The 2011 Imola GP2 Asia Series round was a pair of motor races held on 19 and 20 March 2011 at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Emilia-Romagna, Italy as part of the GP2 Asia Series. It was the season-ending round of the 2011 GP2 Asia Series and was a standalone event after the two Bahrain rounds scheduled for February and March 2011 were cancelled due to civil unrest in the country. The first event, a 35-lap feature race, was won by DAMS driver Romain Grosjean from pole position. Giedo van der Garde finished second for Barwa Addax Team and Lotus ART racer Jules Bianchi was third. The next day, Dani Clos of Racing Engineering won the 25-lap sprint race with Rapax's Fabio Leimer and van der Garde second and third.
Grosjean won pole position for the feature race by setting the fastest lap in qualifying and maintained the lead at the start. He blocked van der Garde from overtaking him on lap one and pulled way from the fourth lap onward to claim his first GP2 Series victory of the season and his first since the 2009 Monaco round. Fauzy started from pole position in the sprint race after coming eighth in the feature event but a slow getaway lost him the lead to the fast starting Clos into the first corner. Clos came under pressure from Leimer throughout the event but he fended off his challenges each time and achieved victory.
Grosjean's results won him a second GP2 Series Drivers' Championship including the 2008 GP2 Asia Series after the leader entering the round Bianchi failed to finish the sprint race because he was caught up in a chain-reaction accident caused by Fauzy on the first lap. Van Der Garde moved him from seventh to third while Stefano Coletti and Leimer were fourth and fifth. DAMS claimed the Teams' Championship while Lotus ART ended the season second with Barwa Addax Team third.
Background
Following the cancellation of the two scheduled Bahrain rounds for February and March 2011 at the request of the Bahrain Motorsport Federation because of civil unrest in the country, the GP2 Asia Series sought an alternative venue to host its next round with a stand-alone venue in Europe and the Losail International Circuit in Qatar mooted as possible replacements. It was announced in early March that the replacement to hold the season-ending round of the 2011 GP2 Asia Series would be held at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit in the Emilia-Romagna commune of Imola on 19 and 20 March. GP2 Series CEO Bruno Michel said that while he was aware the Italian event was "quite peculiar", the track's resurfaced layout and improved facilities made Imola ideal to hold the series' final event: "It was important for everyone to have one last round, and with the tests in Europe starting soon and the logistical requirements, we had to find a European venue. We had to be quick and think on our feet and we are happy to return to Imola." Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the medium compound tyre to the race because it was considered highly adaptable to the circuit.
Before the race Lotus ART driver Jules Bianchi led the Drivers' Championship with 12 points, two ahead of Romain Grosjean in second, who in turn was a further point in front of equal third-place competitors Davide Valsecchi and Marcus Ericsson. Josef Král was fifth on eight points. Lotus ART were leading the Teams' Championship with 12 points; Racing Engineering were one point behind in second place and DAMS were a further point adrift in third position. Team AirAsia were in fourth place with nine points and Arden International were fifth with eight points. There were 13 teams of 2 participants each making up 26 drivers in total entered for the race and all used the Dallara GP2/11 chassis. There was one driver change for the round. Having driven for Scuderia Coloni at the Abu Dhabi round, James Jakes elected not to compete at Imola after testing for Dale Coyne Racing in the IndyCar Series in the week leading up to Imola and his car was driven by experienced GP2 Series participant Luca Filippi.
Practice and qualifying
The event was the first GP2 Series round to be held at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari since 2006 so race officials added an additional practice session after the usual half an hour worth of running to enable teams and drivers to familiarise themselves with the circuit. Lap times improved as drivers enhanced their understanding of the circuit and track conditions changed. In the first practice session, Giedo van der Garde was fastest with a lap time of 1 minute, 29.095 seconds, almost three-tenths of a second faster than Mikhail Aleshin in second. Fabio Leimer, Jolyon Palmer, Esteban Gutiérrez, Andrea Caldarelli, Valsecchi, Stefano Coletti, Julián Leal and Michael Herck were in positions three through ten. Ericsson stopped at Variante Villeneuve turn in the opening minutes and Grosjean went off the track at the following corner soon after. Bird set the fastest lap of the second practice session of 1 minute, 28.312 seconds; completing the top ten were Van der Garde, Leimer third, Coletti, Dani Clos, Valsecchi, Max Chilton, Herck, Pål Varhaug and Nathanaël Berthon. Grosjean and Ericcson missed the session because their cars were being repaired while Fillipi had mechanical issues. Gutiérrez lost control of his car in the closing period at Variante Villeneuve turn and broke his front wing.
