Sam Bird edged out Carlin's Nasr by 0.08s in Bahrain to take the new Russian Time team's first victory.
After leading for most of the race, Bird had to change tires. This allowed Calin's Felipe Nasr and, in front of him, points leader Stefano Coletti to catch up; beginning an epic battle for the podium positions.
A mistake by Coletti at turn 10, and another at double turn 14 & 15, allowed Nasr to catch up to the Rapax driver & complete a pass, on the penultimate lap.
Coletti & Nasr's warring gave Sam Bird some time, but not seemingly enough, as Nasr closed the gap to the Russian Time racer.
Nasr managed to pull alongside Bird, as the Brit's tires finally gave way - exhausted of grip. Nasr tucked in behind Bird, rode the slipstream and pulled out to complete the pass.
Both cars were side-by-side as they crossed the line - but Nasr's efforts were not enough, Bird had pipped him to the post by 0.08 seconds.
"Maybe I pushed too hard too early on the tyres, it was just a case of keeping it on the racing line and hoping they'd battle it out behind me," said Bird.
"Felipe's car was like a rocket at the end. Big thanks to my new team [Russian Time]: to win in our fourth race, with no pre-season testing, is amazing."
Nasr is yet to win in GP2, but today's astonishing drive shows how well he can perform.
Felipe said "It was a close finish, but I finished second, so we'll keep pushing to get that win."
Coletti was confined to third position, admitting that it was the absolute best he and his car could do. Despite this, his haul of points have placed him again above yesterday's winner Fabio Leimer, after they came into the weekend tied at the top.
Bird's team-mate Tom Dillmann, who started from P1, finished in fourth position.
Sprint Race Results
1.
#11 Sam Bird Russian Time
41:08.133s (23 laps)
2.
#9 Felipe Nasr Carlin
+ 0.08s
3.
#18 Stefano Coletti Rapax
+ 4.206s
4.
#12 Tom Dillmann Russian Time
+ 10.328s
5.
#3 James Calado ART GP
+ 19.713s
6.
#10 Jolyon Palmer Carlin
+ 21.773s
7.
#4 Daniel Abt ART GP
+ 24.108s
8.
#26 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs MP Motorsport
+ 27.722s
9.
#8 Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering
+ 27.894s
10.
#21 Kevin Ceccon Trident Racing
+ 27.997s
11.
#14 Sergio Canamasas Caterham Racing
+ 28.601s
12.
#5 Johnny Cecotto Jr. Arden
+ 35.477s
13.
#2 Stéphane Richelmi DAMS
+ 35.858s
14.
#19 Simon Trummer Rapax
+ 36.346s
15.
#6 Mitch Evans Arden
+ 36.95s
16.
#7 Julián Leal Racing Engineering
+ 37.671s
17.
#25 Kevin Giovesi Venezuela GP Lazarus
+ 41.248s
18.
#27 Daniël de Jong MP Motorsport
+ 44.757s
19.
#16 Jake Rosenzweig Barwa Addax
+ 47.006s
20.
#15 Alexander Rossi Caterham Racing
+ 52.044s
21.
#23 Pal Varhaug Hilmer Motorsport
+ 54.74s
22.
#20 Nathanaël Berthon Trident Racing
+ 55.332s
23.
#22 Robin Frijns Hilmer Motorsport
+ 1:02.964s
24.
#17 Rio Haryanto Barwa Addax
+ 1:17.388s
25.
#24 Rene Binder Venezuela GP Lazarus
+ 1 laps
Image: Gulf Daily News
