After starting from twenty-first on the grid after being disqualified from qualifying, it was Prema Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi who secured victory in the GP2 Feature Race in Monza.
Antonio Giovinazzi Wins Italian GP2 Feature Race
In a closely contested 30 lap race, it was Antonio Giovinazzi who stood on the top step of the podium in front of his home crowd. Following a long Safety Car period caused by an accident between Arthur Pic and Sergio Canamasas, Giovinazzi lay in third place, starting on the medium tyres and pitting onto the softs during the safety car period. After the Safety Car went in, Giovinazzi moved himself into second place with only a few laps to go, overtaking Gustav Malja. With one lap to go, Giovinazzi then moved himself into first place, overtaking fellow home countryman, Raffaele Marciello. Marciello followed Giovinazzi home in second place, while Malja secured his second GP2 podium finish this season in third place.
Finishing in fourth was title favourite and pole sitter, Pierre Gasly. Gasly led much of the race, however, missed out on victory due to the safety car caused by Pic and Canamasas. This finish has meant that Giovinazzi has closed in on Gasly in the championship standings, now being only eight points adrift from taking the lead in the standings away from his team mate.
Norman Nato finished in fifth place for Racing Engineering while Luca Ghiotto finished in sixth place for Trident. Nato’s team mate, Jordan King finished in seventh place. Finishing in eighth place was Mitch Evans, meaning that he will start from pole position for tomorrow’s GP2 Sprint Race.
Oliver Rowland finished in ninth place for MP Motorsport. Artem Markelov finished in tenth place, rounding out the points paying positions. Markelov experienced a very disappointing race after starting on the front row of the grid following Giovinazzi’s disqualification from qualifying, with the Russian Time driver quickly slipping down the grid very early on in the race.
Title hopeful Sergey Sirotkin once again faced disappointment for ART Grand Prix, again failing to finish inside the points. This follows a disappointing race weekend last week in Belgium, where Sirotkin finished in ninth and sixteenth.
Results from the Italian GP2 Feature Race
- Antonio Giovinazzi, Prema Racing, 25 points
- Raffaele Marciello, Russian Time, 18 points
- Gustav Malja, Rapax, 15 points
- Pierre Gasly, Prema Racing, 12 points
- Norman Nato, Racing Engineering, 10 points
- Luca Ghiotto, Trident, 8 points
- Jordan King, Racing Engineering, 6 points
- Mitch Evans, PERTAMINA Campos Racing, 4 points
- Oliver Rowland, MP Motorsport, 2 points
- Artem Markelov, Russian Time, 1 point
- Nobuharu Matsushita, ART Grand Prix, 0 points
- Alex Lynn, DAMS, 0 points
- Nabil Jeffri, Arden International, 0 points
- Jimmy Eriksson, Arden International, 0 points
- Sergey Sirotkin, ART Grand Prix, 0 points
- Nicholas Latifi, DAMS, 0 points
- Daniel de Jong, MP Motorsport, 0 points
- Marvin Kirchhofer, Carlin, 0 points
- Philo Armand, Trident, 0 points
- Sergio Canamasas, Carlin, Ret
- Arthur Pic, Rapax, Ret
- Sean Gelael, PERTAMINA Campos Racing, Dsq
