2007 Barcelona Feature Race

The 2007 Barcelona Feature Race, otherwise known as the 2007 Barcelona GP2 Series Race 1, was the third race of the 2007 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Montmeló, Catalonia, Spain, on 12 May 2007. The race would see Bruno Senna claim his maiden GP2 victory in only his third GP2 start, as chaos reigned at the start of the race.

Qualifying had seen Timo Glock sweep to his maiden pole position, beating teammate Andreas Zuber by a stunning four tenth margin. Behind the two iSport International entries would be Giorgio Pantano and Lucas di Grassi, while Senna would start from eighth.

Chaos would arrive for the race, with the first start having to be abandoned due to stalls for Zuber and Jason Tahincioğlu. The second start then saw Karun Chandhok make a bizarre attempt to dodge around a slow starting Nicolas Lapierre via the grass, only to lose control and immediately spin across the track.

Miraculously everyone avoided the errant Chandhok, although that would only free several drivers up to crash at turn one. Indeed, as the field hit the brakes for the 90° right, Pantano knocked Luca Filippi into the gravel, Mike Conway was slammed into by Alexandre Negrão, while Antônio Pizzonia got tangled in the incident and received heavy right rear damage.

That carnage triggered a Safety Car, with the majority of the field instantly darting into the pits at the end of lap two when the pit window opened. Indeed, only Glock, Adrian Zaugg, Sérgio Jimenez, Pastor Maldonado, Kohei Hirate and Andy Soucek would opt against stopping, although Maldonado and Hirate would stop a lap later.

Glock continued to lead his little group when the race resumed on lap five,, with the German racer quickly breaking clear by over a second a lap from Zaugg. Indeed, by lap twenty the German racer was almost twenty seconds clear of the South African racer, who had a queue of cars behind him as he failing to match the pace out front.

Glock's stop came on lap 27, when the order had shuffled Senna up to second as drivers around him, namely Lapierre, Zaugg and Kazuki Nakajima had their own drams. The Brazilian hence inherited the lead as Glock rejoined the race, with di Grassi also sneaking ahead of the German racer as the #5 iSport sprinted out of the pits.

The final laps of the race would see Glock hunt down di Grassi, passing the Brazilian racer with six laps to go. That left him with only Senna ahead, although the #7 Arden not only held a five second lead, but was also matching Glock's pace.

Those two facts were enough to ensure Senna claimed his maiden victory, still five seconds clear of Glock when the chequered flag fell. di Grassi was half a minute back in third ahead of Roldán Rodríguez and Borja García, while debutante Mikhail Aleshin claimed an impressive sixth. Jimenez then claimed seventh, while Javier Villa secured the final point and reverse-grid pole with eighth.

Background
The FIA GP2 Series class of 2007 moved to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the second round of the season, a month after the season started in Bahrain. The Spanish circuit had seen a major revision since GP2's last visit in 2006, with a chicane added before the final corner to reduce the entry speed. There would also be a change to the entry list ahead of the second round, with Mikhail Aleshin stepping into the #1 ART Grand Prix car in place of Michael Ammermüller, who had suffered a broken wrist in Bahrain.

Gulf Graces
A victory and a podium at the opening round of the campaign had left Luca Filippi at the head of the early Championship table, the Italian racer holding sixteen points after two races. Timo Glock was his closest challenger after two second places, two points behind, while Nicolas Lapierre rounded out the top three with eight points. Andreas Zuber and Bruno Senna then completed the top five, with ten drivers on the score sheet after the opening bouts of the campaign.

In the Teams' Championship iSport International rounded out the opening weekend with the lead, holding 20 points after two strong races. Super Nova Racing were their closest challengers in second, two behind, while DAMS were up to third after their first triumph in over a season. Arden International were next up in fourth ahead of Durango, while defending Champions ART Grand Prix had slipped to sixth.

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

 * Debut race for Mikhail Aleshin.
 * Maiden pole position for Timo Glock.
 * Bruno Senna secured his maiden FIA GP2 Series victory.
 * Also Senna's maiden podium finish.
 * Arden International claimed their seventh win as an entrant.
 * Lucas di Grassi claimed his maiden podium finish.
 * Maiden points finish for Roldán Rodríguez, Aleshin, Sérgio Jimenez, Javier Villa.

Standings
Pole position and second place for Timo Glock had ensured that the German youth moved to the top of the table after the third race of the campaign, having moved onto 24 points for the season. Luca Filippi hence slipped to second, six off the lead he had lost, while race winner Bruno Senna had leapt into third after his maiden victory. Lucas di Grassi and Nicolas Lapierre then completed the top five, while Roldán Rodríguez, Mikhail Aleshin, Sérgio Jimenez and Javier Villa had added their names to the board.

In the Teams' Championship iSport International had extended their early advantage at the head of the table, twelve points clear of Super Nova Racing. The latter squad were themselves only ahead of third placed Arden International on countback, both having claimed one win, while ART Grand Prix had moved up to fourth. DAMS then completed the top five ahead of Durango, while Minardi Piquet and Racing Engineering completed the scorers.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.