2013 Sepang GP2 Series round


The 2013 Sepang GP2 Series round was a pair of motor races held on 23 and 24 March 2013 at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malaysia as part of the one-make single seater GP2 Series. It was the first round of the 2013 GP2 Series and was run in support of the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix. The first event, a 30-lap feature race, was won by Racing Engineering driver Fabio Leimer from a fourth position start. James Calado finished second for ART Grand Prix and Rapax's Stefano Coletti took third. Coletti won the 22-lap sprint race held the following day. Carlin's Felipe Nasr placed second and Mitch Evans of Arden International was third.
Coletti won the first pole position of his career in the GP2 Series by posing the fastest lap in qualifying and he held the advantage until he made a pit stop for the hard compound tyres at the end of lap six after being put under pressure by Leimer. Coletti retook the lead after all drivers made their pit stops but he lost the position to Leimer on lap 25 because of tyre degradation. Leimer held the lead for the rest of the race to claim his first victory in the GP2 Series since the 2011 Catalunya sprint race and the third of his career. Stéphane Richelmi began the sprint race from pole position but he lost the lead to Coletti at the second corner on the first lap. Although Nasr caught him in the closing laps, Coletti kept the lead to take the third GP2 Series career win.
The results of the first round of the season meant Coletti became the early leader of the Drivers' Championship with 36 points and Leimer's victory in the feature race put him eleven points behind in second. Nasr was third and Calado fourth. In the Teams' Championship, Rapax took the lead with 42 points and led Racing Engineering in second by seven points with Carlin a further three points adrift with ten rounds left in the season.

Report

Background

The 2013 Sepang GP2 Series round was the first of eleven scheduled one-make, single seater motor racing events of the 2013 GP2 Series. It was held on 23 and 24 March 2013 at the long Sepang International Circuit in Sepang, Selangor and was run in support of the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix. It was the second time in GP2 Series history that a race meeting was held in Malaysia after the 2012 round. The track is considered by drivers to be the toughest challenge of the season due to hot and unpredictable weather and the track's abrasive asphalt surface making tyre management necessary. As in the 2012 round, tyre supplier Pirelli brought the yellow-banded soft compound tyres and the orange-banded hard dry compound tyres to Malaysia.

Practice and qualifying

One practice session lasting half an hour was held on the Thursday before the two races. James Calado set the fastest lap time for ART Grand Prix ten minutes in under hot weather conditions at 1 minute, 45.403 seconds. Simon Trummer was second-fastest for Rapax and Russian Time's Tom Dillmann placed third. 2012 GP3 Series champion Mitch Evans of Arden International was the best-placed rookie in fourth and Marcus Ericsson in the faster of the two DAMS cars was fifth. The rest of the top ten were Felipe Nasr, Johnny Cecotto Jr., Stefano Coletti, Rio Haryanto and Stéphane Richelmi. While the session passed relatively peacefully, Julián Leal went into a gravel trap at turn four and Kevin Ceccon had to drive onto the run-off area to avoid hitting Sergio Canamasas.
Friday afternoon's qualifying session ran for half an hour. The drivers' fastest lap times determined the starting order for the first race. The driver and his team who won the pole position was awarded four points towards the Drivers' and Teams' Championships respectively. Rain during the second practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix created a wet track but it completely dried up before the start of qualifying for the GP2 Series round. Sam Bird, in his first GP2 Series qualifying session since the 2011 season, was the early pace setter and held the pole position until Nasr bettered his time. It was taken by Fabio Leimer midway through the session, until Coletti set a time of 1 minute, 48.850 and improved it by more than four seconds to a 1 minute, 44.280 seconds which was never improved upon for the rest of qualifying despite a small error putting him into the grass. This gave Coletti the first GP2 Series pole position of his career. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Calado who was prevented from taking pole position because of a minor mistake late on his lap. Nasr started from third after locking his tyres going into the turn 15 hairpin and had an oversteer leaving the corner. Leimer did not improve on his second timed lap and placed fourth. Bird was provisionally fifth and Evans continued to be the highest-placed rookie in sixth. Rounding out the top ten were Haryanto, René Binder, Trummer and Dillmann. Leal was the fastest driver not to enter to the top ten; his best lap time of 1 minute, 44.732 seconds was 0.452 seconds slower than Coletti's pole lap. Behind him the rest of the provisional field was Canamasas, Ericsson, Johnny Cecotto Jr., Adrian Quaife-Hobbs, Richelmi, Conor Daly, the Trident duo of Nathanaël Berthon, Ceccon, Ma Qinghua, Daniël de Jong, Daniel Abt, Jolyon Palmer, Jake Rosenzweig, Pål Varhaug and Kevin Giovesi.

Post-qualifying

After qualifying, Berthon and Canamasas physically remonstrated about on-track etiquette as they waited in the weighbridge area for undisclosed reasons. The stewards deleted Cecotto's lap times because they deemed him to have made an "unacceptable" reaction and Bird was given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Cecotto. With five minutes left of qualifying, Bird delayed Cecotto at turns five and six because he was warming his tyres. Bird then turned off the racing line to allow Cecotto through leaving turn six. Cecotto drew alongside Bird and retaliated for Bird's earlier impediment by swerving to his right into turn seven. putting Bird into the grass to the right of the track.

Races

The first race was held over or 60 minutes and all drivers were required by regulations to make one pit stop. The first ten finishers scored points, with two given to the fastest lap holder. The grid for the second race was determined by the finishing order of the first but the first eight drivers were in reverse order of where they finished. It was run for or 45 minutes. In contrast to the prior race drivers were not required to make pit stops. The top eight finishers earned points towards their respective championships.

Feature race

The feature race began in hot weather at 11:15 Malaysian Standard Time on 23 March. Leimer made a fast getaway from fourth place to slalom straight past Calado and Nasr. He drew to the outside of Coletti to contest the lead into the first corner but lost the duel. Evans, ill with food poisoning, took over fourth place as an overtaking manoeuvre from Calado on Nasr at turn four put both drivers wide. The first retirement came on the opening lap as the field braked for turn nine and Ericsson misjudged his braking point and ran into the rear of Palmer's car. Ericsson's vehicle stopped in the barrier alongside the circuit. Once a rhythm was established, it became apparent that tyre wear would become a factor as Leimer put Coletti under heavy pressure for first place but he withstood all of his challenges. It gave Calado, Nasr and Evans, who were duelling over third, the opportunity to draw closer. On lap three, Quaife-Hobbs mistimed an overtaking manoeuvre on his teammate de Jong at turn 15 and they both of them retired after making contact with each other.
took his first victory in the GP2 Series since the 2011 Catalunya sprint race.
Coletti struggled as his soft compound tyres degrading and he made a pit stop for the hard compound tyres as soon as drivers were permitted by series officials to do so at the end of lap six. That allowed Leimer into the lead. He immediately began setting a series of consecutive fast laps in clear air in the hope of providing himself with a small lead over Coletti after his pit stop. However Leimer's tactic greatly reduced his pace in comparison to Coletti's. In the meantime, Abt triggered localised yellow flags on lap ten when he spun off the track and marshals were required to move his car. Leimer emerged close behind Coletti after he made his pit stop on the eleventh lap. The yet-to-pit Bird became the new leader when Leimer made his pit stop but his opportunity of claiming a strong result was diminished when he received a drive-through penalty for overtaking under yellow flag conditions. Palmer took the lead on lap 12 and held it until his lap 21 pit stop for the soft compound tyres. On lap 23, Evans and Richelmi ran wide at turn one and Bird overtook them for seventh. Leal overtook Cecotto for fifth on the next lap.
Coletti re-took the first position but started to struggle on his hard compound tyres which allowed Leimer to close up as his tyres degraded and had frequent wheel lock-ups. However, Leimer could not immediately overtake Coletti because he lacked the straightline speed on the straight linking turns 14 and 15. Leimer's awareness of Calado getting closer grew more as the race progressed and he knew he had to get ahead of Coletti as soon as possible. He tried doing this leaving the final corner on lap 25 but was unsuccessful despite getting a better exit than Coletti. On the next lap, Coletti put Leimer onto the outside of the circuit but he was overtaken on the racing line by Leimer at the exit of turn four for the lead. By this point, Calado got close to Coletti and out-braked him at the final corner in his attempt at passing but ran deep. Coletti got back through but Calado then tucked into his slipstream and had the grip to overtake him on the inside at the first corner for second place.
Further down the order, Haryanto hit Varhaug while battling for position and Dillmann swerved to avoid getting involved in the duel. Evans locked his tyres, allowing Trummer to pass him for ninth place. Upfront, Leimer set a series of lap times under the one minute and 50 seconds range in clear air to enlarge his advantage over Calado to two seconds. Leimer crossed the start/finish line at the end of lap 30 to claim his third victory in the GP2 Series and his first since the 2011 Catalunya sprint race. Calado was second and Coletti completed the podium in third. Off the podium, Nasr took fourth, Leal had the best result of his career in the GP2 Series at the time in fifth, Palmer finished sixth and Bird recovered from his penalty to claim seventh. Richelmi finished eighth and took the pole position for the sprint race. Completing the top ten were Trummer and Evans. The final classified finishers were Binder, Cecotto, Daly, Dillmann, Varhaug, Giovesi, Ceccon, Rosenzweig, Canamasas, Haryanto and Ma. After the race, the stewards deemed Quaife-Hobbs responsible for the clash with his teammate de Jong on lap three and imposed a five-place grid penalty on him for the sprint race.

