2012 Sepang GP2 Series round

The 2012 Sepang GP2 Series round was a GP2 Series motor race held on March 24 and 25, 2012 at Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia. It was the first round of the 2012 GP2 Series season. The race weekend supported the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix.

   2012 Sepang GP2 round

Round details
Round 1 of 12 rounds in the 2012 GP2 Series
Location	Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.543 km (3.444 mi)
GP2 Series
Feature race
Date	24 March 2012
Laps	30
Pole position
Driver	Davide Valsecchi	DAMS
Time	1:45.494
Podium
First	Luiz Razia	Arden International
Second	Davide Valsecchi	DAMS
Third	Max Chilton	Carlin
Fastest lap
Driver	Davide Valsecchi	DAMS
Time	1:49.246 (on lap 24)
Sprint race
Date	25 March 2012
Laps	22
Podium
First	James Calado	Lotus GP
Second	Esteban Gutiérrez	Lotus GP
Third	Felipe Nasr	DAMS
Fastest lap
Driver	Fabrizio Crestani[a]	Venezuela GP Lazarus
Time	1:50.690 (on lap 8)

Feature race start.

Sprint race start.

Davide Valsecchi was on pole for the feature race, which was won by Luiz Razia. James Calado won the sprint race.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Time	Grid
1	3	Davide Valsecchi	DAMS	1:45.494	1
2	23	Luiz Razia	Arden International	1:45.554	2
3	26	Max Chilton	Carlin	1:45.558	3
4	14	Stefano Coletti	Scuderia Coloni	1:45.577	4
5	5	Fabio Leimer	Racing Engineering	1:45.588	5
6	9	James Calado	Lotus GP	1:45.638	6
7	8	Jolyon Palmer	iSport International	1:45.758	7
8	12	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham Racing	1:45.773	8
9	15	Fabio Onidi	Scuderia Coloni	1:45.810	121
10	4	Felipe Nasr	DAMS	1:45.942	9
11	1	Johnny Cecotto Jr.	Barwa Addax Team	1:46.012	10
12	18	Fabrizio Crestani	Venezuela GP Lazarus	1:46.138	11
13	16	Stéphane Richelmi	Trident Racing	1:46.150	13
14	2	Josef Král	Barwa Addax Team	1:46.160	14
15	10	Esteban Gutiérrez	Lotus GP	1:46.186	15
16	21	Tom Dillmann	Rapax	1:46.264	16
17	27	Rio Haryanto	Carlin	1:46.392	17
18	6	Nathanaël Berthon	Racing Engineering	1:46.428	18
19	25	Nigel Melker	Ocean Racing Technology	1:46.489	19
20	7	Marcus Ericsson	iSport International	1:46.557	20
21	24	Jon Lancaster	Ocean Racing Technology	1:46.662	21
22	17	Julián Leal	Trident Racing	1:46.868	22
23	11	Rodolfo González	Caterham Racing	1:46.962	23
24	22	Simon Trummer	Arden International	1:47.004	24
25	20	Ricardo Teixeira	Rapax	1:48.113	25
26	19	Giancarlo Serenelli	Venezuela GP Lazarus	1:49.620	26

Notes

• ^1 – Onidi received a three grid place penalty for impeding González during the qualifying session.^[1]

