Spain – Race 2: First victory for Briton Alex Lynn
Already on the podium in Race 1, Alex Lynn and Stoffel Vandoorne were once again in view for the Sprint race held this morning at the Circuit de Catalunya. This time, it's the Briton who takes the win. Stoffel Vandoorne scores big points again with a 2nd place finish. Pierre Gasly, meanwhile, secures his first podium of the season!
It’s a 100% French front row starting in Pole Position for the Sprint race of the 2nd meeting of this GP2 Series season. Norman Nato for Arden International, who finished 8th yesterday in the main race, benefits from the reversed grid principle. He is ahead of Pierre Gasly on Dams: followed by Marciello, Lynn, Haryanto, Rossi, Evans, and Vandoorne. Arthur Pic starts from 9th position while the last Frenchman, Nathanael Berthon, is in 20th.
First issue during the formation lap with Mitch Evans, 2nd at the end of Race 1: let down by his engine, he has to stop on his installation lap without being able to restart. The start is delayed by a few minutes: Arthur Pic stalls just before reaching his spot on the grid. He will be penalized by the stewards with a 5-second stop and go.
The second start is the right one: off we go for 20 laps!
Norman Nato keeps the lead in the first corners of the race. Behind him, Alex Lynn takes 2nd place from Gasly in the first corner. Vandoorne continues his strong performance from Race 1, already moving up to 4th place. Further back in the pack, Austrian René Binder in his Trident ends up in the gravel, hit by another competitor. This triggers the deployment of the virtual safety car. At the end of the first lap, Norman Nato leads Lynn, Gasly, Vandoorne, and Rossi.
In the 7th turn of the 2nd lap, the drivers are finally released. Raffaele Marciello gets caught off guard and spins out.
In the 5th lap, the World Championship leader passes Gasly at the end of the long straight for 3rd place: Vandoorne then closes in on Lynn and Nato.
Leader change on the 7th lap: Alex Lynn passes the young driver from Cannes at the end of the long straight. He can do nothing against Vandoorne on the next lap, then against Pierre Gasly a lap later. At the end of the 10th lap, Alex Lynn is therefore in the lead ahead of Vandoorne, Gasly, Rossi, and Haryanto. Norman Nato is now 7th.
The roles are reversed compared to Race 1, with Vandoorne as the hunter and Lynn as the hunted. The Englishman resists the pressure from the Belgian driver, who can still activate his DRS on the main straight. Behind them, the positions remain unchanged. The gap is very small between Gasly, in 3rd, and Artem Markelov, in 6th, in his Russian Time. The Russian driver takes 5th place from Haryanto on Lap 22.
Leading the race, the leader pushed Vandoorne beyond a one-second gap. Alex Lynn controls the situation and ultimately claims victory in Race 2!
First victory of the season for the 2014 GP3 Series Champion. He is ahead of Vandoorne and Pierre Gasly, who grabs his first podium in the discipline. The Top 10 is completed, in order, by Rossi, Markelov, Haryanto, Nato, Pic, De Jong, and Sirotkin. Nathanael Berthon made a nice comeback up to 12th place.
In the Overall Standings, Vandoorne and Lynn are the big winners of this Spanish meeting. They enjoy a comfortable margin before the Monaco weekend in two weeks.
