Race 2 – Kobayashi benefits from a penalty on Grosjean

The GP2 Asia champion, Romain Grosjean, let slip a first victory in the GP2 Series in Spain on the Barcelona circuit. The young Frenchman displayed a position defense behavior deemed aggressive against Kobayashi and was penalized. The young Japanese driver thus won race 2 while Grosjean finished 13th.

Kamui Kobayashi, Toyota’s test driver in Formula 1, started from pole position. Romain Grosjean set off from the 4th position, but the Frenchman had a very good start to move into second position right behind the young Japanese driver. He overtook Buemi and Petrov, both trapped on the inside of the first corner.

Grosjean then chased Kobayashi and it took him only three laps to seize the lead with a superb overtaking move.

The Frenchman was no longer worried, even managing to reach a seven-second lead by lap 20. The deployment of a safety car then came and nullified the gap when Giacomo Ricci got stuck on a curb after a spin.

At the restart, Grosjean poorly negotiated the start and was heavily threatened by Kobayashi, who was still second. The ART driver then took the inside of the first corner, leaving Kobayashi on the outside. But at the end of the corner, Grosjean moved to the outside, forcing Kobayashi to slow down. The stewards judged this maneuver as unsportsmanlike and penalized the 23-year-old Frenchman with a drive-through penalty.

With very small gaps between the first and the last driver, due to the safety car, a penalty was at that moment the most difficult to recover from, especially during the penultimate lap. Grosjean exited the pits in 13th position.

Sébastien Buemi leads on the podium ahead of Giorgio Pantano, while Bruno Senna takes the 4th position. David Valsecchi completes the top 5, while Grosjean still scores a point thanks to his fastest lap in the race.

In the championship, Senna takes the lead, one point ahead of Parente.

Results of Race 2 – GP of Spain – TOP 10 or View the full live