Feature Race

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	23	Luiz Razia	Arden International	30	56:00.250	2	25
2	3	Davide Valsecchi	DAMS	30	+7.817	1	24 (18+4+2)
3	26	Max Chilton	Carlin	30	+27.366	3	15
4	5	Fabio Leimer	Racing Engineering	30	+28.291	5	12
5	14	Stefano Coletti	Scuderia Coloni	30	+32.217	4	10
6	4	Felipe Nasr	DAMS	30	+33.378	10	8
7	10	Esteban Gutiérrez	Lotus GP	30	+33.679	15	6
8	9	James Calado	Lotus GP	30	+36.449	6	4
9	12	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham Racing	30	+41.519	8	2
10	18	Fabrizio Crestani	Venezuela GP Lazarus	30	+43.240	12	1
11	6	Nathanaël Berthon	Racing Engineering	30	+43.720	18
12	11	Rio Haryanto	Carlin	30	+53.383	17
13	7	Marcus Ericsson	iSport International	30	+1:01.683	20
14	2	Josef Král	Barwa Addax Team	30	+1:02.683	14
15	17	Julián Leal	Trident Racing	30	+1:09.180	22
16	25	Nigel Melker	Ocean Racing Technology	30	+1:10.399	19
17	8	Jolyon Palmer	iSport International	30	+1:12.861	73
18	21	Tom Dillmann	Rapax	30	+1:27.810	163
19	16	Stéphane Richelmi	Trident Racing	30	+1:35.2062	13
20	15	Fabio Onidi	Scuderia Coloni	30	+1:39.125	12
21	20	Ricardo Teixeira	Rapax	30	+1:48.025	25
22	22	Simon Trummer	Arden International	30	+1:59.6722	24
23	19	Giancarlo Serenelli	Venezuela GP Lazarus	29	+1 lap	26
Ret	11	Rodolfo González	Caterham Racing	13	Accident	23
Ret	1	Johnny Cecotto Jr.	Barwa Addax Team	7	Wheel nut	11
Ret	24	Jon Lancaster	Ocean Racing Technology	1	Accident damage	21
Fastest lap: Davide Valsecchi (DAMS) — 1:49.246 (lap 24)

Notes:

• ^2 — Stéphane Richelmi and Simon Trummer were both issued with twenty-second time penalties after the race when they were judged to have caused an avoidable collision.^[2]
• ^3 — Jolyon Palmer and Tom Dillmann started from the pit lane.

Sprint race

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	9	James Calado	Lotus GP	22	41:08.048	1	15
2	10	Esteban Gutiérrez	Lotus GP	22	+2.004	2	12
3	4	Felipe Nasr	DAMS	22	+3.440	3	10
4	12	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham Racing	22	+10.760	9	8
5	23	Luiz Razia	Arden International	22	+11.430	8	6
6	5	Fabio Leimer	Racing Engineering	22	+14.689	5	4
7	26	Max Chilton	Carlin	22	+15.685	6	2
8	6	Nathanaël Berthon	Racing Engineering	22	+16.578	11	1
9	2	Josef Král	Barwa Addax Team	22	+18.175	14
10	27	Rio Haryanto	Carlin	22	+24.033	12	2
11	21	Tom Dillmann	Rapax	22	+24.086	18
12	8	Jolyon Palmer	iSport International	22	+25.547	17
13	15	Fabio Onidi	Scuderia Coloni	22	+32.206	20
14	25	Nigel Melker	Ocean Racing Technology	22	+34.500	16
15	17	Julián Leal	Trident Racing	22	+34.629	15
16	22	Simon Trummer	Arden International	22	+35.226	23
17	24	Jon Lancaster	Ocean Racing Technology	22	+40.340	26
18	11	Rodolfo González	Caterham Racing	22	+44.700	24
19	16	Stéphane Richelmi	Trident Racing	22	+47.133	19
20	19	Giancarlo Serenelli	Venezuela GP Lazarus	22	+1:10.466	22
21	18	Fabrizio Crestani	Venezuela GP Lazarus	22	+1:21.035	10
22	1	Johnny Cecotto Jr.	Barwa Addax Team	21	+1 lap	25
23	14	Stefano Coletti	Scuderia Coloni	20	Damage4	4
24	20	Ricardo Teixeira	Rapax	19	Accident4	21
Ret	3	Davide Valsecchi	DAMS	13	Collision	7
Ret	7	Marcus Ericsson	iSport International	13	Collision	13
Fastest lap: Fabrizio Crestani (Venezuela GP Lazarus) — 1:50.690 (lap 8)

Notes:

• ^4 — Stefano Coletti and Ricardo Teixeira were both classified as having finished the race, as they had completed 90% of the winners race distance.

Standings after the round

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Luiz Razia 31 2 Davide Valsecchi 24 3 James Calado 19 4 Esteban Gutiérrez 18 5 Felipe Nasr 18

Teams' Championship standings Pos Team Points 1 DAMS 42 2 Lotus GP 37 3 Arden International 31 4 Carlin 19 5 Racing Engineering 17

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

Notes

1. Fabrizio Crestani set the fastest lap, but did not finish in the top 10, so was ineligible to be the point-scorer for the fastest lap. Rio Haryanto was the point-scorer instead for setting the fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.