2010 Bahrain International Circuit GP2 Asia Series round (February)

June 2026 Bahrain Bahrain 3 4 2009-10 Bahrain International Circuit--Grand Prix Layout.svg Bahrain International Circuit 2010 Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain Permanent racing facility 3.451 5.554 26 February 34 France Jules Bianchi ART Grand Prix 1:43.474 Italy Davide Valsecchi iSport International Italy Luca Filippi MalaysiaQi-Meritus.com Spain Javier Villa Arden International Spain Javier Villa Arden International 1:47.035 10 27 February 23 France Charles Pic Arden International Italy Giacomo Ricci DPR Spain Javier Villa Arden International France Jules Bianchi Giacomo Ricci ART Grand Prix 1:46.499 9 The 2009–10 Bahrain 1st GP2 Asia round was the third round of the 2009-10 GP2 Asia Series season. It was held on February 26 and 27, 2010 at Bahrain International Circuit at Sakhir, Bahrain, together with 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series 2010 Desert 400. It was the first of two rounds to be held at the circuit, the other being the 2009-10 Bahrain 2nd GP2 Asia round. The layout used for this Race will not be used for the following event, as it acts as a F1 Support race. Report Feature race Despite Jules Bianchi starting on Pole, Davide Valsecchi clinched the GP2 Asia title with three rounds to spare by winning in the Bahrain feature race.2010-02-26 GP2: Davide Valsecchi crowned GP2 Asia series' champion Car News Auto123 https://www.auto123.com/en/news/gp2-davide-valsecchi-crowned-gp2-asia-series-champion/51878/ 2026-06-20 auto123.com en The iSport driver lurked in third for most of the distance, before mounting another late surge which has become his characteristic this year, to overcome Arden's Javier Villa and Meritus' Luca Filippi and claim his third victory in five rounds. With Valsecchi's nearest rival and team-mate Oliver Turvey delayed in the pits and unable to score, the win gave Valsecchi an insurmountable points lead. Filippi and Villa burst from the second row into the lead at the start, while polesitter Jules Bianchi (ART) immediately fell out of contention for victory for a very poor start. Villa looked faster than Filippi in the opening laps, but with no way past on track, he dived in for an early stop. The extra speed on fresh tyres paid dividends for Villa, and by the time the pitstops were complete he was in the lead ahead of Filippi and Valsecchi. As has been the case throughout the championship, Valsecchi got quicker and quicker as the race progressed. An initial dive-bomb move on Filippi for second saw him skitter over the run-off at the Turn 10 hairpin, but he quickly regrouped and passed his countryman into Turn 1 with six laps to go. He then caught Villa in just one lap and took the lead with a straightforward outbraking move - only to then run wide at Turn 10 later in the lap and hand first place back again. It was only a brief respite for Villa though, as Valsecchi soon repassed him into the first corner and pulled away to secure victory. Villa lost more pace as his tyres faded, allowing Filippi to drive around the outside of him and take second. DPR's Giacomo Ricci came within 0.2 seconds of depriving Villa of third too as they diced on the final lap. Charles Pic took the second Arden car to fifth ahead of Coloni's returnee Alvaro Parente and Addax's Sergio Pérez. Adrian Zaugg got quicker throughout the race on his return with Trident, charging past Turvey and Bianchi in the closing stages to claim eighth and pole for race two. Turvey had lost several places in his pitstop with a wheelgun problem while Bianchi never got up to speed after dropping down the order at the start. Sprint race In race 2 Charles Pic earned his first GP2 Asia/GP2 win by breaking away from the early chaos in the Bahrain Sprint race.Charles Pic • Career & Character Info Motorsport Database https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/database/drivers/charles-pic/ 2026-06-20 Motorsport Database - Motor Sport Magazine en-GB The Frenchman overtook initial leader Adrian Zaugg and then escaped from his pursuers while they spent the next few laps tripping over each other. For much of the race it looked like Arden would score a one-two, with Pic's team-mate Javier Villa all over the back of second placed Giacomo Ricci. But the latter picked up his pace later on and charged away to secure DPR's third podium finish in the last two events. Having gained pole position on the partially reversed grid thanks to his eighth place yesterday, Zaugg (Trident) led into the first corners while Coloni's Alvaro Parente and Addax's Sergio Pérez fought for second. The pair ended up banging wheels approaching Turn 4, leaving Pérez with a broken wing and sending Parente spinning into the barriers as his apparently wounded car broke loose on the following downhill sweeps. There was more contact further down the pack, and newly crowned champion Davide Valsecchi (iSport) had to pit for a new wing, while race one podium finisher Luca Filippi (Meritus) spun down the order. Leader Zaugg did not have the pace to pull away and soon had Pic, Ricci, ART's fast-starting Jules Bianchi and Villa queuing up behind him. Pic dived ahead at the end of the backstraight on lap four, with Ricci then following him in the next corner. As Zaugg tried to fight back, Bianchi got alongside him as well, with all three cars wheel to wheel through the last turn, down the pitstraight and into the first complex - where it ended in tears as contact damaged Zaugg and Bianchi's cars. That settled the top three positions, Pic having pulled clear and Ricci eventually dropping Villa and securing second. Rapax's Daniel Zampieri had emerged from the mayhem in fourth, but was hunted down as the race progressed - Sam Bird (ART) and Edoardo Piscopo (DAMS) demoting him in the closing stages. Zampieri then handed the final point to iSport's Oliver Turvey when he ran wide while trying to fend off the Briton with two laps to go, and also dropped behind his charging Rapax team-mate Vladimir Arabadzhiev. Turvey's sixth place ensured that iSport wrapped up the teams' title alongside Valsecchi's drivers' crown. Among the other incidents in the race, Meritus driver Alexander Rossi received a ten place grid penalty for the next round after forcing Ocean's Fabio Leimer off the track. The American eventually broke his front wing on the back of Leimer's car and then slid into Coloni's Will Bratt, ending both their races early. Classification Qualifying PosNoDriverTeamTimeGapGrid17FRA Jules BianchiART Grand Prix1:43.4741217ITA Davide ValsecchiiSport International1:43.478 +0.0042312ESP Javier VillaArden International1:43.519 +0.0453420ITA Luca FilippiMalaysiaQi-Meritus.com1:43.523 +0.0494524POR Álvaro ParenteScuderia Coloni1:43.714 +0.2405616GBR Oliver TurveyiSport International1:43.818 +0.3446727ITA Giacomo RicciDPR1:43.918 +0.444781DEU Christian VietorisDAMS1:44.086 +0.6128911FRA Charles PicArden International1:44.172 +0.6989106MEX Sergio PérezBarwa Addax Team1:44.246 +0.77210118GBR Sam BirdART Grand Prix1:44.253 +0.77911122ITA Edoardo PiscopoDAMS1:44.338 +0.86412135UK Max ChiltonBarwa Addax Team1:44.617 +1.143131426ROU Michael HerckDPR1:44.671 +1.197141521USA Alexander RossiMalaysiaQi-Meritus.com1:44.713 +1.239151622NED Yelmer BuurmanOcean Racing Technology1:44.724 +1.25016173BUL Vladimir ArabadzhievRapax1:44.759 +1.285171818RSA Adrian ZauggTrident Racing1:44.781 +1.30718194ITA Daniel ZampieriRapax1:45.079 +1.605192025GBR Will BrattScuderia Coloni1:45.320 +1.846202123CHE Fabio LeimerOcean Racing Technology1:45.371 +1.897212215CZE Josef KrálSuper Nova Racing1:45.424 +1.950222314USA Jake RosenzweigSuper Nova Racing1:45.980 +2.506232419BUL Plamen KralevTrident Racing1:47.243 +3.76924 Feature race PosNoDriverTeamLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints117ITA Davide ValsecchiiSport International341:02.05.146210220ITA Luca FilippiMalaysiaQi-Meritus.com34 +2.79248312ESP Javier VillaArden International34 +6.06736+1427ITA Giacomo RicciDPR34 +6.23875511FRA Charles PicArden International34 +13.02694624POR Álvaro ParenteScuderia Coloni34 +17.7775376MEX Sergio PérezBarwa Addax Team34 +23.948102818RSA Adrian ZauggTrident Racing34 +25.479181916GBR Oliver TurveyiSport International34 +29.2536107FRA Jules BianchiART Grand Prix34 +33.23812114ITA Daniel ZampieriRapax34 +34.509191222NED Yelmer BuurmanOcean Racing Technology34 +39.51316138GBR Sam BirdART Grand Prix34 +40.41511141DEU Christian VietorisDAMS34 +41.7508152ITA Edoardo PiscopoDAMS34 +45.779121625GBR Will BrattScuderia Coloni34 +46.80320173BUL Vladimir ArabadzhievRapax34 +48.57717185UK Max ChiltonBarwa Addax Team34 +1:05.086131914USA Jake RosenzweigSuper Nova Racing34 +1:06.211232023CHE Fabio LeimerOcean Racing Technology34 +1:23.385212115CZE Josef KrálSuper Nova Racing34 +1:53.049222219BUL Plamen KralevTrident Racing33 +1 lap242326ROU Michael HerckDPR32 +2 laps14Ret21USA Alexander RossiMalaysiaQi-Meritus.com26DNF15 Sprint race PosNoDriverTeamLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints111FRA Charles PicArden International2341:11.96046227ITA Giacomo RicciDPR23 +3.58655+1312ESP Javier VillaArden International23 +9.3716448GBR Sam BirdART Grand Prix23 +22.38813352ITA Edoardo PiscopoDAMS23 +23.193152616GBR Oliver TurveyiSport International23 +25.1109173BUL Vladimir ArabadzhievRapax23 +25.8661784ITA Daniel ZampieriRapax23 +28.9501191DEU Christian VietorisDAMS23 +32.499141022NED Yelmer BuurmanOcean Racing Technology23 +33.076121115CZE Josef KrálSuper Nova Racing23 +33.48921125UK Max ChiltonBarwa Addax Team23 +36.437181326ROU Michael HerckDPR23 +36.694231414USA Jake RosenzweigSuper Nova Racing23 +47.789191523CHE Fabio LeimerOcean Racing Technology23 +49.289201619BUL Plamen KralevTrident Racing23 +1:27.83822176MEX Sergio PérezBarwa Addax Team23 +1:29.65321820ITA Luca FilippiMalaysiaQi-Meritus.com23 +1:36.83271918RSA Adrian ZauggTrident Racing22 +1 lap12017ITA Davide ValsecchiiSport International22 +1 lap8NC7FRA Jules BianchiART Grand Prix19 +4 laps10Ret25GBR Will BrattScuderia Coloni2DNF16Ret21USA Alexander RossiMalaysiaQi-Meritus.com2DNF24Ret24POR Álvaro ParenteScuderia Coloni0DNF3 Standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 10px 1 ITA Davide Valsecchi 45 10px 5 2 ITA Giacomo Ricci 19 10px 1 3 GBR Oliver Turvey 17 10px 1 4 ITA Luca Filippi 16 10px 6 5 ESP Javier Villa 16 Teams' Championship standings Pos Team Points 10px 1 GBR iSport International 62 10px 5 2 NED Arden International 28 10px 1 3 GBR DPR 26 10px 4 MYS MalaysiaQi-Meritus.com 19 10px 2 5 GBR Super Nova Racing 14 Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. See also 2010 Desert 400 Notes References Bahrain GP2 Asia round 2009–10 2010 Yas Marina GP2 Asia Series round 2010 Bahrain 2nd GP2 Asia Series round 2009 Bahrain 2nd GP2 Asia Series round 2010 Bahrain 2nd GP2 Asia Series round GP2 Asia Category:GP2 Asia Series