Nobuharu Matsushita claims an impressive first GP2 victory in a race dominated b tyre management, ahead of his team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne. Behind the ART GP duo, Sergey Sirotkin crossed the finish line in third place.
It was slightly cooler than expected as the cars lined up on the grid, nevertheless tyre conservation proved to be a difficult challenge in this race: While both Matsushita and Vandoorne had quick starts and dashed away rapidly, the Belgian soon had to let his team-mate go to focus on his own tyre management by lap ten.
Sergey Sirotkin had a quick start as well: he sliced past Raffaele Marciello in the first lap of the race and set off to chase down Vandoorne, however, the championship leader was able to hold onto his position. Further back, Sergio Canamasas surprised with a stunning opening lap. The Spaniard moved up to tenth place after having started from the bottom of the field, but he paid for having pushed so hard later on in the race and dropped back when his tyres gave in.
Halfway through the race, the order settled down as more drivers began to focus on conserving their tyres. Matsushita led from Vandoorne and Sirotkin. Behind the trio, Rio Haryanto put pressure on Raffaele Marciello, but the Indonesian was not able to make the move for fourth place work. The Racing Engineering duo of Jordan King and Alexander Rossi pushed hard as well, however, they both overstrained their tyres and tumbled down the order soon.
At the checkered flag it was still Matsushita in the lead, and Vandoorne made it a 1-2 for ART GP by holding off Sergey Sirotkin in the last laps. Marciello fended off Haryanto to cross the finish line in fourth place. Norman Nato and Robert Visoiu finished in sixth and seventh place, and Arthur Pic held on to take the last point after dropping back in the last laps.
Stoffel Vandoorne has extended his championship points tally to 194. Rio Haryanto, who has overtaken Alexander Rossi in the standings, sits now in second place with 109 points, 4 more than his American rival. Sergey Sirotkin has closed in on Rossi as well now, with the two being separated by only two points.
Images courtesy of GP2 Media Service
