GP2 did not have an easy start back in 2005. Here’s how the inaugural race weekend in Italy went down

Departing pre-season testing, there was one solid conclusion that Arden’s Heikki Kovalainen was title favourite, and no real indication of the chaos that would ensue when the paddock reconvened at Imola a fortnight later.

Of course a heavy dose of drama is one of the only things you can expect with an all-new racing series, and GP2 delivered the best and worst kinds of mayhem through its first proper weekend of action.

Free practice was the first sign of issues, with only 18 of the 24 drivers – and three of those not even at a representative pace – setting a timed lap in the half-hour session. Journalists found following it all quite difficult, with a dispute from Formula One Management (owner of the series’ rights) resulting in a no timing screens or video coverage in GP2’s media centre.

A trip to the garages revealed every team had suffered mechanical issues, with well over half of the field reporting problems. Most were sourced back to the car’s electrics, a positive in that a common issue sped up the search for a solution, but an obvious negative in how widespread the problem was and that the design had actually been changed prior to practice. And what was the solution? Swap the failing fuses for the systems used in testing, just in time for qualifying later in the day.

Kovalainen had reason to smile though as the fastest driver, beating BCN Competition’s Hiroki Yoshimoto by 0.188 seconds.

Reliability had improved for qualifying, but there were still cars coming to a halt during the session, in which Kovalainen’s Formula 3 graduate team-mate Nicolas Lapierre beat Super Nova’s former Formula 1 driver Giorgio Pantano to pole.

Imola feature race grid