Markelov wins chaotic GP2 feature race in Monaco
Russian Time driver Artem Markelov wins the prestigious GP2 race at the Circuit de Monaco. Racing Engineering’s Norman Nato crosses the line in second place ahead of MP Motorsport man Oliver Rowland.
At first, it looked like it would be Nato’s race though. The Frenchman dashed past pole sitter Sergey Sirotkin right after the start and held the lead until he made his stop at the end of the race. Sirotkin tried his best to regain the place, but Nato withstood the pressure until the Russian hit a kerb too hard and ended his race in the barriers.
Behind the leading duo, Jordan King had a lonely race in third place after fending off the attacks of Mitch Evans during the early stage of the race, until he had to abandon his race halfway through after hitting a wall.
A three-way battle raged all race long between Evans, Oliver Rowland, and Alex Lynn. Soon, Evans was visibly struggling, and when Oliver Rowland tried to pass him at Nouvelle Chicane, he ran wide and was eventually handed a five-second penalty. Rowland managed to get past the Kiwi in the later stage of the race and chased down Nato while Evans dropped back even further behind Lynn.
It had been a fairly uneventful race until the halfway mark, but then, as drivers began to make mistakes on their used tyres, the second half of the race was dominated by yellow flags and virtual safety cars; Nicholas Latifi was the first one to drop out with a puncture after hitting the wall in the tunnel.
Then it was Sirotkin who finishes his race in the barriers at La Piscine, and Nabil Jeffri followed soon afterwards, running wide and ending up in the barriers at La Rascasse. Then it hit King, who was able to limp back to the pits but had to abandon his race.
Lynn also reported a puncture on his team radio, however, he was able to reach the pits in time so that it had no effect on his race. Antonio Giovinazzi was the next one to cause a virtual safety car, clipping the wall and spreading debris all over the track, and the final virtual safety car of the day was caused by Luca Ghiotto in lap 36, who stopped on track just after the hairpin corner.
All the virtual safety cars prevented Markelov from making his pit stop, as the rules do not allow a pit stop under virtual safety car conditions, so the Russian had to make his soft tyres last until lap 38 out of 42, being the last one to make his stop. He was able to retain the race lead and re-entered the track just ahead of Nato and Rowland.
Both on warmer tyres, they tried to pass Markelov, but the Russian Time driver defended masterfully and held onto the lead until the checkered flag. Nato and Rowland were followed home by Lynn and Evans, however, the latter will have five seconds added to his time due to his penalty.
Raffaele Marciello was the sixth driver to cross the finish line, ahead of Giovinazzi, Marvin Kirchhöfer, Nobuharu Matsushita, and Daniel De Jong.