2007 Spa Feature Race

The 2007 Spa Feature Race, otherwise formally known as the 2007 Spa GP2 Series Race 1, was the eighteenth race of the 2007 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot, Liège, Belgium, on 8 September 2007. The race would see Nicolas Lapierre claim a dominant victory, in which he would only be denied a maximum score after Timo Glock stole fastest lap in the closing stages.

Lapierre was the man to beat in qualifying too, with the Frenchman sweeping to his second pole, and first since the first ever GP2 Series race in Imola, with a last gasp effort. Indeed, Lapierre's late effort saw him edge out Luca Filippi by 0.012s at the head of the field, while title pretenders Lucas di Grassi and Glock found themselves in fourth and sixth respectively.

The start of the race saw Lapierre make a relatively messy start, although the Frenchman would escape with the lead as Filippi made an even poorer one. Instead, the Italian racer would have to fend off the attentions of di Grassi through La Source, while behind Bruno Senna, Glock, Andreas Zuber, Kazuki Nakajima and Kohei Hirate all stalled on the grid.

Remarkably the entire quintet would be avoided by the rest of the field, and would all be dragged into the pitlane and restarted without intervention from the Safety Car. It did, however, ensure that they were all at the back of the field as, out front, Lapierre eased away from the now second placed di Grassi, who knew he had to make the most of Glock's woes.

di Grassi rallied back against Lapierre shortly before the stops, although his lunge into La Source at the start of lap eight was not enough to get him ahead. The duo would then pit together at the end of the same lap, but Lapierre would again scramble out of the pits ahead of the Brazilian.

Furthermore, di Grassi's marginally slower stop would dump him behind both Filippi and Adam Carroll, who had used fresher tyres to undercut the Brazilian racer during the pit-phase. Out front, meanwhile, Javier Villa, Ho-Pin Tung, Marcos Martínez and Borja García would all have brief stints leading the field, before Lapierre was handed the lead back again on lap thirteen with a lunge at the latter.

With that Lapierre was away, simply strolling away from Filippi in second as the Italian racer came under fire from Carroll. Unfortunately for the Ulsterman his attempts to pass the #16 Super Nova ended with the #9 FMS International spinning out at Pouhon, elevating di Grassi back up onto the podium.

After that there was little action of note out front, with Lapierre cruising to victory five seconds clear of Filippi in second. di Grassi was relatively happy with third to cut Glock's lead, while Villa's late stop allowed him to finish in fourth ahead of Mike Conway. Behind them the chaos at the start would leave Andy Soucek in the points ahead of Karun Chandhok, while Ho-Pin Tung likewise claimed his first point and reverse-grid pole for the Sprint Race.

Background
After a year away the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps returned to both the Formula One and FIA GP2 Series calendars, after major renovations to the pit and paddock facilities, La Source and the final complex of corners. Indeed, the Belgian circuit had received significant investment in 2006 during its year away, resulting in the start/finish straight and pitlane being lengthened, La Source reprofiled, and a new "Bus-Stop" chicane added at the end of the lap. The changes meant that the lap around Spa had been increased to 7.004 km (4.352 mi), while teams would enjoy larger pit garages to work in as well as an enlarged paddock.

Bakkerud's Back
Elsewhere, Carlin DPR announced that Christian Bakkerud would return to GP2 for the rest of the campaign, the Dane having sat out the trip to Monza the previous week. The result of a recurring back injury that first arose in Barcelona earlier in the season, Bakkerud would opt to undergo specialist treatment to try and solve the issue, and was therefore replaced by Olivier Pla for the meeting in Monza. Yet, despite rumours that Pla would remain with DPR for Monza, Bakkerud and DPR revealed that the Dane would return to the team to complete the season, with Bakkerud also passing a fitness test on the eve of the race weekend.

Monza Machinations
Timo Glock had used his fourth win of the campaign to extend his Championship lead to eleven points leaving Monza, with the German youth having moved onto 78 points. That meant that Lucas di Grassi was almost a full Feature Race's worth of points behind Glock heading to Spa, although he still remained the closest threat to the German racer heading into the final four races. Indeed, with only 40 points left to fight for third placed Luca Filippi was realistically too far back to challenge, having slipped 28 points behind in Italy.

In the Teams' Championship it was iSport International who ended the weekend in Italy with a commanding advantage, with the British squad heading into the penultimate meeting in Spa with a 31 point lead. Indeed, ART Grand Prix would likely have to claim four one-twos in the final four races in order to overhaul the British squad, with a maximum of 66 points left to fight for over the remaining rounds. Behind, Super Nova Racing and Campos Grand Prix completed the top five, and remained in the title hunt mathematically, while Carlin DPR and BCN Competición had once again failed to claim points.

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:

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

 * Second and final pole position for Nicolas Lapierre.
 * It was also Lapierre's first pole since the 2005 Imola Feature Race.
 * Second and final victory for Lapierre.
 * Also Lapierre's sixth and final podium finish.
 * DAMS claimed their third victory as an entrant.
 * Maiden points finish for Andy Soucek and Ho-Pin Tung.

Standings
Lucas di Grassi had managed to cut Timo Glock's Championship lead to six points ahead of the Spa Sprint, meaning the Brazilian racer would at least head to the finale in Valencia with a shot at the title. Furthermore, victory in the Spa Sprint combined with a non-score for Glock would leave di Grassi at the head of the hunt before the trip to Spain, with the Brazilian realistically the only man able to deny Glock the crown. Indeed, third placed Luca Filippi faced a 21 point deficit with three races to go, with a maximum of 27 points available in those three races.

In the Teams' Championship iSport International had maintained their advantage at the head of the field, although their lead had been cut back to 26 points. That meant that ART Grand Prix would remain a threat for the title ahead of the finale in Valencia, unless iSport managed to out-score them by eight points in the Spa Sprint race. Elsewhere, Super Nova Racing were still mathematically in the hunt but would require a lot of luck to claim the crown, while at the back of the field Carlin DPR and BCN Competición had finally got onto the scoresheet.

Only point scoring drivers are shown.