2005 Imola Feature Race

The 2005 Imola Sprint Race, formally known as the 2005 Imola Race 1 was the opening race of the inaugural 2005 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Emilia-Romagna, Italy on 23 April 2005. The race, which was held in support of the XXV Gran Premio Foster's di San Marino, was the first GP2 Series race to be staged and would be plagued by mechanical strife.

After the FIA curtailed the increasingly expensive International Formula 3000 in 2004, F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone worked with Flavio Briatore to promote a cheaper replacement, named the GP2 Series. Standardised chassis, engines, tyres and aerodynamics were dictated, with Dallara and Mecachrome combining to create the base car for the Championship, the Dallara GP2/05, of which 24 examples were sold to twelve teams entering the series.

Qualifying for the first race would see Nicolas Lapierre sweep to pole position, defeating ex-F1 driver Giorgio Pantano by 0.005s. In a session plagued by reliability issues numerous drivers failed to set representative lap times, while Lapierre and Pantano both bounced back from their own issues in practice.

Unfortunately for Lapierre his mechanical woes would return for the race, with the Frenchman not even making it to the grid as oil poured out from his car. Furthermore, the spread of mechanical issues, many of which were deemed to be electrical, forced the officials to start the race behind the Safety Car, rather than on the grid.

With Lapierre out it was Pantano who led the field away when the SC pulled off at the end of lap one, as behind Ernesto Viso was jumped by José María López on the run through Tamburello. The Argentine racer went on to challenge Pantano for the lead but settled for second, as behind it was a fairly clean start for the rest of the field.

Pantano and López soon began to escape at the head of the field during the early laps, as Viso came under sustained attack from Heikki Kovalainen for third. Further back, however, there was a lot of shuffling, with early spins for Fairuz Fauzy, Borja García and Alexandre Negrão, while several drivers had made early stops for checks and new tyres.

López's hopes of victory would seemingly wade fade as the race developed, with the Argentine racer falling away from Pantano while simultaneously being reeled in by Kovalainen. Yet, when it came to the stops it was López would gain a comfortable lead as he stayed out, aided by a poor stop for Kovalainen and Pantano having to avoid BCN Competición boss Enrique Scalabroni as the Spaniard walked across the live pitlane.

López's run in the lead would last until he stopped on lap 25, the longest single stint anyone had done in the Dallara GP2/05 in either testing or practice. That allowed the #14 DAMS to rejoin in second behind Pantano, before both scrambled into the pits again for second stops with four laps to go.

Those stops elevated Adam Carroll to the race lead, although the Brit served a penalty with two laps to go and dropped back to sixth, leaving Kovalainen out front. The Finn, on a one-stop, hence had a comfortable margin over López, with the Argentine having jumped Pantano as electrical gremlins removed the Italian racer from the race within sight of the podium.

With that the race was run, with Kovalainen sweeping across the line to become the GP2 Series's maiden victor, six seconds clear of a charging López. Behind, the late race drama had shuffled Scott Speed onto the podium ahead of Gianmaria Bruni and Adam Carroll, while Neel Jani completed the top six. Alexandre Prémat and Nico Rosberg would claim the final points in seventh and eighth, and hence secure the front row for the Sprint Race, while long-time race leader Pantano ended the day on the sidelines in thirteenth.

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

 * * Lapierre was unable to start the race after an engine failure on his way to the grid.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Pantano was still classified despite retiring as he had completed 90% of the race distance.

Milestones

 * First FIA GP2 Series race to be staged.
 * Debut race for all teams and drivers.
 * Nicolas Lapierre recorded his first pole position.
 * Arden International claimed their first pole position as an entrant.
 * Maiden victory for Heikki Kovalainen.
 * Also Kovalainen's first podium and points finish.
 * Arden International secured their first GP2 Series victory.
 * José María López and Scott Speed claimed their maiden podium finishes.
 * Gianmaria Bruni, Adam Carroll, Neel Jani, Alexandre Prémat, Nico Rosberg and Lapierre claimed their first points finishes.
 * Ernesto Viso recorded his maiden fastest lap.
 * Also the Venezuelan's first points finish.
 * First fastest lap recorded by BCN Competición as an entrant.

Standings
Heikki Kovalainen ended the opening day of the GP2 Series in the lead of the Championship, having earned ten points for his maiden triumph. José María López was his closest challenger ahead of Scott Speed, while Gianmaria Bruni and Adam Carroll completed the early top five. Neel Jani was next up ahead of Alexandre Prémat, while Ernesto Viso, Nicolas Lapierre and Nico Rosberg had also claimed points.

In the Teams' Championship it was Arden International who headed into the Sprint Race with the lead, having claimed their first win courtesy of Kovalainen. DAMS were their closest challengers, four points behind, while iSport International completed the early top three with six points. Coloni Motorsport, Super Nova Racing, Racing Engineering, ART Grand Prix and BCN Competición were the other scorers.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.