Giovinazzi from last line to victory
Antonio Giovinazzi pulled off the kind of comeback that GP2 is famous for: excluded from qualifying for low tire pressures, the Italian managed to take advantage of the safety car to win. This enabled him to close the gap on his team-mate, Pierre Gasly, who had to be content with 4th place.
Last night, Antonio Giovinazzi thought he had lost all hopes for the title. Indeed, the Italian was excluded from the qualifications due to a non-compliant car, which sent him to the back of the grid, while his teammate and title rival, Pierre Gasly, was set to take advantage of his pole position.
But an incredible turn of events occurred on the 15th lap: Arthur Pic attempted to pass Sergio Canamasas on the inside at the Parabolica. The Spaniard didn’t want to yield and ended up flipping over after the collision with the Rapax. The safety car came onto the track but positioned itself not in front of the leader at the time, Raffaele Marciello, but ahead of Pierre Gasly, who had already been through the pits. Thus, the French driver found himself trapped behind the safety car while the trio of drivers who hadn’t stopped yet, Marciello, Gustav Malja, and Antonio Giovinazzi, were able to perfectly capitalize on the situation.
In the final laps of the race, the Prema driver went on the offensive and was able to get the better of his two rivals, passing Raffaele Marciello at the start of the last lap. The trio was thus able to occupy the podium while Pierre Gasly was left wondering how the race could have slipped away from him without him making a single mistake.
What a race… Still can’t believe what’s happened. Ended P4 but we deserved more today. #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/d8TqlPOPhJ
— Pierre Gasly (@PierreGASLY) September 3, 2016
The Frenchman thus leads his compatriot Norman Nato and Luca Ghiotto. Jordan King, Mitch Evans, Oliver Rowland, and Artem Markelov complete the top 10.
On the other hand, Sergey Sirotkin completely missed his race and couldn’t finish better than 15th at the checkered flag, which significantly drops him in the championship standings. At the front, Pierre Gasly sees his rival getting closer to just eight points behind.
From our special correspondent in Monza
