series title with a race to spare, having moved onto an unassailable tally of 114 points. That left him nine ahead of Heikki Kovalainen in second, with Finn having to settle for second having led the Championship from the opening round through to the 2005 Spa Feature Race. Scott Speed, meanwhile, would face a final day duel with Alexandre Prémat for third, while Adam Carroll was set to round out the season in fifth.

In the Teams' Championship ART Grand Prix had extended their title winning lead, moving onto 177 points after their third one-two of the season. Arden International, meanwhile, had secured second with their Feature double score, while Super Nova Racing had likewise done enough to claim third with a round to spare. iSport International and Racing Engineering would then round out the top five, with those two set to fight for fourth on the final day.