• GP2, Spanish Grand Prix, Race 1

Pic heads Addax 1-2

Charles Pic took advantage of his team-mate's slow pit stop to win © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• Spanish GP2 round

• Championship:
• GP2 Series

• Drivers:
• Sam Bird
• |
• Charles Pic
• |
• Giedo van der Garde

Charles Pic headed home a Barwa Addax 1-2 as he won the GP2 feature race in Barcelona.

Team-mate Giedo van der Garde was second, leading away from pole until a slow exit from a pit stop allowed Pic through to repeat his victory in the same race last year. Sam Bird was third for iSport as he made it three podiums from three races so far this season , with Romain Grosjean fourth.

As in Turkey, the safety car was required after a first lap incident, this time contact between Luis Razia and Esteban Gutierrez tapped Luca Filippi in to spin that ended with the Super Nova driver hitting the pit wall. The biggest winner in the few corners taken at racing speed was Josef Kral who moved up from 12th to 9th.

Van der Garde had got away well to keep the lead from Bird, and did so again on the restart, while an odd final sector saw Dani Clos trying to wave Marcus Ericsson through in to fifth place, dropping him four seconds off the back of Grosjean before he resumed racing speed. It was clear van der Garde had strong pace though, as he gradually eased away at the front, opening up a five second lead over Bird who found himself under pressure from Pic before the pit stops.

Bird rejoined behind Kevin Mirocha who had yet to stop, but made short work of the Ocean Racing Technology man. Pic was next to pit and came out ahead of Bird, but van der Garde should have retained the lead when he came in to change tyres. However, he almost stalled as he tried to pull away and lost valuable time, rejoining just behind his team-mate after a race down to turn one.

The race was far from over though, as Bird showed improved pace to keep the front two honest. Grosjean had dropped back having taken longer to clear Mirocha, but was brought back in to play when the safety car was called for a second time. Gutierrez was again involved, this time trying to pass Michael Herck but the pair came together and stopped on track.

When the race restarted Pic pulled a slight gap on van der Garde which he maintained, while Bird could make no real impression on the front two as he sat just over a second behind but again eased away from Grosjean. Further back, original pole-sitter Jules Bianchi - penalised for ignoring yellow flags in qualifying - overtook Stefano Coletti to take eighth and pole in the sprint race. He was pressured right at the end by Fabio Leimer, who had overtaken Johnny Cecotto, Max Chilton, Alvaro Parente and Kral under braking in to turn one during the last stint, before later getting Coletti and closing a four second gap to Bianchi over the final two laps.

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