Spain – Race 1: Cocorico with Norman Nato!

Presentation of the 2016 season:

Once again, the Circuit de Catalunya is the scene for the return of the GP2 Series drivers. As the main route to Formula 1, 24 drivers will try to make their mark to secure a seat in one of the eleven teams in the top discipline. Reigning champion Stoffel Vandoorne has moved to the Japanese Super Formula, after impressively replacing Fernando Alonso at McLaren during the Bahrain Grand Prix.

But once again, the 2016 starting grid is very competitive and is not lacking in ambitious young wolves.

As such, six drivers will discover the discipline. Among them is the young Italian Luca Ghiotto. Nurtured by Scuderia Ferrari, Luca Ghiotto fought for a long time in 2015 against Frenchman Esteban Ocon for the crown in the lower category of the GP3 Series, before finishing just eight points shy of the title.

We will also see some slightly more experienced drivers who have already made their mark in the GP2 world. We are thinking here of Sergey Sirotkin (who, let’s recall, drove with Renault in the Free Practice of the Russian Grand Prix), Raffaele Marciello (who already appeared four times with Sauber in 2015), Nobuharu Matsushita, Alex Lynn, Mitch Evans, and Arthur Pic.

The French delegation therefore consists of three drivers: besides Pic and Gasly, Norman Nato is also present.

On the technical side, the GP2 cars remain unchanged. The manufacturer Dallara supplies the 12 teams with a single-seater model, powered by a 612-horsepower Mecachrome V8 engine, a subcontractor of the Renault brand.

Faced with financial difficulties, three teams present in 2015 have thrown in the towel: Hilmer Motorsport, Lazarus, and Status Grand Prix, which withdrew shortly before the Catalan round. On the arrivals front, Prema Racing, well known for its successes in F3 Europe, has joined the field.

On the calendar side, everyone will meet within eleven meetings. Like its big sister, the GP2 Series will also stop in June in Azerbaijan for the Baku event. Eight races will be held in Europe, while the end of the season will also take place at Yas Marina at the end of November.

In Qualifying, Pierre Gasly strikes first!

Held on Friday afternoon, the first qualifying session of the 2016 season was favorable for the Red Bull galaxy driver. By clocking a time of 1:27:807, Pierre Gasly emerged at the crucial moment to secure the first pole of the year, his third in a row, spanning the end of the 2015 season. Meanwhile, having moved to Prema Racing, he outpaced another French driver, Norman Nato, and the young Briton Alex Lynn, who successively took the lead before the end.

Threatened by rain, the nerves of the drivers were put to the test, which made Pierre Gasly’s performance even more impressive, as he literally outclassed the competition by pushing them back by more than four-tenths! Behind the Top 3 was the other DAMS team driver, Nicholas Lafiti. Arthur Pic, on the other hand, started from a modest fourteenth position.

Far from the happiness and laughter of the top 3! But the hardest part was yet to come…

Smiles all around for the 1st press conference of the season @PierreGASLY @NatoNorman @alexlynnracing #GP2 pic.twitter.com/iqYsBezRKQ

— GP2 Series Official (@GP2_Official) May 13, 2016

Race 1: Nato surprises Gasly and wins!

A few minutes after the conclusion of the Formula 1 qualifying session, the GP2 field lined up on the grid for the start of the first race. A race lasting 37 laps.

From the pilots’ takeoff, the race was neutralized, notably following Luca Ghiotto’s off-track excursion in the second turn curve. After five laps, the race truly began.

Pierre Gasly was then a solid leader ahead of Norman Nato and Sergey Sirotkin, who had gained two positions at the start.

But the turning point of this first race was undoubtedly Sergey Sirotkin’s spin on the twenty-fourth lap. Arriving too fast in the first-second corner sequence, the ART Grand Prix team driver got stuck right in the middle of the track, with a stalled engine. This resulted in another neutralization of the race. It proved fatal for Pierre Gasly.

On the restart on the twenty-seventh lap, Norman Nato took the lead by overtaking Gasly at the end of the long straight towards the tenth corner. Imperious, the Azuréen relentlessly widened the gap while Gasly was now defending his second place against Latifi. The end of the race did not change the situation at the front: a final collision involving Marciello, among others, even allowed Norman Nato to enjoy a finish under the Safety Car.

At the end of the thirty-fourth lap (three laps having been deducted from the initial distance due to the two neutralizations), Norman Nato crossed the finish line as the winner. Aged twenty-three, the Cannes native and close friend of the late Jules Bianchi claimed a great victory! There is no doubt that his thoughts would certainly have been with the former Marussia driver when the Marseillaise played on the podium.

For the anecdote, the last French victory in GP2 dates back to 2013: Nathanael Berthon had won at the Hungaroring in Budapest…

#GP2 Round 01 #Barcelona Race 1: P1 @NatoNorman, P7 @42jordanking pic.twitter.com/c1Vrj4uM4m

— Racing Engineering (@REOfficial) May 14, 2016

Here is the full ranking of this first race: