2016 Catalunya GP2 Series round

Last updated
Flag of Spain.svg    2016 Catalunya GP2 round
Round details
Round 1 of 11 rounds in the
2016 GP2 Series
Formula1 Circuit Catalunya.svg
Layout of the Circuit de Catalunya
Location Circuit de Catalunya, Montmeló, Spain
Course Permanent racing facility
4.665 km (2.892 mi)
Feature race
Date 14 May 2016
Laps 33
Pole position
Driver Flag of France.svg Pierre Gasly Prema Racing
Time 1:27.807
Podium
First Flag of France.svg Norman Nato Racing Engineering
Second Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Nicholas Latifi DAMS
Third Flag of France.svg Pierre Gasly Prema Racing
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of France.svg Norman Nato Racing Engineering
Time 1:34.050 (on lap 28)
Sprint race
Date 15 May 2016
Laps 26
Podium
First Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Alex Lynn DAMS
Second Flag of France.svg Pierre Gasly Prema Racing
Third Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jordan King Racing Engineering
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of France.svg Pierre Gasly Prema Racing
Time 1:33.263 (on lap 6)

The 2016 Catalunya GP2 Series round was a GP2 Series motor race on 14 and 15 May 2016 at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain. It was the first round of the 2016 GP2 Series. The race weekend supported the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix.

Contents

Background

The defending champions for GP2, Stoffel Vandoorne, were unable to defend their respective titles due to the ruling which forbids driver champions from returning to the series. Vandoorne remained as a McLaren reserve and test driver, where he stood in for the injured Fernando Alonso at the Bahrain Grand Prix, while also racing in the Super Formula series in Japan.

Classification

Qualifying

A dramatic qualifying session saw Pierre Gasly take his first pole position of the season, his third in a row dating back to last season, and the fourth in his GP2 career. It was also the first pole position for Prema Racing, which they scored on their debut in the GP2 Series. Norman Nato grabbed his best-ever qualifying position in GP2 with a strong second place, with Alex Lynn behind in third.

Pos.No.DriverTeamTimeGrid
121 Flag of France.svg Pierre Gasly Prema Racing 1:27.8071
23 Flag of France.svg Norman Nato Racing Engineering 1:28.2712
35 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Alex Lynn DAMS 1:28.4583
46 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Nicholas Latifi DAMS 1:28.5634
52 Flag of Russia.svg Sergey Sirotkin ART Grand Prix 1:28.6555
611 Flag of Sweden.svg Gustav Malja Rapax 1:28.6956
722 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Oliver Rowland MP Motorsport 1:28.8077
81 Flag of Japan.svg Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1:29.12811 1
910 Flag of Russia.svg Artem Markelov Russian Time 1:29.1298
1015 Flag of Italy.svg Luca Ghiotto Trident 1:29.1439
1120 Flag of Italy.svg Antonio Giovinazzi Prema Racing 1:29.16310
129 Flag of Italy.svg Raffaele Marciello Russian Time 1:29.27412
134 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jordan King Racing Engineering 1:29.32213
1412 Flag of France.svg Arthur Pic Rapax 1:29.38514
1518 Flag of Spain.svg Sergio Canamasas Carlin 1:29.39715
1619 Flag of Germany.svg Marvin Kirchhöfer Carlin 1:29.44016
1723 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Daniël de Jong MP Motorsport 1:29.46417
187 Flag of New Zealand.svg Mitch Evans Pertamina Campos Racing 1:29.47818
1925 Flag of Sweden.svg Jimmy Eriksson Arden International 1:29.94219
2024 Flag of Malaysia.svg Nabil Jeffri Arden International 1:30.25420
218 Flag of Indonesia.svg Sean Gelael Pertamina Campos Racing 1:30.30422 2
2214 Flag of Indonesia.svg Philo Paz Armand Trident 1:30.60921
Source: [1]
1. ^ – Matsushita received a three-place grid penalty for impeding a rival during the qualifying session. [2]
2. ^ – Gelael received a three-place grid penalty for impeding a rival during the qualifying session. However, since he was unable to serve his penalty in full, Gelael started from the pitlane. [2]

