2007 Hungaroring Feature Race

The 2007 Budapest GP2 Series Race 1, otherwise known as the 2007 Hungaroring Feature Race, was the twelfth race of the 2007 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Hungaroring in Mogyoród, Pest, Hungary, on 4 August 2007. The race would see Adam Carroll secure victory, aided by the appearance of the Safety Car at a crucial moment of the race.

Carroll appeared to be an outsider for victory after qualifying, having claimed sixth a full second off of pole sitter and Championship leader Timo Glock. Indeed, the German youth had delivered a devastating late run to go fastest overall during the half-hour session, with his iSport International teammate Andreas Zuber sweeping to second half a second clear of Lucas di Grassi.

At the second attempted start, the first having been abandoned due to a stalled Sébastien Buemi, Glock and Zuber successfully avoided one-another, unlike the last time they had shared the front-row, although that did little to aid their individual races. Glock would initially make a good getaway but was too cautious into the first corner and lost the lead to title rival di Grassi, while Zuber fell to Giorgio Pantano and Pastor Maldonado after a slow start.

Zuber's fall was halted after that, with Carroll opting against throwing a lunge at the Emirate registered racer with Zuber finally getting up to speed around the rest of the opening tour. Glock, meanwhile, would manage to keep pace with di Grassi, although after making a mess of his start he soon opted to make an early stop for fresh Bridgestone tyres in a bid to leap-frog the Brazilian with new rubber.

Unfortunately for Glock it would be a miserably slow stop, a dropped wheel nut costing him a lot of time. di Grassi was left at the head of the field with Pantano for company, moments before the Italian racer swept past the Brazilian to claim the lead for himself.

Maldonado would disappear from the race in the same period, throwing himself into the barriers, while Pantano eked out a lead at the head of the field. In response, di Grassi and Zuber would file into the pits on laps eight and nine, Zuber jumping the Brazilian, although both would be jumped by Kazuki Nakajima.

Pantano stopped on the following tour, leaving Carroll in the lead just as Luca Filippi crashed himself out of the race, with the debris from his accident also taking Vitaly Petrov and Alexandre Negrão. FMS International immediately called Carroll into the pits as he approached the final sector, the Safety Car having been scrambled instantly, with the Brit darting in and out ahead of non-stopper Karun Chandhok still in the lead of the race.

The same tactic had also elevated Borja García and Ho-Pin Tung to the head of the field, those two mixing themselves in with Nakajima, Pantano, di Grassi and Zuber. Carroll would go on to ace the restart and sprint into the lead unopposed ahead of Chandhok, who was left to pay for his decision not to stop and Nakajima immediately elbowed his way past.

Incidents would further muddle the field after that, with Glock getting spun to the back of the field by Adrian Zaugg as they avoided a collision between Andy Soucek and Roldán Rodríguez. Pantano, meanwhile, would suffer an engine failure as he passed García, leaving Nakajima, Zuber and di Grassi on the tail of Carroll in a tussle for victory.

Ultimately, however, there would be no changes to the order out front, with Carroll claiming victory ahead of Nakajima and Zuber, who finished nose-to-tail behind the Brit. di Grassi was next up ahead of a resurgent García, while Rodríguez survived his collision with Soucek to claim sixth. Zaugg was next up after his brush with Glock, while Javier Villa secured the final point and reverse-grid pole for the Sprint Race with eighth.

Background
Two weeks after leaving the Eifel Mountains the FIA GP2 Series of 2007 arrived at the natural amphitheatre in Mogyoród, Pest, Hungary, within which the Hungaroring was nestled. The circuit itself was unchanged after the Series' previous visit in 2006, in contrast to the GP2 field itself which saw several changes after the trip to the Nürburgring.

Spyker Shuffle
Ahead of the trip to Hungary it was announced that Sakon Yamamoto had received a recall to Formula One, joining Spyker in place of Markus Winkelhock. His promotion left a vacant seat at BCN Competición ahead of the trip to Hungary, with the Spanish outfit deciding to promote Markus Niemelä up from Formula Renault. The Finn would hence join Ho-Pin Tung in one of the least experienced line-ups on the grid, with BCN not unveiling how long Niemelä would stay with them.

Viso Variance
Elsewhere, Ernesto Viso was surprisingly dropped by Racing Engineering before the visit to the Hungaroring, despite the fact that the Venezuelan racer had seemingly made a full recovery from his accident at Magny-Cours. In his place the Spanish squad would sign their compatriot Marcos Martínez, who had been part of Racing Engineering's development programme in Spanish F3 albeit without much noted success. Regardless, the Spaniard would make his GP2 debut in Hungary, placed alongside Javier Villa after signing a deal until the end of the campaign.

Home Advantage
Another two points for Timo Glock ensured that the German racer managed to again enhance his Championship lead leaving his home round, having ended the weekend with a seven point advantage. Lucas di Grassi would hence enter the second half of the campaign in second, while Luca Filippi faced an eighteen point deficit in third after failing to score. Giorgio Pantano was next up in fourth ahead of Pastor Maldonado, while Kazuki Nakajima moved into sixth with his fourth straight podium.

In the Teams' Championship it had been a fairly neutral day at the head of the field, with iSport International only managing to add two points to their tally as the trip to the Nürburgring came to a close. Indeed, ART Grand Prix had only managed to keep pace, the gap between them remaining at twenty points, while Super Nova Racing had slipped 25 off the lead in third. Behind, Campos Grand Prix had held fourth, Trident Racing and DAMS were level on 34 points, while Arden International had fallen to seventh.

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:
 * * Conway was handed a three place penalty for passing the chequered flag twice during free practice.
 * † Martínez failed to set a time within 107% of the fastest lap in qualifying and was not allowed to start the race.

Grid

 * * Buemi started the race from the pitlane after stalling on the grid during the first attempted start.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Buemi recorded the fastest lap of the race (1:29.578) but was ineligible to claim the bonus points as he started from the pitlane.

Milestones

 * Debut race for Markus Niemelä.
 * Marcos Martínez entered his first FIA GP2 Series race.
 * Martínez became the first driver to fail to qualifying for a GP2 Series race.
 * Fourth and final pole position for Timo Glock.
 * Adam Carroll claimed his fifth and final victory.
 * Coloni Motorsport secured their sixth win as an entrant.
 * Fifth podium for Kazuki Nakajima.
 * Also Nakajima's fifth podium finish in a row.
 * Maiden fastest lap recorded by Karun Chandhok.

Standings
The picture in the Drivers' Championship had been somewhat muddied after the first race at the Hungaroring, with Timo Glock having failed to capitalise on pole position. As a result, his lead had been cut in half by Lucas di Grassi, who moved to within four points of the German racer, with those two now out on their own at the head of the field. Indeed, Luca Filippi had slipped twenty off the lead after his own accident, and was therefore left to look over his shoulder at the rapidly approaching Kazuki Nakajima after the Japanese racer claimed his fifth straight podium.

iSport International had managed to enhance their lead in the Teams' Championship once again, having moved their tally onto 81 points for the campaign. That left them 23 points ahead of ART Grand Prix in second, who had themselves eased ten clear of Super Nova Racing in third. Behind it was DAMS who had made the biggest, and only, jump, rising to fourth from sixth, while Carlin DPR and BCN Competición had once again failed to threaten the points.

Only point scoring drivers are shown.