The 2012 Catalunya GP3 Series round was a GP3 Series motor race held at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain from 12 up to 13 May 2012 as the first round of the 2012 GP3 Series season. The race was used to support the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix.
The first GP3 feature race of the season was won by Mitch Evans with Conor Daly winning the sprint race the next day.
The weekend also saw the GP3 Series introduce the points system used by Formula One since 2010 for the feature race, with points awarded to the top ten drivers and twenty-five points awarded to the race winner. The points for the sprint race were changed too, with the winner receiving fifteen points and the top eight drivers scoring points. The points for pole and the fastest lap were doubled too.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No. Driver Team Time Grid 1 27 António Félix da Costa Carlin 1:38.642 1 2 2 Conor Daly Lotus GP 1:38.720 2 3 3 Aaro Vainio Lotus GP 1:38.732 3 4 4 Mitch Evans MW Arden 1:38.835 4 5 14 Marlon Stöckinger Status Grand Prix 1:38.867 5 6 9 Tio Ellinas Marussia Manor Racing 1:38.894 16 7 1 Daniel Abt Lotus GP 1:38.945 6 8 21 Patric Niederhauser Jenzer Motorsport 1:38.988 7 9 6 Matias Laine MW Arden 1:39.151 8 10 7 Dmitry Suranovich Marussia Manor Racing 1:39.164 9 11 5 David Fumanelli MW Arden 1:39.175 10 12 29 Tamás Pál Kiss Atech CRS Grand Prix 1:39.201 11 13 26 Alex Brundle Carlin 1:39.228 12 14 28 William Buller Carlin 1:39.512 13 15 20 Robert Visoiu Jenzer Motorsport 1:39.553 14 16 15 Kotaro Sakurai Status Grand Prix 1:39.701 15 17 24 Antonio Spavone Trident Racing 1:39.932 17 18 16 Alice Powell Status Grand Prix 1:40.002 18 19 8 Fabiano Machado Marussia Manor Racing 1:40.278 19 20 30 John Wartique Atech CRS Grand Prix 1:40.578 20 21 31 Ethan Ringel Atech CRS Grand Prix 1:40.640 21 22 22 Jakub Klášterka Jenzer Motorsport 1:41.053 22 23 19 Robert Cregan Ocean Racing Technology 1:41.112 23 24 18 Carmen Jordá Ocean Racing Technology 1:42.066 24 25 23 Vicky Piria Trident Racing 1:43.509 25 26 17 Kevin Ceccon Ocean Racing Technology no time 26 Source: Notes: — Tio Ellinas and Vicky Piria were penalised by 10 grid positions after they ignored yellow flags in qualifying. Piria's grid position did not change because Kevin Ceccon did not set a time in qualifying.
Race 1 Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 4 Mitch Evans MW Arden 16 28:38.738 4 25 2 14 Marlon Stöckinger Status Grand Prix 16 +2.609 5 18 3 3 Aaro Vainio Lotus GP 16 +4.594 3 15 4 21 Patric Niederhauser Jenzer Motorsport 16 +5.071 7 14 () 5 6 Matias Laine MW Arden 16 +6.284 8 10 6 2 Conor Daly Lotus GP 16 +6.941 2 8 7 9 Tio Ellinas Marussia Manor Racing 16 +7.419 16 6 8 20 Robert Visoiu Jenzer Motorsport 16 +10.102 14 4 9 5 David Fumanelli MW Arden 16 +11.046 10 2 10 26 Alex Brundle Carlin 16 +11.291 12 1 11 7 Dmitry Suranovich Marussia Manor Racing 16 +15.105 9 12 29 Tamás Pál Kiss Atech CRS Grand Prix 16 +15.752 11 13 1 Daniel Abt Lotus GP 16 +16.231 6 14 27 António Félix da Costa Carlin 16 +16.577 1 15 19 Robert Cregan Ocean Racing Technology 16 +17.132 23 16 8 Fabiano Machado Marussia Manor Racing 16 +17.775 19 17 24 Antonio Spavone Trident Racing 16 +18.284 17 18 15 Kotaro Sakurai Status Grand Prix 16 +19.087 15 19 22 Jakub Klášterka Jenzer Motorsport 16 +19.626 22 20 18 Carmen Jordá Ocean Racing Technology 16 +22.224 24 21 30 John Wartique Atech CRS Grand Prix 16 +23.070 20 22 23 Vicky Piria Trident Racing 16 +32.897 25 23 28 William Buller Carlin 16 +46.346 13 Ret 17 Kevin Ceccon Ocean Racing Technology 7 Retired 26 Ret 31 Ethan Ringel Atech CRS Grand Prix 0 Accident 21 Ret 16 Alice Powell Status Grand Prix 0 Accident 18 Source:
Race 2 Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 2 Conor Daly Lotus GP 16 27:21.043 3 15 2 20 Robert Visoiu Jenzer Motorsport 16 +3.265 1 12 3 6 Matias Laine MW Arden 16 +4.168 4 10 4 3 Aaro Vainio Lotus GP 16 +4.877 6 8 5 21 Patric Niederhauser Jenzer Motorsport 16 +5.669 5 6 6 1 Daniel Abt Lotus GP 16 +9.341 13 4 7 27 António Félix da Costa Carlin 16 +9.688 14 2 8 26 Alex Brundle Carlin 16 +9.833 10 1 9 28 William Buller Carlin 16 +12.090 23 10 17 Kevin Ceccon Ocean Racing Technology 16 +12.401 23 11 16 Alice Powell Status Grand Prix 16 +13.664 26 12 15 Kotaro Sakurai Status Grand Prix 16 +16.703 18 13 30 John Wartique Atech CRS Grand Prix 16 +21.703 21 14 22 Jakub Klášterka Jenzer Motorsport 16 +25.550 19 15 9 Tio Ellinas Marussia Manor Racing 16 +28.133 2 16 23 Vicky Piria Trident Racing 16 +31.239 22 17 5 David Fumanelli MW Arden 16 +31.608 9 18 31 Ethan Ringel Atech CRS Grand Prix 16 +37.862 25 19 14 Marlon Stöckinger Status Grand Prix 16 +38.449 7 20 4 Mitch Evans atech CRS Grand Prix 16 +51.421 8 21 18 Carmen Jordá Ocean Racing Technology 16 +1:16.560 20 Ret 8 Fabiano Machado Marussia Manor Racing 12 Accident 16 Ret 29 Tamás Pál Kiss Atech CRS Grand Prix 0 Accident 12 Ret 19 Robert Cregan Ocean Racing Technology 0 Accident 15 Ret 7 Dmitry Suranovich Marussia Manor Racing 0 Accident 11 Ret 24 Antonio Spavone Trident Racing 0 Accident 24 Source: Notes: — António Félix da Costa was given a 1-second time penalty added to his race result.
Standings after the round
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mitch Evans 25 2 Conor Daly 23 3 Aaro Vainio 23 4 Matias Laine 20 5 Patric Niederhauser 20
Teams' Championship standings Pos Team Points 1 Lotus GP 50 2 MW Arden 47 3 Jenzer Motorsport 36 4 Status Grand Prix 18 5 Carlin 8
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
See also 2012 Spanish Grand Prix 2012 Catalunya GP2 Series round
References