Sørensen first Dane to win in GP2 Sprint Race

Marco Sørensen lined up on pole position for the Sprint Race in Sochi and was told by his engineering over the radio before the race began “OK Marco, you know what you're doing. Get on with it!”. Sergio Canamasas lined up alongside the MP Motorsport driver.

As the lights went out above the grid, Sørensen maintained his lead but ran wide at the second corner with Stoffel Vandoorne, Canamasas and about half of the grid. Julián Leal made a monster start from P9 on the grid and launched up into fourth place but was slapped with a drive through penalty after a couple of laps for leaving the track at turn two and gaining an advantage. 2014 Champion Jolyon Palmer was hit by Raffaele Marciello at turn two and dropped down to P22 but continued without damage.

Sergio Canamasas was holding onto P2 very well throughout the early stages of the race but a surprise retirement came the Spaniard's way. The Trident drive pulled off the circuit in the final sector and relinquished second place to Vandoorne. Racing Engineering's Marciello was chasing down more points when he clipped the inside kerb at the last corner too much and spun around. His re-entry onto the circuit was questionable but the Italian continued. His day got worse seven laps before the end when, battling with Markelov, he made contact with the Russian and crashed heavily at turn eight. Lello was unharmed but the Safety Car was deployed.

After a lengthy neutralised period behind the Safety Car, two laps of racing followed. Pierre Gasly was close to getting his first points in the Series but an overoptimistic move on Jolyon Palmer saw the Frenchman drop out of the top eight. Felipe Nasr pulled off a beautiful move on Mitch Evans to deny the RT RUSSIAN TIME team a second home podium of the weekend.

The race came to an end after 21 laps of racing and Marco Sørensen took the checkered flag and became the first Danish driver to win a race in the GP2 Series.

Position Driver Team Gap

1 Sørensen MP Motorsport 40:19.905
2 Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1.302
3 Nasr Carlin 1.969
4 Evans RT RUSSIAN TIME 3.282
5 Pic Campos Racing 4.109
6 Negrão Arden International 5.841
7 Sato Campos Racing 7.143
8 Coletti Racing Engineering 9.027
9 Berthon Venezuela GP Lazarus 11.038
10 Palmer DAMS 11.582
11 Gasly Caterham Racing 12.310
12 Markelov RT RUSSIAN TIME 13.221
13 Abt Hilmer Motorsport 13.771
14 Ellinas Rapax 14.443
15 Haryanto Caterham Racing 14.744
16 Lancaster Hilmer Motorsport 15.173
17 Leal Carlin 15.502
18 Richelmi DAMS 15.944
19 De Jong MP Motorsport 16.589
20 Campana Venezuela GP Lazarus 18.454
21 Izawa ART Grand Prix 18.669
22 Trummer Rapax 26.281
23 Cecotto Trident DNF
24 Marciello Racing Engineering DNF
25 Canamasas Trident DNF
26 Binder Arden International DNF