Cecotto Wins GP2 sprint race

Alexander Rossi scored his first points of the season in yesterday's Feature Race and that eighth place position gave him reverse grid pole position for today's Sprint Race. Daniel Abt had to start the race from the pit lane having suffered a technical issue earlier this morning.

Johnny Cecotto launched into the lead by the first corner ahead of Rossi, Raffaele Marciello and Stefano Coletti. Julián Leal was a big winner off the start line by gaining six places from P13 on the gird. Turn two caused a small calamity as Takuya Izawa let his car get ahead of him slightly and hit Evans and Nasr. The Brazilian had to stop in the pits to repair damage but a terminal clutch issue was found. The other drivers came out unscathed.

Marciello found some extra confidence after his first podium finish yesterday and pushed his way past Rossi to start chasing down Cecotto for the race lead. Rossi soon suffered tyre issues and tumbled behind Coletti and Evans. Jolyon Palmer was looking to capitalise on his rival Nasr's retirement and his four successive fastest laps proved he had the hunger to mount a charge from P6.

Away from the lead battle, Artem Markelov was gaining places from P21 but got a little too aggressive when it came to passing Quaife-Hobbs into turn three. Both cars were undamaged but the Briton exclaimed his displeasure at the RT RUSSIAN TIME driver's maneuver.

Just as Alexander Rossi had been struggling with tyres earlier in the race, the problem hit Raffaele Marciello later when he was just about fighting to win. The Italian came under pressure from his team mate Stefano Coletti and the Monegasque took P2 for himself.

Despite a valiant attack from Coletti, Johnny Cecotto held off the Racing Engineering drivers to secure his second race win of the season. Coletti's second place marked his first podium finish since the Germany Feature Race back in 2013 while Marciello still looked disappointed to only finish in third place.

Jolyon Palmer's sixth place finish helped him stretch his legs over Felipe Nasr in the standings.

Position Driver Team Gap

1 J. Cecotto Trident 36:14.395
2 S. Coletti Racing Engineering 0.742
3 R. Marciello Racing Engineering 6.813
4 M. Evans RT RUSSIAN TIME 7.139
5 A. Rossi EQ8 Caterham Racing 7.990
6 J. Palmer DAMS 8.828
7 J. Leal Carlin 9.317
8 T. Izawa ART Grand Prix 19.410
9 S. Canamasas Trident 26.716
10 S. Richelmi DAMS 27.062
11 C. Daly Venezuela GP Lazarus 27.625
12 R. Binder Arden International 28.381
13 A. Pic Campos Racing 28.861
14 A. Negrão Arden International 30.084
15 S. Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 30.446
16 A. Markelov RT RUSSIAN TIME 32.025
17 R. Haryanto EQ8 Caterham Racing 36.046
18 A. Quaife-Hobbs Rapax 37.139
19 K. Sato Campos Racing 37.901
20 S. Trummer Rapax 42.508
21 D. De Jong MP Motorsport 43.754
22 T. Ellinas MP Motorsport 45.236
23 D. Abt Hilmer Motorsport 45.606
24 F. Regalia Hilmer Motorsport 46.924
25 N. Berthon Venezuela GP Lazarus 50.361
26 F. Nasr Carlin DNF

Callum Rowe

Another great Graham and Leigh laser cut circuit