2006 Valencia Feature Race

The 2006 Valencia Feature Race, formally known as the 2006 València GP2 Series Race 1, was the season opening race of the 2006 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Cheste, Valencian Community, Spain, on 8 April 2006. The race, which saw the debut of future GP2 and Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton, was won comfortably by Nelson Piquet Jr. racing for his father's team.

Hamilton was one of a number of new drivers to the GP2 Series in 2006, replacing former karting teammate Nico Rosberg, who progressed to F1 having won the 2005 Championship. There would also be debuts for Timo Glock and future Formula E Champion Lucas di Grassi, while F1 driver Giancarlo Fisichella invested in, and lent his name to, Coloni Motorsport for the campaign.

Elsewhere, there had been numerous revisions made to the series' base car, the Dallara GP2/05, with new bodywork and brakes, software updates for Mecachrome, and new full slick tyres from Bridgestone. There would also be a change to the sporting rules, with a reduction to a single point to be awarded to the driver who set the fastest lap in each race.

Into the opening race weekend itself and it was Piquet who won the battle in qualifying, beating debutante Tristan Gommendy by almost half a second. Hamilton would start his GP2 campaign in third ahead of Adrián Vallés, while Ernesto Viso and José María López shared the third row.

The start of the race saw Piquet sprint into an early lead, while Hamilton made a poor getaway and dropped into the pack. Vallés was hence able to challenge Gommendy for second, and duly emerged ahead in the first corner, with Hamilton ultimately emerging in eighth behind Michael Ammermüller.

Hamilton would be quick to make up for his mistake, however, and would quickly scythe his way back onto Vallés' tail in the early stages. Piquet, meanwhile, would secure a healthy advantage of more than five seconds over Vallés behind, before settling in to match his pace against his pursuers.

Indeed, Piquet would only be headed during the pit-phase, as behind Hamilton and teammate Alexandre Prémat would both jump Vallés. However, those three would remain close together as they slowly climbed back up the field in Piquet's wake, while Nicolas Lapierre gained a lot of ground after making an early stop.

Elsewhere, Viso would drop out of contention after a slow stop, while Gianmaria Bruni also lost time in the pits. Prémat, meanwhile, would slowly fall down the field before spinning back to eighth as his tyres faded, Gommendy retired early with an engine issue, while Lapierre elbowed debutante Andreas Zuber into the gravel as he flew up the field.

Out front, meanwhile, Piquet would continue to dominate the proceedings through to the chequered flag, claiming victory by over a quarter of a minute. Hamilton was a similarly comfortable second ahead of Vallés, while Lapierre secured fastest lap and fourth ahead of López. Bruni was next up ahead of Ammermüller, while Viso robbed Prémat of eighth late on to secure the final point and reverse grid pole for the Sprint.

Background
The 2006 FIA GP2 Series would open its season with a trip to the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Cheste, Valencian Community, Spain, after two pre-season tests and a wave of driver changes. Running on its own rather than on the undercard for the Formula One World Championship for its opening round, GP2 would make its debut at the Valencian circuit in 2006, using the full Grand Prix layout. The circuit would hence see the debut of the revised Dallara GP2/05 as well as numerous GP2 drivers, with several drivers touted as potential title pretenders.

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

 * * Tahincioglu was unable to start the race due to a gearbox failure on the formation lap.

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 Michael Ammermüller, Lucas di Grassi, Luca Filippi, Timo Glock, Tristan Gommendy, Lewis Hamilton, Franck Perera, Félix Porteiro, Adrián Vallés, Javier Villa and Andreas Zuber.
 * Jason Tahincioglu entered his first FIA GP2 Series race.
 * First race for Trident Racing as an entrant.
 * Maiden pole position for Nelson Piquet Jr.
 * Also the first pole for Piquet GP as an entrant.
 * Second win for Piquet.
 * Piquet GP scored their second victory as an entrant.
 * Maiden podium for Hamilton and Vallés.
 * Hamilton, Vallés and Ammermüller claimed their first points finishes.
 * Trident secured their first points finish as an entrant.

Standings
Nelson Piquet Jr. opened the season as the lead driver in the Championship, having claimed twelve points for pole and victory. Lewis Hamilton was next up ahead of Adrián Vallés, while the bonus point for fastest lap left Nicolas Lapierre level with the Spaniard on six. José María López, Gianmaria Bruni, Michael Ammermüller and Ernesto Viso were the only other scorers.

Piquet Sports would end the opening day in the lead of the Teams' Championship, having established a four point lead over ART Grand Prix. Arden International, Campos Racing and Super Nova Racing then completed the top five, while Trident Racing and iSport International were the only other scorers.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.