Friday afternoon's qualifying session ran for 30-minutes. The session determined the starting order for the first race with the drivers' fastest lap times. The pole position winner earned two points in the Drivers' and Teams' Championships. Qualifying was held in sunny weather. Grosjean clinched his second pole position of the season with a new track series record of 1 minute, 27.067 seconds set in the final seconds. He was joined on the grid's front row by Bird who was 0.317 seconds slower and had pole position until Grosjean's lap. Herck took what Autosport considered an "impressive" third having also been on pole position with Bianchi fourth fastest. Van der Garde in fifth led a close group of runners consisting of Král securing sixth place and Ericsson in seventh. Palmer was eighth, Valsecchi ninth and Aleshin tenth. Luiz Razia was the fastest driver not to qualify in the top ten and the rest of the field lined up as Caldarelli, Leimer, Oliver Turvey, Gutiérrez, Coletti, Rodolfo González, Chilton, Varhaug and Clos, Fairuz Fauzy, Johnny Cecotto Jr., Charles Pic, Leal, Berthon, and Filippi who was unable to set a timed lap because of a driveshaft problem affecting his car and was forced to start at the back of the field. The session was briefly stopped when bodywork was located in the centre of the track and marshals were dispatched to retrieve it.
Qualifying classification +Final qualifying classification Driver Team Time 1 9 Romain GrosjeanDAMS1:27.067 1 2 2 Sam BirdiSport International1:27.384 2 3 11 Michael HerckScuderia Coloni1:27.558 3 4 5 Jules BianchiLotus ART1:27.676 4 5 17 Giedo van der GardeBarwa Addax Team1:27:737 5 6 3 Josef KrálArden International1:27.834 6 7 1 Marcus EricssoniSport International1:27.872 7 8 4 Jolyon PalmerArden International1:27.898 8 9 27 Davide ValsecchiTeam AirAsia1:27.909 9 10 27 Mikhail AleshinCarlin1:27:988 10 11 26 Luiz RaziaTeam AirAsia1:28.073 11 12 14 Andrea CaldarelliOcean Racing Technology1:28.093 12 13 20 Fabio LeimerRapax1:28.143 13 14 15 Oliver TurveyOcean Racing Technology1:28.151 14 15 6 Esteban GutiérrezLotus ART1:28.160 15 16 18 Stefano ColettiTrident Racing1:28.194 16 17 19 Rodolfo GonzálezTrident Racing1:28.310 17 18 25 Max ChiltonCarlin1:28.332 18 19 10 Pål VarhaugDAMS1:28.357 19 20 23 Dani ClosRacing Engineering1:28.373 20 21 7 Fairuz FauzySuper Nova Racing1:28.382 21 22 8 Johnny Cecotto Jr.Super Nova Racing1:28.490 22 23 16 Charles PicBarwa Addax Team1:28.549 23 24 21 Julián LealRapax1:28.644 24 25 22 Nathanaël BerthonRacing Engineering1:28.646 25 26 22 Luca FilippiScuderia ColoniNo Time 26 Source:
Races The first race was held over or 60 minutes (which ever came first) 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 (which ever came first) and, in contrast to the first race, drivers were not required to make pit stops. The top eight finishers earned points towards their respective championships.
Feature race
The first race began at 14:00 Central European Time (UTC+01:00) on 19 March. Grosjean made a fast start to maintain his lead on the run to the Variante Tamburello corner while van Der Garde had a brisk start to move from fifth to second whose attack for first was repelled by Grosjean. Bird was expected to be Grosjean's primary rival during the weekend but a slow start from him bunched up the field, causing Razia to run onto some grass. Razia spun straight into the tyre barrier and retired on the first lap. Van der Garde appeared to challenge Grosjean but the latter pulled away starting on lap four and van der Garde focused on holding off Herck. Bianchi had wheelspin leaving his grid slot and fell to fifth, separated by the Arden cars of Palmer and Král with whom he duelled for position. Palmer damaged his front wing entering Rivazza corner and Bianchi passed Král at the end of lap six when the latter picked up a front-right puncture forcing him to make his mandatory pit stop earlier than scheduled. On lap eight, Bird was trying to make up ground when he and his teammate Ericsson (who was returning to the track after sliding onto some grass) collided. The incident forced Bird out of the race. Grosjean retained first place after the mandatory pit stops to change tyres with van der Garde second and Bianchi overtook Herck for third.
Palmer and his teammate Král had problematic pit stops and dropped out of the top ten. Berthon was closing up to Turvey. when on lap 15 he came into contact with another car that blocked his attempt at overtaking and retired when he struck the barrier. Later on, Valsecchi made a driving error that put him off the track at Acque Minerali corner and Coletti took fifth from him. At the front, Grosjean increased his lead over van der Garde to 14.349 seconds and crossed the start/finish line after 35 scheduled laps to achieve his first victory of the season and his first in the GP2 Series since the 2009 Monaco round. Grosjean needed to finish fourth in the sprint race to win the Drivers' Championship. Bianchi could not get near van der Garde and came third with Herck, Coletti and Leimer in positions four to six. Clos gained 13 places from his starting position to finish seventh. Fauzy took eighth and the sprint race pole position after Valsecchi was disqualified due to his car failing a ride height test in post-race scrutineering. The final classified finishers were González, Ericsson, Gutiérrez, Král, Varhaug, Turvey, Cecotto, Leal, Caldarelli, Palmer, Aleshin, Pic, Chilton and Filippi.
Feature race classification Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold.