2006 Barcelona Feature Race

The 2006 Barcelona Feature Race, formally known as the 2006 Barcelona GP2 Series Race 1, was the seventh race of the 2006 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmeló, Catalonia, Spain on 13 May 2006. The race, held in support of the XLVIII Gran Premio Telefonica de España, would see Alexandre Prémat claim victory with an aggressive last-lap move on teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton had swept to pole position in qualifying, although the in-form Brit was subsequently demoted to fourth after his two fastest times were wiped out for ignoring yellow flags. That penalty would hence cost Hamilton two points in the Championship, which had put him in the lead, and instead handed pole, the bonus points, and the Championship lead back to Nelson Piquet Jr.

Piquet duly aced his start to claim the lead ahead of Prémat and Adam Carroll, while Hamilton made a miserable getaway and tumbled to eighth. His place in the lead group was instead assumed by Olivier Pla, who streaked up to fourth from ninth, with the rest of the order quickly settling down.

Mired in eighth, Hamilton opted to gamble on an early stop, sweeping into the pits at the end of lap two as the pit window opened. A quick turn around got him out ahead of fellow early stopper Nicolas Lapierre down in twentieth, although the Brit soon set about setting a series of fastest laps.

Out front, meanwhile, Piquet would ease away from Prémat in the early stages, with the Brazilian racer able to match Hamilton's pace once the Brit set himself into a steadier rhythm. Prémat hence opted to abandon his tyres on lap ten, rejoining behind Hamilton, while Piquet remained out with Carroll and Pla until lap thirteen.

Piquet shot out of the pits just ahead of Hamilton, while a quick stop for Carroll saw the Ulsterman scramble out between the two ARTs. However, quick work from the stewards would find that Piquet had sped in the pitlane, while Carroll had actually failed to complete his stop after missing his pitbox, meaning both would have to take another trip down the pitlane.

Their demise left Hamilton in the de facto lead ahead of Prémat, Ferdinando Monfardini running until lap 30 before making his stop, while Michael Ammermüller would filter up into third after the stops were completed. However, Ammermüller was so far behind the two ARTs that they could engage in a private duel for the lead, although Hamilton appeared to have Prémat in his pocket, thwarting any attempt the Frenchman made to claim the lead.

Indeed, as they started the final tour it seemed as if the fight was over, with Hamilton starting the final lap a second clear after repelling Prémat's latest attempt. However, Prémat would have other ideas and threw a lunge down the inside of La Caixa, resulting in contact between the two that left Hamilton facing the wrong way, and Prémat in the lead.

That settled the race, with Prémat surviving a post-race investigation to claim victory, while Hamilton recovered to claim second, still with a healthy margin over Ammermüller. Behind, Piquet recovered to fourth ahead of Tristan Gommendy and Monfardini, while Alexandre Negrão and Pla rounded out the scorers. However, after the race Pla's car was found to be underweight, meaning he was excluded and Ernesto Viso elevated to the final point and reverse grid pole for the Sprint Race.

Background
For the third weekend in a row the GP2 Series would arrive at a circuit it had visited in 2005, with the field unloading in the paddock of the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmeló, Catalonia, Spain. Again supporting Formula One and the Spanish Grand Prix, the trip to Barcelona marked the Series' second trip to Spain in 2006, having opened the season in Valencia. However, while there were no changes to the Barcelona circuit, there had been a change to the entry list as one driver called time on a two year contract after just a month.

FMS Fallout
Ahead of the fourth meeting of the season there would be some minor rumblings at FMS International, as their lead driver Luca Filippi left the team. In a surprise move the Italian racer, who had been promoted to GP2 by Coloni/FMS after piloting one of their cars to the Italian F3000 Championship in 2005, cancelled his two year contract with the team, citing a general lack of performance. His place was taken by Giorgio Pantano, who had left GP2 at the end of 2005 to seek a drive in the United States, but returned to fill Filippi's seat hoping his year of experience would aid a late title bid.

Nürburg Noise
Nelson Piquet Jr. had again retained the Championship lead leaving the third race weekend of the season, although his advantage had almost been entirely wiped out as he failed to score. Indeed, double winner Lewis Hamilton had closed the gap to just a single point after his strongest GP2 Series weekend to date, with Nicolas Lapierre only a point further back in third. Ernesto Viso and Gianmaria Bruni then completed the top five, with fifteen drivers on the board after six races.

In the Teams' Championship there had been little change, although Arden International had seen their lead cut to just three points as the third race weekend came to a conclusion. Indeed, just three points separated them from second placed ART Grand Prix, while Piquet Sports had slipped thirteen off the lead in third. Behind, iSport International and Trident Racing completed the top five, level on nineteen points, while DPR Direxiv, DAMS and Durango were the only non-scorers.

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:
 * * Hamilton (1:23.372), Bruni (1:23.890), Gommendy (1:24.477), Lapierre (1:24.441), di Grassi (1:24.660) and Villa (1:25.882) had their two fastest laps deleted for ignoring yellow flags.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Pla was disqualified from the race after his car was found to be underweight in post-race scrutineering.

Milestones

 * Third and final victory for Alexandre Prémat.
 * ART Grand Prix claimed their tenth win as an entrant in the FIA GP2 Series.
 * Third and final podium for Michael Ammermüller.
 * Maiden points finish for Tristan Gommendy.
 * First and only fastest lap recorded by Adrián Vallés.
 * This was also Vallés' last points finish.

Standings
For the first time in 2006 someone other than Nelson Piquet Jr. would end an afternoon in the lead in the Championship. Indeed, second place for Lewis Hamilton was enough to elevate the Brit into the lead on 34 points, level with Piquet but ahead by virtue of holding two victories to Piquet's one. Nicolas Lapierre was next up ahead of Michael Ammermüller and Alexandre Prémat, while Tristan Gommendy and Ferdinando Monfardini had added their names to the scoresheet.

In the Teams' Championship it was ART Grand Prix who led the way, having overhauled former leaders Arden International in the first Barcelona race. The French squad would head into the Sprint with a nine point lead ahead of the British effort, with a further ten point gap to Piquet Sports in third. iSport International and Trident Racing then completed the top five, while DPR Direxiv and Durango were the only non-scorers.

Only point scoring drivers are shown.