Feature Race

Pierre Gasly got a good getaway from pole position, followed by Nato and the fast-starting ART car of Sergey Sirotkin. However, the safety car was called out when rookie Luca Ghiotto crashed at Turn 3. The restart on Lap 5 saw no positional changes up front. Soft-shod Alex Lynn and Jordan King started the pit stop cycle, but Gasly's blistering pace out front eradicated any potential strategic advantage. The battle for second raged on, with Nato holding off a charging Sirotkin. But Sirotkin's race quickly unravelled when he spun in Turn 2 on Lap 23 and stalled the engine, a rare mistake from the Russian driver. The safety car came out once again while Sirotkin's stricken car was retrieved. This proved advantageous for the drivers on the hard tyre, as they were awarded a "free" pit stop under the safety car. As such, Gasly, Nato, Nicholas Latifi, and Sergio Canamasas all emerged in front of Lynn.

The race restarted again on Lap 26, and this time, there were moves aplenty. Artem Markelov jumped ahead of both Lynn and King for P5, before Nato made a brave race-winning move in the final complex of corners to take the lead. Shortly after, the race became time-certain, which spurred on drivers to make more moves. Latifi passed Gasly on Lap 33 to claim second, while Markelov continued his charge to the front by deposing Canamasas for fourth.

The race ended under a bizarre set of circumstances: Prema Racing's Antonio Giovinazzi clattered into the back of Raffaele Marciello on Lap 34, sending him into the Turn 4 gravel. The safety car came out for the third time, with time running out just before the field crossed the line. Under GP2 rules, there is always one lap after the time runs out, but despite this rule, the checkered flag was accidentally waved one lap too early. Because of race control's gaffe, the results were rolled back to one lap before, which annulled the accident between Marciello and Giovinazzi. However, Giovinazzi was still awarded a twenty-second time penalty which relegated him to an 18th-place finish.

Pos.No.DriverTeamLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
13 Flag of France.svg Norman Nato Racing Engineering 3358:51.044225 (2)
26 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Nicholas Latifi DAMS 33+1:337418
321 Flag of France.svg Pierre Gasly Prema Racing 33+4.248115 (4)
410 Flag of Russia.svg Artem Markelov Russian Time 33+5.145812
518 Flag of Spain.svg Sergio Canamasas Carlin 33+7.2941510
65 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Alex Lynn DAMS 33+7.59638
74 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jordan King Racing Engineering 33+8.678136
89 Flag of Italy.svg Raffaele Marciello Russian Time 33+11.544124
911 Flag of Sweden.svg Gustav Malja Rapax 33+13.10262
1022 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Oliver Rowland MP Motorsport 33+17.51371
111 Flag of Japan.svg Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 33+18.52611
127 Flag of New Zealand.svg Mitch Evans Pertamina Campos Racing 33+21.77318
1312 Flag of France.svg Arthur Pic Rapax 33+23.02214
1423 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Daniël de Jong MP Motorsport 33+23.78717
1519 Flag of Germany.svg Marvin Kirchhöfer Carlin 33+24.12516
1625 Flag of Sweden.svg Jimmy Eriksson Arden International 33+24.34819
178 Flag of Indonesia.svg Sean Gelael Pertamina Campos Racing 33+27.522PL
1820 Flag of Italy.svg Antonio Giovinazzi Prema Racing 32+1 Lap10
1924 Flag of Malaysia.svg Nabil Jeffri Arden International 32+1 Lap20
Ret14 Flag of Indonesia.svg Philo Paz Armand Trident 28Mechanical21
Ret2 Flag of Russia.svg Sergey Sirotkin ART Grand Prix 23Spun off5
Ret15 Flag of Italy.svg Luca Ghiotto Trident 0Accident9
Fastest lap: Flag of France.svg Norman Nato (Racing Engineering) – 1:34.050 (on lap 28)
Source: [1]

