Race 2 – GP2: Rio Haryanto denies Stoffel Vandoorne a double in Austria

The start was marked by a collision between Alexander Rossi and Nick Yelloly. Indeed, the Hilmer eMotorsport driver, who was starting from pole, had to contend with attempts from the American and Rio Haryanto. The first corner was too narrow to allow three cars side by side. While the Californian from Racing Engineering managed to get through, the poleman’s race was over.

In the first round, the ranking was Rio Haryanto, Artem Markelov, Stoffel Vandoorne, and Nobuharu Matsushita. The Russian driver saw the chance to get his first GP2 victory and put constant pressure on the leading Indonesian. On the third lap, he saw a half-gap and decided to dive in to force his destiny. Although Haryanto moved aside at the last second, it did not prevent contact between the two cars. The Russian was then forced to take a trip through the gravel trap while the front wing of the Campos driver was heavily damaged.

Knowing that the car ahead of him was damaged, Stoffel Vandoorne saw the opportunity to achieve a feat that hadn’t been accomplished since the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2012 by Davide Valsecchi: winning the pole position and both races of the weekend. It was therefore his turn to appear in the leader’s rearview mirrors during the race.

Nevertheless, despite a limited maximum speed, Rio Haryanto managed to maintain the lead, being only 1.3 seconds ahead of Sergey Sirotkin, who finished 4th. Behind them, Mitch Evans followed while Pierre Gasly managed to climb up to 6th position, ahead of Jordan King. But the battle went all the way to the end for the last point of the race: Artem Markelov crossed the line at the same time as Alexander Rossi, but his front wing was a few centimeters ahead of the American’s.

In the championship, Stoffel Vandoorne is pulling away, with 155 points while Alexander Rossi has 78 points and Rio Haryanto is catching up with 70 points. Behind them, the gap is even wider: Sergey Sirotkin has 46 points, Alex Lynn 42, and Mitch Evans 35.

1. Rio Haryanto (Campos Racing)

2. Stoffel Vandoorne (ART Grand Prix)

3. Nobuharu Matsushita (ART Grand Prix)

4. Sergey Sirotkin (Rapax)

5. Mitch Evans (RUSSIAN TIME)

6. Pierre Gasly (DAMS)

7. Jordan King (Racing Engineering)

8. Artem Markelov (RUSSIAN TIME)

9. Alexander Rossi (Racing Engineering)

10. Robert Visoiu (Rapax)

11. Raffaele Marciello (Trident)

12. Arthur Pic (Campos Racing)

13. Daniel De Jong (MP Motorsport)

14. Norman Nato (Arden International)

15. Rene Binder (Trident)

16. Richie Stanaway (Status Grand Prix)

17. Marco Sorensen (Carlin)

18. Nathanaël Berthon (Daiko Team Lazarus)

19. Simon Trummer (Hilmer Motorsport)

20. Marlon Stockinger (Status Grand Prix)

21. Alex Lynn (DAMS)

22. André Negrao (Arden International)

23. Julian Leal (Carlin)