Posted on 11th May 2014
After the Spain Feature Race, a few penalties were handed out by GP2 stewards. Conor Daly and René Binder both had 20 seconds added to their race time because they failed to slow under yellow flags. Stefano Coletti was deemed to have left the track under double-waved yellow flags which is an endangerment to the marshals. Finally Daniël de Jong was handed a ten place grid penalty after his rear left wheel came off in the Feature Race.
Tom Dillmann started from pole and got a stunning getaway to retain the race lead into the first corner but the man who started from P2, Tio Ellinas, dropped down to tenth. Felipe Nasr soon shot up the order and stole the lead of the race from Dillmann later on the first lap. Rio Haryanto's race ended prematurely when contact with Jolyon Palmer caused the Indonesian driver to lose control of his Caterham and end his race in the barriers.
As the race continued, more drivers retired. Nat Berthon stopped out on track having been hit by de Jong while Simon Trummer was forced into a spin by Artem Markelov. The Russian driver carried on but Trummer retired; as did Conor Daly who had nowhere to go and collided with the Swiss driver.
Johnny Cecotto showed his true racing qualities by passing Mitch Evans for P6 and then Evans succumbed to the pressure of his other competitors when his tyres fell off the cliff dramatically towards the end of the race.
An early contender for overtake of the season came courtesy of Stoffel Vandoorne who stunned two drivers round the outside of turn four; reminiscent of Romain Grosjean's impressive work back in 2011.
At the head of the race, Jolyon Palmer, with a damaged front wing, struggled to hold onto Felipe Nasr who increased the gap to four seconds. The Brazilian kept his Carlin on the track for the 26 laps to record his first ever race victory in the GP2 Series after more than two years of trying.
Tom Dillmann held off an attack from Arthur Pic on the last lap to take the last podium place for himself in the Arden he was only called up to drive in 24 hours before the weekend began.
Position Driver Team Gap
1 F. Nasr Carlin 42:01.901
2 J. Palmer DAMS 7.635
3 T. Dillmann Arden International 13.814
4 A. Pic Campos Racing 14.172
5 J. Leal Carlin 14.732
6 J. Cecotto Trident 18.842
7 S. Richelmi DAMS 19.236
8 S. Coletti Racing Engineering 22.993
9 A. Quaife-Hobbs Rapax 30.744
10 S. Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 31.379
11 T. Ellinas MP Motorsport 31.839
12 D. Abt Hilmer Motorsport 32.142
13 T. Izawa ART Grand Prix 33.313
14 A. Rossi EQ8 Caterham Racing 34.189
15 K. Sato Campos Racing 37.025
16 R. Marciello Racing Engineering 38.689
17 F. Regalia Hilmer Motorsport 39.975
18 S. Canamasas Trident 44.122
19 D. De Jong MP Motorsport 74.656
20 M. Evans RT RUSSIAN TIME DNF
21 R. Binder Arden International DNF
22 N. Berthon Venezuela GP Lazarus DNF
23 A. Markelov RT RUSSIAN TIME DNF
24 S. Trummer Rapax DNF
25 C. Daly Venezuela GP Lazarus DNF
26 R. Haryanto EQ8 Caterham Racing DNF
Callum Rowe
Editor & Sole Contributor, Callum Rowe’s GP2 Blog
Circuit laser cut image supplied by www.grahamandleigh.co.uk