Sprint race

The second race began in cloudy weather at 12:15 local time on 24 March. Ma was ruled unfit to compete after the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile medical doctor diagnosed him with gastroenteritis which led to extreme dehydration. At the start of the formation lap, Palmer stalled his car and was required to start from the pit lane. As a result, Nasr used the vacant spot left by his teammate Palmer to pass the slow-starting Bird and Leal on the inside line going into the first turn. However it was the sixth-placed Coletti who took the lead away from Richelmi because he made a strong getaway and steered onto the outside to pass him leaving the second corner. Going into the braking zone for turn four, Calado got caught out by Leimer and mistimed an pass on him and hit the right-rear corner of his car. The impact dislodged Calado's front wing, which folded under his car. This rendered Calado unable to steer and had limited braking capabilities since he could not control his vehicle which launched over the grass on the inside of the circuit. He ploughed into Leal and Bird at high speed and all three drivers instantly retired in the turn four gravel trap.
led every lap of the sprint race to claim his third victory in the GP2 Series.
Richelmi was overtaken by Nasr at turn one at the start of the second lap and made it stick at the turn two switchback. The top three of Coletti, Nasr and Richelmi pulled out a one-second advantage over Evans in fourth place with Cecotto in fifth and sixth-placed Leimer who continued to circulate the track despite his incident with Calado on the first lap. From then on Coletti opened his lead over Nasr to two and a half seconds after setting a series of fastest laps. However, he put himself a risk of putting his tyres under excess stress and creating an identical situation of him losing the chance of victory to a driver who better conserved his tyres. With the lead now stabilised, attention focused on Palmer further down the order as he moved his way through the field and got to 14th midway through the race while Ericsson gained two places to be in 16th. On lap 16, Richelmi out-braked himself and ran deep onto the run-off area at the turn 15 hairpin. Evans had conserved his tyres in the laps beforehand and overtook Richelmi for third. He then repelled a counter-attack from Richelmi into the first corner. On lap 17, Leimer found the damage to his car from the first lap incident with Calado caused too much rear tyre wear and a sudden loss of grip put him into the turn eleven gravel trap and out of the top ten.
Tyre degradation became a factor in the final laps as Nasr lowered Coletti's lead to 1.2 seconds and later to six-tenths of a second by the start of the final lap. It was not enough for Nasr to get close enough to challenge Coletti who managed the gap and his tyres to clinch the third victory of his career in the GP2 Series. Nasr finished eight-tenths of a second adrift in second and Evans became the youngest driver to claim a podium in the GP2 Series in third. Off the podium, Richelmi finished fourth and Cecotto benefited from the first lap crash to take fifth. Cecotto was ahead of Trummer and Daly who were separated by just four-tenths of a second in sixth and seventh. Binder finished sixth-tenths of a second in front of Palmer to claim the final points-scoring position of eighth. The final classified finishers were Giovesi, Dillmann, Leimer, Ericsson, de Jong, Canamasas, Abt, Quaife-Hobbs, Haryanto, Varhaug, Rosenzweig, Berthon and Ceccon. After the race, the stewards imposed a ten-place grid penalty on Calado for the next feature race of the season in Bahrain.