Sprint Race

Reverse-grid polesitter Raffaele Marciello got a clean start, holding off Jordan King into the first corner, but Alex Lynn got a great start from third and passed King into turn 2. It took Lynn merely two laps to catch and sail past Marciello, setting the Briton up for a dominant drive to victory. Behind him, Marciello plummeted to fourth, being passed by King and Pierre Gasly in quick succession. Gasly then overtook King for second on Lap 6 and set off in pursuit of his former teammate. Positions remained at the front of the field, but it was all change in the middle of the pack. Sergey Sirotkin and Luca Ghiotto chewed through almost half the field from their last-row starting positions.

The intense midfield battle came to an abrupt end on Lap 21, when Sean Gelael aggressively blocked Antonio Giovinazzi on the back straight, but Giovinazzi was already partially alongside the Indonesian driver. He was launched over Gelael's left-rear wheel and slid down the remainder of the straight, collecting an innocent Arthur Pic in Turn 10. Giovinazzi hurtled towards the barriers at unabated speed, skipping across the gravel before slamming the tyre wall side-on. He climbed out of his car visibly shaken, but otherwise uninjured, which was positive news after such a violent impact. The safety car was deployed, but a lengthy clean-up meant that it could only be recalled on the final lap. As a result, Lynn was able to take a second consecutive Spanish sprint race victory, while Gasly, King, Artem Markelov, Marciello, Oliver Rowland, Nicholas Latifi, and Nobuharu Matsushita also claimed points.

Pos.No.DriverTeamLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
15 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Alex Lynn DAMS 2643:50.241315
221 Flag of France.svg Pierre Gasly Prema Racing 26+0.377612 (2)
34 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jordan King Racing Engineering 26+1.120210
410 Flag of Russia.svg Artem Markelov Russian Time 26+2.16858
59 Flag of Italy.svg Raffaele Marciello Russian Time 26+3.38216
622 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Oliver Rowland MP Motorsport 26+3.990104
76 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Nicholas Latifi DAMS 26+4.58472
81 Flag of Japan.svg Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 26+5.647111
918 Flag of Spain.svg Sergio Canamasas Carlin 26+8.1154
1011 Flag of Sweden.svg Gustav Malja Rapax 26+8.4199
112 Flag of Russia.svg Sergey Sirotkin ART Grand Prix 26+8.69821
1215 Flag of Italy.svg Luca Ghiotto Trident 26+8.82822
138 Flag of Indonesia.svg Sean Gelael Pertamina Campos Racing 26+9.17817
147 Flag of New Zealand.svg Mitch Evans Pertamina Campos Racing 26+9.65012
1519 Flag of Germany.svg Marvin Kirchhöfer Carlin 26+10.15215
163 Flag of France.svg Norman Nato Racing Engineering 26+10.4308
1723 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Daniël de Jong MP Motorsport 26+10.72614
1824 Flag of Malaysia.svg Nabil Jeffri Arden International 26+11.67219
1925 Flag of Sweden.svg Jimmy Eriksson Arden International 25+1 Lap16
Ret12 Flag of France.svg Arthur Pic Rapax 20Collision13
Ret20 Flag of Italy.svg Antonio Giovinazzi Prema Racing 20Accident18
Ret14 Flag of Indonesia.svg Philo Paz Armand Trident 13Retired20
Fastest lap: Flag of France.svg Pierre Gasly (Prema Racing) – 1:33.263 (on lap 6)
Source: [1]

Standings after the round

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "GP2 Series 2016 Results - Spain". GP2 Series . GP2 Motorsport Limited. Archived from the original on 2016-05-20. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Penalties for Matsushita and Gelael". GP2 Series . GP2 Motorsport Limited. 13 May 2016. Archived from the original on 14 May 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
Previous round:
2015 Yas Marina GP2 Series round
GP2 Series
2016 season
Next round:
2016 Monaco GP2 Series round
Previous round:
2015 Catalunya GP2 Series round
Catalunya GP2 roundNext round:
2017 Barcelona Formula 2 round