2012 Catalunya GP3 Series round

The 2012 Catalunya GP3 Series round was a GP3 Series motor race held at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain from 12 up to 13 May 2012 as the first round of the 2012 GP3 Series season.^[1] The race was used to support the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix.

   2012 Catalunya GP3 round

Round details
Round 1 of 8 rounds in the 2012 GP3 Series
Circuit de Catalunya
Location	Circuit de Catalunya Montmeló, Spain
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.665 km (2.892 mi)
GP3 Series
Race 1
Date	12 May 2012
Laps	16
Pole position
Driver	António Félix da Costa	Carlin
Time	1:38.642
Podium
First	Mitch Evans	MW Arden
Second	Marlon Stöckinger	Status Grand Prix
Third	Aaro Vainio	Lotus GP
Fastest lap
Driver	Patric Niederhauser	Jenzer Motorsport
Time	1:41.440 (on lap 5)
Race 2
Date	13 May 2012
Laps	16
Podium
First	Conor Daly	Lotus GP
Second	Robert Visoiu	Jenzer Motorsport
Third	Matias Laine	MW Arden
Fastest lap
Driver	Kevin Ceccon	Ocean Racing Technology
Time	1:40.619 (on lap 7)

The first GP3 feature race of the season was won by Mitch Evans with Conor Daly winning the sprint race the next day.

The weekend also saw the GP3 Series introduce the points system used by Formula One since 2010 for the feature race, with points awarded to the top ten drivers and twenty-five points awarded to the race winner. The points for the sprint race were changed too, with the winner receiving fifteen points and the top eight drivers scoring points. The points for pole and the fastest lap were doubled too.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Time	Grid
1	27	António Félix da Costa	Carlin	1:38.642	1
2	2	Conor Daly	Lotus GP	1:38.720	2
3	3	Aaro Vainio	Lotus GP	1:38.732	3
4	4	Mitch Evans	MW Arden	1:38.835	4
5	14	Marlon Stöckinger	Status Grand Prix	1:38.867	5
6	9	Tio Ellinas	Marussia Manor Racing	1:38.894	161
7	1	Daniel Abt	Lotus GP	1:38.945	6
8	21	Patric Niederhauser	Jenzer Motorsport	1:38.988	7
9	6	Matias Laine	MW Arden	1:39.151	8
10	7	Dmitry Suranovich	Marussia Manor Racing	1:39.164	9
11	5	David Fumanelli	MW Arden	1:39.175	10
12	29	Tamás Pál Kiss	Atech CRS Grand Prix	1:39.201	11
13	26	Alex Brundle	Carlin	1:39.228	12
14	28	William Buller	Carlin	1:39.512	13
15	20	Robert Visoiu	Jenzer Motorsport	1:39.553	14
16	15	Kotaro Sakurai	Status Grand Prix	1:39.701	15
17	24	Antonio Spavone	Trident Racing	1:39.932	17
18	16	Alice Powell	Status Grand Prix	1:40.002	18
19	8	Fabiano Machado	Marussia Manor Racing	1:40.278	19
20	30	John Wartique	Atech CRS Grand Prix	1:40.578	20
21	31	Ethan Ringel	Atech CRS Grand Prix	1:40.640	21
22	22	Jakub Klášterka	Jenzer Motorsport	1:41.053	22
23	19	Robert Cregan	Ocean Racing Technology	1:41.112	23
24	18	Carmen Jordá	Ocean Racing Technology	1:42.066	24
25	23	Vicky Piria	Trident Racing	1:43.509	251
26	17	Kevin Ceccon	Ocean Racing Technology	no time	26
Source:[2]

Notes:

• ^1 — Tio Ellinas and Vicky Piria were penalised by 10 grid positions after they ignored yellow flags in qualifying. Piria's grid position did not change because Kevin Ceccon did not set a time in qualifying.^[3]

