Nasr shines in Siverstone Sprint Race

Grand Prix Sunday at Silverstone began with an enthralling GP3 Series race which meant the GP2 Series had a lot to live up to in order to please the fans.

The track temperature was down at an unimaginably cold level of 13°C so drivers were working extremely hard to warm all four tyres, not just the surface of the fronts.

Starting from reverse grid pole position, Stéphane Richelmi dropped to P5 by the end of the first lap at the expense of his rivals, especially Felipe Nasr who took the race lead. Alexander Rossi stalled on the grid and dropped a lap down straight away. Raffaele Marciello began from the last grid slot and things went from bad to worse again when a domino effect collision starting with Jon Lancaster saw the Italian end his race in the first corner gravel trap.

Adrian Quaife-Hobbs jumped three positions at the start of the race and was looking very racey in the opening laps but after a wobble into Chapel corner he was unable to mount a charge on on Stoffel Vandoorne for ninth place. His compatriot Jolyon Palmer was making steady progress from seventh on the grid and Julián Leal helped the Briton's cause by leaving a gap the size of a barn door open on the exit of Farm corner.

Despite the best start of anyone, Rio Haryanto's race ended prematurely in the pits which made for a bad day for Caterham Racing. Sergio Canamasas also ended his race early with rear wing damaged caused by a collision at the first corner.

Stefano Coletti in second place was beginning to close on Nasr in the lead of the race but his charge was hampered by a small misfire. Even without the engine issue it was unlikely that the Monegasque driver could take Nasr's position as the Brazilian had enough of a gap to seal his third victory of the season.

At this time last year Nasr couldn't even buy a race victory in GP2 but now he has three wins under his belt. Stefano Coletti's second place finish is his second podium in two races while Johnny Cecotto continues to add points to his potential championship winning tally.

Position Driver Team Gap

1 F. Nasr Carlin 36:12.279
2 S. Coletti Racing Engineering 4.384
3 J. Cecotto Trident 5.684
4 J. Palmer DAMS 6.558
5 J. Leal Carlin 9.116
6 S. Richelmi DAMS 12.275
7 M. Evans RT RUSSIAN TIME 12.657
8 M. Sørensen MP Motorsport 14.966
9 S. Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 19.198
10 A. Quaife-Hobbs Rapax 19.968
11 C. Daly Venezuela GP Lazarus 22.047
12 D. Abt Hilmer Motorsport 25.751
13 N. Berthon Venezuela GP Lazarus 32.896
14 J. Lancaster Hilmer Motorsport 39.002
15 D. De Jong MP Motorsport 39.553
16 A. Negrão Arden International 41.043
17 A. Markelov RT RUSSIAN TIME 48.382
18 S. Trummer Rapax 49.571
19 R. Binder Arden International 49.837
20 K. Sato Campos Racing 53.072
21 A. Rossi EQ8 Caterham Racing 1 LAP
22 A. Pic Campos Racing DNF
23 T. Izawa ART Grand Prix DNF
24 S. Canamasas Trident DNF
25 R. Haryanto EQ8 Caterham Racing DNF
26 R. Marciello Racing Engineering DNF

Callum Rowe

Silverstone display by Graham and Leigh