Post-race

The top three drivers in both races appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and in separate press conferences. Leimer commented on his satisfaction over winning his first race for almost two years and said his goal was to win the opening race of the season, "I think it was important for me and the team that we’re already at the front. Everything worked really well today. Mentally, this win is a real boost for me and the team. We’ve worked really hard during the winter and it’s paid off." Calado stated his slow start was caused by cold tyres and him starting on the circuit's dirty side. Nevertheless, he congratulated Leimer on his victory and said he was still happy to finish in second. Third-placed Coletti said he was happy with the result despite problems with his tyres, "I scored good points. The championship is long and we have the time to find a solution to make sure the car is even better during the race. I’m pretty confident." He revealed his tyres began to degrade from the fourth lap which prompted him to make an early pit stop for the hard compound tyres because he feared losing time and Leimer overtaking him.
After the sprint race, Coletti said work put into his car overnight helped him and emphasised the importance about racing in Malaysia's hot weather, "It was really hot out there and very difficult especially when you have to think about the tyres and concentrate on doing everything right because any little mistake can destroy your tyres and the race can be over. So it’s really not easy in the heat!" Nasr said he was happy to finish second and revealed that was his goal for the sprint race before discussing his duel with Coletti, "What I could see from the car was that Stefano built a gap and was safe from there. After that I was mainly trying to save my tyres as best as I could. When it was eight laps to go, I started to push to try and catch up with him, but my rear tyres did not last long enough. I think that’s something we need to work on, but I’m still pleased with second place. I’ve scored good points for the championship." Third-placed Evans said his team adjusted his car to improve its balance for the sprint race and stated he did not try to get second because of the high level of tyre wear, "I was hoping maybe Felipe would have caught Stefano and maybe made contact with him but that did not happen. I am satisfied with third in my debut. I think we’re in a good position for the rest of the championship."
Since Sepang was the first round of the season, Coletti became the early leader of the Drivers' Championship with 36 points. Leimer's feature race victory put him eleven points behind in second and Nasr was a further point behind in third. Calado's second place in the feature race put him fourth and Richelmi was fifth. In the Teams' Championship, Rapax assumed the lead with 42 points. They were seven points ahead of Racing Engineering in second and Carlin were another three points behind in third place. ART Grand Prix were fourth with Arden International fifth with ten rounds left in the season.

Classification

Qualifying

Notes

Sprint race

Notes:
;Drivers' Championship standings
DriverPoints
1 Stefano Coletti36
2 Fabio Leimer25
3 Felipe Nasr24
4 James Calado18
5 Stéphane Richelmi12

;Teams' Championship standings
TeamPoints
1 Rapax42
2 Racing Engineering35
3 Carlin32
4 ART Grand Prix18
5 Arden International17