Posted on 27th July 2014
Qualifying yesterday brought about a few surprises: Felipe Nasr took his first ever GP2 Series pole position ahead of Tom Dillmann in the Caterham. Jolyon Palmer was left wondering what the Campos Racing drivers had for breakfast as Arthur Pic and Kimiya Sato lined up on the second row of the grid.
When the lights went out at the start of the race, Dillmann got a rocket start and took the lead but he relinquished it immediately at the first corner as Nasr took the place back. Palmer's start from P6 was ever so impressive and he made easy work of Dillmann at the end of the first lap as Nasr extended his gap to more than three seconds. Pic and Sato dropped three and four positions respectively on the first lap as Vandoorne and Marciello took their places.
Julián Leal's race ended after six laps because of contact with Stefano Coletti. The Monegasque driver came off unscathed but a bent steering rack ended the Colombian's chances. Moments later, Stéphane Richelmi tried to overtake Kimiya Sato at turn ten but got the move all wrong and crashed heavily bringing out the safety car.
The period behind the safety car gave lots of drivers an opportunity to pit. Of those who had pitted, Raffaele Marciello led Arthur Pic, Rio Haryanto, Daniel Abt, Stefano Coletti and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs until he was handed a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane and Pic took over.
Further into the race, Johnny Cecotto took his pit stop but a problem on his car saw the Venezuelan retire; his frustration evident.
With just twelve laps to go, Nasr took his opportunity to pit while his main rival Palmer stopped just one lap later. Nasr came out in P12 while Palmer made a mistake coming out of the pits and stayed behind Nasr in P13. Both of the true racers inside Nasr and Palmer took over and a lap long battle between the pair saw the Briton take the place just moments before the safety car was deployed for a massive crash for Sergio Canamasas caused by contact with Berthon.
After a long period behind the safety car, a thrQualifying yesterday brought about a few surprises: Felipe Nasr took his first ever GP2 Series pole position ahead of Tom Dillmann in the Caterham. Jolyon Palmer was left wondering what the Campos Racing drivers had for breakfast as Arthur Pic and Kimiya Sato lined up on the second row of the grid.
When the lights went out at the start of the race, Dillmann got a rocket start and took the lead but he relinquished it immediately at the first corner as Nasr took the place back. Palmer's start from P6 was ever so impressive and he made easy work of Dillmann at the end of the first lap as Nasr extended his gap to more than three seconds. Pic and Sato dropped three and four positions respectively on the first lap as Vandoorne and Marciello took their places.
Julián Leal's race ended after six laps because of contact with Stefano Coletti. The Monegasque driver came off unscathed but a bent steering rack ended the Colombian's chances. Moments later, Stéphane Richelmi tried to overtake Kimiya Sato at turn ten but got the move all wrong and crashed heavily bringing out the safety car.
The period behind the safety car gave lots of drivers an opportunity to pit. Of those who had pitted, Raffaele Marciello led Arthur Pic, Rio Haryanto, Daniel Abt, Stefano Coletti and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs until he was handed a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane and Pic took over.
Further into the race, Johnny Cecotto took his pit stop but a problem on his car saw the Venezuelan retire; his frustration evident.
With just twelve laps to go, Nasr took his opportunity to pit while his main rival Palmer stopped just one lap later. Nasr came out in P12 while Palmer made a mistake coming out of the pits and stayed behind Nasr in P13. Both of the true racers inside Nasr and Palmer took over and a lap long battle between the pair saw the Briton take the place just moments before the safety car was deployed for a massive crash for Sergio Canamasas caused by contact with Berthon.
After a long period behind the safety car, a three minute sprint to the end took place and it was won by Arthur Pic and Campos Racing. Both taking their first win of the season. Stefano Coletti took another podium finish just ahead of Adrian Quaife-Hobbs.
Takuya Izawa started in last place but had an amazing run all the way up to fourth place ahead of Palmer who gained another place at Daniel Abt's expense on the final lap.
Position Driver Team Gap
1 A. Pic Campos Racing 1:00:18.627
2 S. Coletti Racing Engineering 2.787
3 A. Quaife-Hobbs Rapax 3.151
4 T. Izawa ART Grand Prix 3.661
5 J. Palmer DAMS 3.828
6 D. Abt Hilmer Motorsport 5.111
7 F. Nasr Carlin 5.190
8 R. Marciello Racing Engineering 5.954
9 S. Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 6.213
10 N. Berthon Venezuela GP Lazarus 7.038
11 T. Dillmann EQ8 Caterham Racing 7.605
12 M. Sørensen MP Motorsport 8.102
13 S. Trummer Rapax 8.398
14 M. Evans RT RUSSIAN TIME 8.756
15 C. Daly Venezuela GP Lazarus 11.641
16 D. De Jong MP Motorsport 13.436
17 A. Negrão Arden International 14.224
18 A. Markelov RT RUSSIAN TIME 15.944
19 J. Lancaster Hilmer Motorsport 16.066
20 R. Binder Arden International 1 LAP
21 R. Haryanto EQ8 Caterham Racing DNF
22 S. Canamasas Trident DNF
23 J. Cecotto Trident DNF
24 K. Sato Campos Racing DNF
25 S. Richelmi DAMS DNF
26 J. Leal Carlin DNF
Callum Rowe
