Norman Nato wins ahead of Pierre Gasly
It was a French double for the second GP2 race at Monza as Norman Nato won ahead of Pierre Gasly. Antonio Giovinazzi completes the podium.
The start of the second GP2 race was once again eventful. Mitch Evans, in reverse pole thanks to his eighth place yesterday, had a sluggish start and was overtaken by the two Racing Engineering drivers, Norman Nato and Jordan King, as well as Pierre Gasly, who started from fifth place.
But Mitch Evans’s setbacks did not stop at the first corner as he was hit at the second chicane by Gustav Malja. While the New Zealander had to abandon his car on the roadside, the Swede was able to continue his race. Nevertheless, the stewards then imposed a ten-second penalty on him, to be added to his time at the end of the race.
Another collision also took place in the same corner, with Oliver Rowland causing Luca Ghiotto, who started third, to spin. The Italian was also forced to retire. All these incidents led to the implementation of the Virtual Safety Car procedure.
If Norman Nato was never troubled again, Pierre Gasly was determined to score as many points as possible during this second race. He put heavy pressure on Jordan King, who eventually had to concede after several side-by-side turns.
The British driver from Racing Engineering also had to give way to Antonio Giovinazzi, who was determined not to lag too far behind his teammate and title rival in terms of points. Although he was also overtaken by Gustav Malja, he reclaimed the fourth final place thanks to the penalty imposed on the Swede.
The last lap was full of suspense as four drivers fought for mere hundredths of a second, with Jordan King having to withstand Artem Markelov’s attacks until the end, while Alex Lynn managed to get the better of Nobuharu Matsushita.
Eighth place was claimed by Renault’s protégé, Nicholas Latifi.
In the championship, the battle boils down to a duel between the two Prema drivers as Pierre Gasly holds a ten-point lead over Antonio Giovinazzi. They have now pulled away from Raffaele Marciello, who didn’t score any points today after stalling on the starting grid and launching from the pits.
From our special correspondent in Monza
