Posted on 20th July 2014
GP2 Series has gone through 199 races and spirits were high going into the historic 200th at the Hockenheimring in Germany. Temperatures were just as high as yesterday with the air heated up to 33ºC.
Jolyon Palmer started the Feature Race from pole position for the third time this year but was mugged immediately by Stoffel Vandoorne who stormed into the lead before the first corner. Tom Dillmann lost out on the start having stalled on the grid and fell back to last place.
Two collisions caused carnage on the first lap; Sergio Canamasas braked too late into turn six and pushed Conor Daly into a spin while Artem Markelov and Jon Lancaster’s coming together brought out the safety car for a couple of laps as the Russian’s car sustained terminal damage.
After the safety car period, Vandoorne led the field away at the penultimate corner and extended his lead over Palmer. In an attempt to charge through the field, Mitch Evans didn’t leave enough room for Alexander Rossi at the hairpin and damaged the American’s steering beyond repair. In the calamity, René Binder took three positions from Rossi, Abt and Trummer.
A strange occurrence took place when Marciello and Pic took their stops; both suffered engine failures and had to have their cars restarted. Daly suffered the same fate a few laps later but his issue extended to a speed limiter problem which led the American to exceed the pit lane speed limit; he gained a drive through penalty for his actions.
At the front of the race, Palmer and Coletti pitted after 23 laps but the pair both lost out to Vandoorne who stopped one lap later. However, the three aforementioned drivers couldn’t get out of the pits ahead of Mitch Evans who had stopped in the early stages of the double centenary race.
An enthralling battle for the non-podium places opened up after the final pit stops. Coletti was leading Nasr and Johnny Cecotto but a mistake from the Monegasque driver saw him lose places. Just one lap later he regained those lost places having seen Nasr and Cecotto go wide at the first turn. One final twist in the tale was Felipe Nasr getting Johnny Cecotto’s position back on the penultimate lap. The Venezuelan went wide at turn eleven and lost out.
After 15 laps of defensive driving by Mitch Evans, he held off the attack to win the 200th GP2 Series race and his second Feature Race one the bounce. Stoffel Vandoorne finished just 0.4 seconds behind the Kiwi to secure his third podium finish this season while Jolyon Palmer rounded out the podium places. With his third place finish he extends his lead over Felipe Nasr to 49 points.
Nathanaël Berthon got his first points of the season with eighth place which means he will start the Sprint Race from pole position. In 2013 when the French driver secured his first points of the season, he went on to win the Sprint Race the following day.
Position Driver Team Gap
1 M. Evans. RT RUSSIAN TIME 58:15.099
2 S. Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 0.414
3 J. Palmer DAMS 2.755
4 S. Coletti Racing Engineering 20.191
5 F. Nasr Carlin 20.687
6 S. Trummer Rapax 23.432
7 J. Cecotto Trident 30.583
8 N. Berthon Venezuela GP Lazarus 33.160
9 M. Sørensen MP Motorsport 35.879
10 S. Richelmi DAMS 36.857
11 R. Binder Arden International 37.111
12 T. Dillmann EQ8 Caterham Racing 38.081
13 T. Izawa ART Grand Prix 43.096
14 A. Quaife-Hobbs Rapax 47.572
15 S. Canamasas Trident 49.996
16 J. Leal Carlin 58.217
17 R. Marciello Racing Engineering 62.333
18 A. Negrão Arden International 64.818
19 A. Pic Campos Racing 65.181
20 D. Abt Hilmer Motorsport 69.082
21 C. Daly Venezuela GP Lazarus 69.244
22 R. Haryanto EQ8 Caterham Racing DNF
23 J. Lancaster Hilmer Motorsport DNF
24 D. De Jong MP Motorsport DNF
25 A. Rossi Campos Racing DNF
26 A. Markelov RT RUSSIAN TIME DNF
