Jolyon Palmer took the lead of the GP2 Series in Bahrain on Sunday by winning the sprint race for DAMS.
After polesitter Felipe Nasr made a terrible start, Simon Trummer leapt into the lead in his Rapax machine.
From sixth on the grid, Palmer took advantage of Stefano Coletti stalling ahead of him to jump up to second at the first corner.
A lap later, Palmer passed Trummer for the lead, and he controlled that to the finish, winning by 0.8s in a race of tyre management in 28C desert heat.
“I’m absolutely delighted,” said Palmer. “We did a lot of homework last night on starts and tyre deg and we nailed them both.”
Trummer held off Carlin’s Julian Leal for second, which was his first podium in the series.
Nasr recovered to finish fourth, passing Adrian Quaife-Hobbs in a terrific late-race battle, during which they swapped the position three times.
Stephane Richelmi also passed Quaife-Hobbs on the final lap, but he is under investigation for a robust move on Arthur Pic earlier on.
Quaife-Hobbs finished sixth, ahead of a charging Mitch Evans and Rene Binder. Pic finished ninth.
Yesterday’s debut race winner Stoffel Vandoorne was one of many to make a poor start, dropping from eighth to 11th, and as he battled his way back through he broke his front wing hitting Daniel de Jong at Turn 4.
Vandoorne had already suffered a pre-race drama when a bodywork panel on his chassis fell off on an installation lap, and he trailed home 22nd.
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Jolyon Palmer DAMS 41m02.484s
2. Simon Trummer Rapax +0.809s
3. Julian Leal Carlin +1.430s
4. Luiz Felipe Nasr Carlin +8.719s
5. Stefano Richelmi DAMS +16.416s
6. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Rapax +17.680s
7. Mitchell Evans Russian Time +18.012s
8. Rene Binder Arden +19.791s
09. Arthur Pic Campos +19.977s
10. Artem Markelov Russian Time +20.678s
11. Daniel de Jong MP +21.086s
12. Takuya Izawa ART +21.713s
13. Daniel Abt Hilmer +29.171s
14. Johnny Cecotto Trident +33.500s
15. Jon Lancaster MP +34.017s
16. Rio Haryanto Caterham +35.778s
17. Nathanael Berthon Lazarus +38.028s
18. Andre Negrao Arden +38.524s
19. Kimiya Sato Campos +39.439s
20. Facu Regalia Hilmer +44.065s
21. Axcil Jefferies Trident +48.583s
22. Stoffel Vandoorne ART +49.324s
23. Stefano Coletti Racing Engineering +1m20.944s
24. Raffaele Marciello Racing Engineering + 1 lap
25. Alexander Rossi Caterham + 1 lap
Retirements
Conor Daly Lazarus 7 laps
