After starting in fourth place for the Italian GP2 Sprint Race, it was Racing Engineering’s Norman Nato who claimed victory for the second time this season.
Norman Nato Claims Victory in Italian GP2 Sprint Race
It was Norman Nato for Racing Engineering who was once a winner once again in the GP2 Series, securing victory in the Sprint Race around Monza. Nato started the race in fourth, however, took the lead by the end of the first sector, with pole sitter Mitch Evans and Luca Ghiotto being eliminated from the race at turn four in an accident caused by Oliver Rowland and Gustav Malja. Crossing the line in second place was Prema Racing’s Pierre Gasly, who experienced a disappointing Feature Race after starting in pole position and finishing in fourth. Antonio Giovinazzi once again finished on the podium, after starting in eighth place and finishing in third. Although beaten by Gasly, the gap between the two team mates at the top of the championship table is ten points. With two rounds to go and four races in this year’s GP2 Season, a close title fight is beginning to form.
Finishing in fourth place was Jordan King for Racing Engineering. King ran inside the podium postions for much of the race, however, was overtaken by Giovinazzi late on. King then slipped into the clutches of fifth and sixth place. Although overtaken by Gustav Malja, King maintained fourth place, with Malja being handed a 10 second time penalty following the accident he caused on lap 1. Following the application of his time penalty, Malja finished in ninth place, just outside of the points. Artem Markelov was the best finisher for Russian Time, finishing in fifth place. His team mate, Raffaele Marciello was to sart the sprint race in seventh place, however, after stalling his car at the start of the formation lap, Marciello had to start from the pit lane, finishing in fifteenth place.
Finishing in sixth place for DAMS was Britain’s Alex Lynn, who crossed the line ahead of Nobuharu Matsushita by one hundredth of a second. Rounding out the points paying positions in eighth place was Nicholas Latifi, marking the Canadian’s fourth points finish this season for DAMS.
Sergey Sirotkin’s championship struggle continued into the Sprint Race, with the young Russian retiring from the race. This retirement has left Sirotkin 59 points away from championship leader, Pierre Gasly, to whom he was level on points with by the end of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.
Results from the Italian GP2 Sprint Race
- Norman Nato, Racing Engineering, 15 points
- Pierre Gasly, Prema Racing, 12 points
- Antonio Giovinazzi, Prema Racing, 10 points
- Jordan King, Racing Engineering, 8 points
- Artem Markelov, Russian Time, 6 points
- Alex Lynn, DAMS, 4 points
- Nobuharu Matsushita, ART Grand Prix, 2 points
- Nicholas Latifi, DAMS, 1 point
- Gustav Malja, Rapax, 0 points
- Marvin Kirchhofer, Carlin, 0 points
- Oliver Rowland, MP Motorsport, 0 points
- Arthur Pic, Rapax, 0 points
- Nabil Jeffri, Arden International, 0 points
- Sergio Canamasas, Carlin, 0 points
- Raffaele Marciello, Russian Time, 0 points
- Sean Gelael, PERTAMINA Campos Racing, 0 points
- Philo Armand, Trident, 0 points
- Jimmy Eriksson, Arden International, 0 points
- Daniel de Jong, MP Motorsport, 0 points
- Sergey Sirotkin, ART Grand Prix, Ret
- Mitch Evans, PERTAMINA Campos Racing, Ret
- Luca Ghiotto, Trident, Ret
Drivers Standings after round 11:
- Pierre Gasly, Prema Racing, 174 points
- Antonio Giovinazzi, Prema Racing, 164 points
- Raffaele Marciello, Russian Time, 138 points
- Sergey Sirotkin, ART Grand Prix, 115 points
- Jordan King, Racing Engineering, 112 points
- Norman Nato, Racing Engineering, 107 points
- Oliver Rowland, MP Motorsport, 106 points
- Alex Lynn, DAMS, 91 points
- Luca Ghiotto, Trident, 90 points
- Artem Markelov, Russian Time, 86 points
- Mitch Evans, PERTAMINA Campos Racing, 81 points
- Nobuharu Matsushita, ART Grand Prix, 60 points
- Gustav Malja, Rapax, 43 points
- Arthur Pic, Rapax, 36 points
- Sean Gelael, PERTAMINA Campos Racing, 24 points
- Nicholas Latifi, DAMS, 22 points
- Marvin Kirchhofer, Carlin, 20 points
- Sergio Canamasas, Carlin, 16 points
- Jimmy Eriksson, Arden International, 10 points
- Daniel de Jong, MP Motorsport, 6 points
- Nabil Jerrfi, Arden International, 2 points
- Rene Binder, Carlin, 0 points
- Philo Armand, Trident, 0 points
Constructors Standings after 11 rounds
- Prema Racing, 338 points
- Russian Time, 224 points
- Racing Engineering, 219 points
- ART Grand Prix, 175 points
- DAMS, 113 points
- MP Motorsport, 112 points
- PERTAMINA Campos Racing, 105
- Trident, 88 points
- Rapax, 79 points
- Carlin, 36 points
- Arden International, 12 points
