Posted on 7th September 2014
Championship leader Jolyon Palmer complained about clutch issues on the team radio before the race began which looked to give Marco Sørensen, starting from second place, the initial advantage.
Palmer's getaway from the front of the grid was unbeatable; the Briton maintained his lead while Sørensen made a mistake into the Della Roggia chicane and surrendered a position to Stéphane Richelmi.
A primary school decision from Sergio Canamasas to bounce through the gravel at the Ascari chicane saw the Spaniard clatter into the side of Adrian Quaife-Hobbs and cause a mid-pack scuffle behind. Debutante for Caterham Pierre Gasly got caught up in the mess and took Artem Markelov with him in a crash on the run down to Parabolica. Johnny Cecotto lost control of his Trident on the entrance to the final corner and retired after hitting Nat Berthon.
The safety car was deployed to clear up the mess left on the circuit. After four laps of running under a controlled pace, Jolyon Palmer led Richelmi, Sørensen, Negrão, Evans, Coletti, Pic, Lancaster, Nasr & Binder.
Stefano Coletti was on a charge looking for his first podium since his win in Germany. The Racing Engineering driver pulled off two overtakes in one corner when he took Evans and Negrão into turn one. It only took Coletti one more lap to secure third place from Sørensen and soon after second place from Richelmi.
Sergio Canamasas ruined the day of two more drivers with ten laps to go. The Spaniard made contact with René Binder and pushed him into a spin. Raffaele Marciello suffered from Canamasas' attack one corner later at Lesmo One. The stewards came down hard on Canamasas and black flagged him from the race.
The battle for fifth place was between Mitch Evans and André Negrão. After numerous attempts to get past the Brazilian, Evans eventually got alongside but his move was overoptimistic and he damaged his suspension making slight contact. That marked the end of the Kiwi's race.
The Italy Sprint Race came to an end with Jolyon Palmer taking one of the most surprising victories in GP2 history. Palmer began the Feature Race last on the grid and ended the weekend with a race victory to extend his championship lead over Felipe Nasr who only managed seventh place. Stefano Coletti held onto P2 ahead of Stéphane Richelmi who's third place marked his first podium since Monaco.
Pos Driver Team Gap
1 Palmer DAMS 36:38.991
2 Coletti Racing Engineering 1.501
3 Richelmi DAMS 3.024
4 Sørensen MP Motorsport 4.881
5 Negrão Arden International 7.980
6 Lancaster Hilmer Motorsport 8.448
7 Nasr Carlin 10.602
8 Pic Campos Racing 11.238
9 Quaife-Hobbs Rapax 12.453
10 De Jong MP Motorsport 16.157
11 Abt Hilmer Motorsport 20.311
12 Trummer Rapax 21.036
13 Sato Campos Racing 22.906
14 Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 23.187
15 Izawa ART Grand Prix 26.461
16 Haryanto Caterham Racing 31.247
17 Leal Carlin 38.858
18 Marciello Racing Engineering 1 LAP
19 Berthon Venezuela GP Lazarus DNF
20 Evans RT RUSSIAN TIME DNF
21 Canamasas Trident DSQ
22 Binder Arden International DNF
23 Campana Venezuela GP Lazarus DNF
24 Gasly Caterham Racing DNF
25 Cecotto Trident DNF
26 Markelov RT RUSSIAN TIME DNF
Thanks to Graham & Leigh