Race 1

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	4	Mitch Evans	MW Arden	16	28:38.738	4	25
2	14	Marlon Stöckinger	Status Grand Prix	16	+2.609	5	18
3	3	Aaro Vainio	Lotus GP	16	+4.594	3	15
4	21	Patric Niederhauser	Jenzer Motorsport	16	+5.071	7	14 (12+2)
5	6	Matias Laine	MW Arden	16	+6.284	8	10
6	2	Conor Daly	Lotus GP	16	+6.941	2	8
7	9	Tio Ellinas	Marussia Manor Racing	16	+7.419	16	6
8	20	Robert Visoiu	Jenzer Motorsport	16	+10.102	14	4
9	5	David Fumanelli	MW Arden	16	+11.046	10	2
10	26	Alex Brundle	Carlin	16	+11.291	12	1
11	7	Dmitry Suranovich	Marussia Manor Racing	16	+15.105	9
12	29	Tamás Pál Kiss	Atech CRS Grand Prix	16	+15.752	11
13	1	Daniel Abt	Lotus GP	16	+16.231	6
14	27	António Félix da Costa	Carlin	16	+16.577	1	4
15	19	Robert Cregan	Ocean Racing Technology	16	+17.132	23
16	8	Fabiano Machado	Marussia Manor Racing	16	+17.775	19
17	24	Antonio Spavone	Trident Racing	16	+18.284	17
18	15	Kotaro Sakurai	Status Grand Prix	16	+19.087	15
19	22	Jakub Klášterka	Jenzer Motorsport	16	+19.626	22
20	18	Carmen Jordá	Ocean Racing Technology	16	+22.224	24
21	30	John Wartique	Atech CRS Grand Prix	16	+23.070	20
22	23	Vicky Piria	Trident Racing	16	+32.897	25
23	28	William Buller	Carlin	16	+46.346	13
Ret	17	Kevin Ceccon	Ocean Racing Technology	7	Retired	26
Ret	31	Ethan Ringel	Atech CRS Grand Prix	0	Accident	21
Ret	16	Alice Powell	Status Grand Prix	0	Accident	18
Fastest lap: Patric Niederhauser (Jenzer Motorsport) — 1:41.440 (lap 5)
Source:[4]

Race 2

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	2	Conor Daly	Lotus GP	16	27:21.043	3	15
2	20	Robert Visoiu	Jenzer Motorsport	16	+3.265	1	12
3	6	Matias Laine	MW Arden	16	+4.168	4	10
4	3	Aaro Vainio	Lotus GP	16	+4.877	6	8
5	21	Patric Niederhauser	Jenzer Motorsport	16	+5.669	5	6
6	1	Daniel Abt	Lotus GP	16	+9.341	13	4
7	27	António Félix da Costa	Carlin	16	+9.6882	14	2
8	26	Alex Brundle	Carlin	16	+9.833	10	1
9	28	William Buller	Carlin	16	+12.090	23
10	17	Kevin Ceccon	Ocean Racing Technology	16	+12.401	23	2
11	16	Alice Powell	Status Grand Prix	16	+13.664	26
12	15	Kotaro Sakurai	Status Grand Prix	16	+16.703	18
13	30	John Wartique	Atech CRS Grand Prix	16	+21.703	21
14	22	Jakub Klášterka	Jenzer Motorsport	16	+25.550	19
15	9	Tio Ellinas	Marussia Manor Racing	16	+28.133	2
16	23	Vicky Piria	Trident Racing	16	+31.239	22
17	5	David Fumanelli	MW Arden	16	+31.608	9
18	31	Ethan Ringel	Atech CRS Grand Prix	16	+37.862	25
19	14	Marlon Stöckinger	Status Grand Prix	16	+38.449	7
20	4	Mitch Evans	atech CRS Grand Prix	16	+51.421	8
21	18	Carmen Jordá	Ocean Racing Technology	16	+1:16.560	20
Ret	8	Fabiano Machado	Marussia Manor Racing	12	Accident	16
Ret	29	Tamás Pál Kiss	Atech CRS Grand Prix	0	Accident	12
Ret	19	Robert Cregan	Ocean Racing Technology	0	Accident	15
Ret	7	Dmitry Suranovich	Marussia Manor Racing	0	Accident	11
Ret	24	Antonio Spavone	Trident Racing	0	Accident	24
Fastest lap: Marlon Stöckinger (Status Grand Prix) — 1:40.524
Source:[5]

Notes:

• ^2 — António Félix da Costa was given a 1-second time penalty added to his race result.^[6]

Standings after the round

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mitch Evans 25 2 Conor Daly 23 3 Aaro Vainio 23 4 Matias Laine 20 5 Patric Niederhauser 20

Teams' Championship standings Pos Team Points 1 Lotus GP 50 2 MW Arden 47 3 Jenzer Motorsport 36 4 Status Grand Prix 18 5 Carlin 8

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

See also

• 2012 Spanish Grand Prix
• 2012 Catalunya GP2 Series round