Europe – Weekend review (2): Giovinazzi scores a sensational double!

The Italian from the PREMA Racing team survived another elimination race to claim a second victory in as many races. Yet, Giovinazzi was simply last at the first lap! The performance is all the more incredible for a driver who, let’s remember, is still a rookie.

Matsushita in the lead after the first corner, the Safety Car heavily used!

At the start, poleman Daniel De Jong (MP Motorsport) was overtaken by Nobuharu Matsushita (ART Grand Prix) who perfectly launched himself on the inside. Just behind, Sean Gelael (Pertamina Campos Racing) also lost the benefit of his second place on the grid to Matsushita, but also to Mitch Evans (Pertamina Campos Racing) and Oliver Rowland (MP Motorsport). The downturn continued for the young Indonesian who was also passed by Sirotkin on the third lap. At the same time, Rowland found an opening on Evans. But the Russian remained aggressive and seized the fourth position from Mitch Evans.

In the eighth lap, the safety car was deployed for the first time in this sprint race. Jimmy Eriksson abruptly closed the door on Jordan King in the first corner, causing both cars to spin. Eriksson ended up in the wall in reverse.

On the restart, Matsushita narrowly avoided disaster by almost hitting the Safety Car as it headed back to the pits! The Japanese driver spun his tires in the first corner, creating some confusion, which was unfavorable especially for Rowland and de Jong, who went wide into the run-off area. Matsushita then led with Sirotkin moving up to second place.

But a few minutes later, Philo Paz Armand crashed into the wall, the safety car returned to the track!

An apocalyptic race revival!

This time, Matsushita adopted a very different gas deployment strategy. By zigzagging until the last moment, the Art Grand Prix driver created a massive cluster among all the drivers. Among them, Gustav Malja hit the back of Evans at the restart line. With a broken front wing, the Swedish Rapax driver disastrously ended his race on Oliver Rowland at the first corner, but also on Gelael, taking both of them into a spin!

Here’s what happened on the 2nd restart today, Matsushita has received a one event suspension for his actions #GP2 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/x1OTPUn6E5 — The Caution Clock ⚠️ (@CautionClock20) 20 juin 2016

This chaotic restart completely reshuffled the deck. Matsushita was still the leader, but Raffaele Marciello (Russian Time) was now in second place. But we were not done with surprises yet!

The third restart of this race was fatal for these two front-runners! With wheels locked, Marciello attempted a kamikaze overtaking maneuver on Matsushita, who hit the Italian’s right rear wheel. Both ended up doing hara-kiri: Matsushita had to retire while Marciello ended up at the back of the pack.

The leadership then fell to… Pierre Gasly, who started 18th! But Giovinazzi had returned at that moment (14th lap of 21) to second position!

The two Prema come back from nowhere for the victory!

An unexpected duel for the win was shaping up between the two Prema drivers. And the Red Bull junior driver collapsed at the first corner of the last lap! Even without DRS, Giovinazzi pushed Gasly into a mistake, causing him to miss his braking point. However, the Frenchman avoided the wall and rejoined in second position.

Giovinazzi was then heading towards an extraordinary success! Simply a perfect weekend for the Prema driver with a pole, two victories, and also the fastest lap in the race.

Sergey Sirotkin accompanied the two drivers on the podium, having lost a lot during the strange restart led by his teammate Matsushita. Jordan King, on the other hand, salvaged Racing Engineering’s honor with his 4th place (while Nato had to retire on the 10th lap). Artem Markelov took fifth place despite a slight collision at the end of the race with Nabil Jeffri (Arden International), who finished seventh behind Canamasas (Carlin). A second Frenchman appeared in the Top 10, with Arthur Pic finishing eighth. Alex Lynn for Dams and Kirchoffer for Carlin took the ninth and tenth positions.

In any case, beyond the incidents, Antonio Giovinazzi’s achievement will have left a mark in Baku. The Italian is the first driver to win two consecutive races in the GP2 Series… since his compatriot Davide Valsecchi, in Bahrain in 2012!

Celebration time in Baku for the Sprint Race! Congratulations @anto_giovinazzi @PierreGASLY @sirotkin_sergey #GP2 pic.twitter.com/YPOk7SFdfd

— GP2 Series Official (@GP2_Official) 19 juin 2016

Here is the ranking of this race:

Upsets in both overall rankings!

This thrilling weekend will also have significant consequences on the drivers’ championship standings.

It is now Artem Markelov who has taken the lead in the standings with 54 points compared to 49 for Norman Nato. Giovinazzi climbs directly to third place with 46 points. Gasly (45), Marciello (43), Lynn (41), Rowland (34) follow in the hierarchy.

On the team rankings side, a double win for Russian Time, which also takes the lead with 97 points against 91 for Prema Racing. They are followed by: Racing Engineering (73), ART Grand Prix (64), DAMS (61).

The next GP2 Series event is now scheduled for the weekend of July 1st to 3rd in Austria, at the Red Bull Ring.

A session that Nobuharu Matsushita will miss, suspended for his controversial restarts in Baku.