Posted on 21st June 2014
Brazilian on top in Spielberg
Following the Qualifying session in Austria yesterday, Adrian Quaife-Hobbs and Daniel Abt were penalised for gaining an advantage by leaving the track at turn eight. Their position drops didn't trouble the top ten which was headed by Johnny Cecotto on pole position.
A poor getaway from pole sitter Cecotto saw the Venezuelan drop to fourth by the first corner. Felipe Nasr exploited Cecotto's mistake and took the race lead ahead of Stefano Coletti. Conor Daly was a winner off the start line gaining five positions to sit in P20. Artem Markelov took damage on the first lap and had to endure an impromptu pit stop which dropped him to last place.
Stoffel Vandoorne and Mitch Evans provided excitement in the opening laps with their battle for P5 but it was the Belgian who came out on top after some attempts at an overtake. Raffaele Marciello dropped back to P9 after the start but he made up for his early errors by taking Arthur Pic and Alexander Rossi unawares into turn one.
At the halfway point of the race, Felipe Nasr led the race ahead of Stefano Coletti while Stoffel Vandoorne headed the battle between himself, Palmer and Marciello, the drivers who had pitted early in the race. As the three fought on the track, Conor Daly felt he was impeded, claiming “I got pushed off, I got pushed off†on the team radio – no investigation took place.
Away from the lead battles, Mitch Evans was trying to defend on cold tyres but Johnny Cecotto was having none of the Kiwi's antics and stayed ahead. Caterham's Alexander Rossi tried to take advantage of Evans' cold tyres but failed in his attempt.
With ten laps to go, Nasr and Coletti finally pitted. The Carlin driver maintained the lead of the race but Coletti lost out to Vandoorne and his team mate Marciello as he left the pit lane.
The fall of the checkered flag came after 40 laps of racing and Felipe Nasr held off the attack from several others to claim his second GP2 race victory. Stoffel Vandoorne bagged his first points since winning the Bahrain Feature Race with second place while Raffaele Marciello finally showed his true potential by holding off Coletti to get third
Position Driver Team Gap
1 F. Nasr Carlin 52:32.096
2 S. Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 3.874
3 R. Marciello Racing Engineering 4.573
4 S. Coletti Racing Engineering 7.210
5 J. Palmer DAMS 8.902
6 J. Cecotto Trident 10.319
7 M. Evans RT RUSSIAN TIME 14.924
8 A. Rossi EQ8 Caterham Racing 20.994
9 T. Izawa ART Grand Prix 28.182
10 A. Pic Campos Racing 30.170
11 R. Haryanto EQ8 Caterham Racing 31.941
12 R. Binder Arden International 36.021
13 J. Leal Carlin 36.210
14 S. Richelmi DAMS 39.181
15 S. Canamasas Trident 47.308
16 A. Negrão Arden International 48.070
17 D. Abt Hilmer Motorsport 48.758
18 C. Daly Venezuela GP Lazarus 49.656
19 T. Ellinas MP Motorsport 56.369
20 D. De Jong MP Motorsport 59.859
21 S. Trummer Rapax 63.480
22 A. Markelov RT RUSSIAN TIME 69.877
23 N. Berthon Venezuela GP Lazarus 76.111
24 A. Quaife-Hobbs Rapax 2 LAPS
25 F. Regalia Hilmer Motorsport DNF
26 K. Sato Campos Racing DNF
Thanks @grahamandleigh for another great laser cut circuit
Fastest Lap: Felipe Nasr (Carlin) – 1:16.093
