Stefano Coletti won the GP2 sprint race around the streets of Monaco, the Principality in which he was born, on Saturday to extend his championship lead.
Rapax driver Coletti made a fine start from third on the grid, outdragging front row man Rene Binder to chase polesitter Adrian Quaife-Hobbs on the opening lap.
Coletti pounced for the lead on lap three at the Nouvelle Chicane, pulling a sublime outbraking move down the inside of Quaife-Hobbs’ MP Motorsport car.
Coletti pulled out a two-second lead, but this then fluctuated as the leader managed his tyres, which appeared to grain as the race progressed. It came down to as little as seven tenths of a second at one point, but was back out to 1.8s by the finish.
Quaife-Hobbs just held on to second despite a late charge from GP3 champion Mitch Evans), who had passed James Calado at Mirabeau in a tight move for third on the opening lap.
Felipe Nasr also passed Calado, the latter cutting the apex at Ste Devote and being forced to give his place up.
Behind the top five, Binder clung to sixth after his slow start.
Friday’s winner Sam Bird ran seventh early on, but his tyres wilted badly after Kevin Ceccon passed him at the chicane and he was forced to pit for fresh rubber.
Stephane Richelmi made it two Monagasque drivers in the points-paying positions with eighth.
Results - 30 laps: Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. Stefano Coletti Rapax 42m50.707s 2. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs MP + 1.869s 3. Mitch Evans Arden + 2.216s 4. Felipe Nasr Carlin + 2.536s 5. James Calado ART + 3.747s 6. Rene Binder Lazarus + 19.293s 7. Kevin Ceccon Trident + 20.015s 8. Stephane Richelmi DAMS + 20.576s 9. Daniel de Jong MP + 21.197s 10. Jake Rosenzweig Addax + 31.720s 11. Sergio Canamasas Caterham + 34.105s 12. Jolyon Palmer Carlin + 35.775s 13. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering + 36.488s 14. Julian Leal Racing Engineering + 36.913s 15. Robin Frijns Hilmer + 42.125s 16. Rio Haryanto Addax + 43.235s 17. Jon Lancaster Hilmer + 1m03.893s 18. Marcus Ericsson DAMS + 1m04.258s 19. Alexander Rossi Caterham + 1m04.735s 20. Kevin Giovesi Lazarus + 1m05.044s 21. Nathanael Berthon Trident + 1m05.468s 22. Daniel Abt ART + 1m06.174s 23. Simon Trummer Rapax + 1m07.413s 24. Sam Bird Russian Time + 1 lap 25. Tom Dillmann Russian Time + 3 laps
