2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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Flag of the United Arab Emirates.png   2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Race details
Race 15 of the 2015 Superleague season
Circuit Yas Marina.png
Date 24th September, 2015
Official name 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Location Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island
Course Permanent racing facility
3.451 mi / 5.554 km
Distance 55 laps, 189.805 mi / 305.461 km
Weather Clear
Pole position
Driver England Alex Cooper CSG Racing-Potentia
Time 1:34.717
Fastest Lap
Driver Spain Fran Lopez Red Archer-Valiant
Time 1:35.235 on lap 53
Podium
First England Alex Cooper CSG Racing-Potentia
Second England David Fidock Hawkeye-Potentia
Third Germany Florian Geier Nordsjoen-Martex

The 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was the fifteenth round of the 2015 Superleague season, taking place at the Yas Marina Circuit on 24th September.

Despite being out of the running for the championship itself, Alex Cooper of CSG Racing dominated the race, taking pole and winning with a margin of 17 seconds. Cooper did not manage fastest lap however; that honour going to Fran Lopez for the second race running.

Second in the race was reigning champion David Fidock while third was Florian Geier, his second podium in three races. Crucially for the Driver's Championship, Fidock comfortably outscored leader Philipp Puschke who finished 5th. Fidock was now only 21 points behind with two races to go.

In terms of the constructor's championship, Tom Parker's fourth-placed finish meant that both CSG drivers finished ahead of the lead Vod:Bul, with Pushcke's team-mate, stand-in Douwe Tapper, being classified 11th after a hefty penalty. This slashed the points deficit from 31 at the start of the race to just 9.

Outside the race for the championships, the round was notable for the fantastic second-place on the grid for Woods Racing, driven by Sven de Vries, looking to fulfil the potential shown but denied at Singapore. Though the Dutch-American star dropped down to 7th at the end of the race, it was still Woods' best finish of the year so far and put a comfortable gap between them and Green Stripes Racing, who had come up level in the Constructor's championship.

Tapper and de Vries were making their return to the grid; Tapper would race two Grands Prix in place of Jernej Simoncic while de Vries was finally back in the Woods for good. Like Tapper, Nordsjoen's reserve driver David Jundt would also race two Grands Prix for the team, filling in for Agustin Canapino as he had done back in Monaco.

Other teams that had their final driver changes of the year included Hawkeye Racing, with Wopke Hoekstra back in as Fidock's team-mate, having been away for two races, while Ari Nieminen took over the #10 Nijo, having driven for the team at Silverstone.

Unfortunately, several cars were missing; 22 entrants was the lowest turn-out of the year, although conversely the race only had two retirements. Among the missing were Deividas Misiulis' Red Archer, the Lithuanian not to return, and the #83 Kernow, generally driven by Bart De Vos. With Jordan Weekes banned for one race, Torrent Motorsports were complete absent.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Time Gap Grid
1 13 England Alex Cooper CSG Racing - Potentia 1:34.717
1
2 8 United States Sven de Vries Woods - Trinity 1:35.334 +0.616 2
3 27 Germany Florian Geier Nordsjoen - Martex 1:35.372 +0.655 3
4 1 England David Fidock Hawkeye - Potentia 1:35.430 +0.712 4
5 7 Portugal Pedro Melim Midnight - Potentia 1:35.644 +0.927 5
6 24 England Tom Parker CSG Racing - Potentia 1:35.767 +1.050 6
7 14 Germany Philipp Puschke Vod:Bul - Valiant 1:35.947 +1.230 7
8 19
Switzerland
David Jundt
Nordsjoen - Martex 1:36.125 +1.408 8
9 25 Netherlands Tom van der Voort Midnight - Potentia 1:36.267 +1.550 9
10 9 Netherlands Roy Schroten Woods - Trinity 1:36.396 +1.679 151
11 21 Spain Fran Lopez Red Archer - Valiant 1:36.481 +1.764 10
12 69 Malta Jason Muscat Edonis - Valiant 1:36.782 +2.064 11
13 15 Netherlands Douwe Tapper Vod:Bul - Valiant 1:36.871 +2.154 12
14 11 Wales Ben Horrill Green Stripes - Valiant 1:37.059 +2.342 13
15 5 Belgium Kenney Lybeer Nijo - Trinity 1:37.069 +2.352 14
16 4 Brazil Marcos Riffel Edonis - Valiant 1:37.092 +2.375 16
17 2 Netherlands Wopke Hoekstra Hawkeye - Potentia 1:37.178 +2.461 17
18 20 South Africa Dewald Nel Green Stripes - Valiant 1:37.399 +2.682 18
19 45 Ireland Kieran Ryan Phoenix - Trinity 1:37.968 +3.251 222
20 10 Finland Ari Nieminen Nijo - Trinity 1:38.026 +3.309 19
21 46 Finland Mikko Jakonen Phoenix - Trinity 1:38.536 +3.819 20
22 12 England Mark Wicks Kernow - Trinity 1:38.864 +4.147 21

Notes:

  • 1Roy Schroten had a 5-place grid penalty for avoidable contact at the previous round.
  • 2Kieran Ryan had a 10-place grid penalty for avoidable contact at the previous round.

Race

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts.
1 13 England Alex Cooper CSG Racing - Potentia 55 30:09.660 1 25
2 1 England David Fidock Hawkeye - Potentia 55 +17.872 4 20
3 27 Germany Florian Geier Nordsjoen - Martex 55 +26.696 3 16
4 24 England Tom Parker CSG Racing - Potentia 55 +30.360 6 13
5 14 Germany Philipp Puschke Vod:Bul - Valiant 55 +36.873 7 11
6 19
Switzerland
David Jundt
Nordsjoen - Martex 55 +55.451 8 10
7 8 United States Sven de Vries Woods - Trinity 55 +1:07.621 2 9
8 7 Portugal Pedro Melim Midnight - Potentia 55 +1:28.612 5 8
9 21 Spain Fran Lopez Red Archer - Valiant 55 +1:32.438 10 7
10 2 Netherlands Wopke Hoekstra Hawkeye - Potentia 55 +1:33.549 17 6
111 15 Netherlands Douwe Tapper Vod:Bul - Valiant 55 +1:57.928 12 5
12 9 Netherlands Roy Schroten Woods - Trinity 54 +1 Lap 15 4
13 4 Brazil Marcos Riffel Edonis - Valiant 54 +1 Lap 16 3
14 11 Wales Ben Horrill Green Stripes - Valiant 54 +1 Lap 13 2
15 69 Malta Jason Muscat Edonis - Valiant 54 +1 Lap 11 1
16 5 Belgium Kenney Lybeer Nijo - Trinity 53 +2 Laps 14
17 10 Finland Ari Nieminen Nijo - Trinity 53 +2 Laps 19
18 45 Ireland Kieran Ryan Phoenix - Trinity 53 +2 Laps 22
19 12 England Mark Wicks Kernow - Trinity 52 +3 Laps 21
20 46 Finland Mikko Jakonen Phoenix - Trinity 52 +3 Laps 20
Ret 20 South Africa Dewald Nel Green Stripes - Valiant 33 Accident 18
Ret 25 Netherlands Tom van der Voort Midnight - Potentia 8 Accident 9

Notes:

  • 1Douwe Tapper had a total 25 seconds added to race time; 10 seconds for avoidable contact and 15 seconds for not observing pit-lane etiquette.

Standings after the race

  • Bold text indicates who still has a mathematical chance of becoming World Champion.

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
Arrow-right.png
1 Germany Philipp Puschke 266
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2 England David Fidock 245
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3 England Lewis Redshaw 176
Arrow-up.png 1
4 England Alex Cooper 176
Arrow-down.png 1
5 Argentina Agustin Canapino 161

Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
Arrow-right.png
1 England Vod:Bul-Valiant 364
Arrow-right.png
2 England CSG Racing-Martex 355
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3 Norway Nordsjoen-Potentia 312
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4 England Hawkeye-Valiant 290
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5 Greece Red Archer-Potentia 231

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

External links

Preceded by:
2015 Japanese Grand Prix
GPVWC Superleague
2015 season
Succeeded by:
2015 United States Grand Prix
Preceded by:
2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Succeeded by:
2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix