Sirotkin surges to Hungary GP2 win, Evans in the points with 5th

Autosport

ART’s Sergey Sirotkin beat Jordan King to victory in the GP2 sprint race at the Hungaroring to claim his first win of the 2016 season.

King’s Racing Engineering team-mate Norman Nato completed the podium, while Prema Racing’s Pierre Gasly extended his championship lead after finishing safely in the pack.

Polesitter King, eyeing a third reversed-grid win in as many races, held the lead off the line at the start of the race as Sirotkin rocketed from sixth on the grid and dived down the inside of Nato and ART team-mate Nobuharu Matsushita at Turn 1.

As the pack went through Turn 2, Arthur Pic spun and forced the field to take evasive action, but DAMS’ Alex Lynn collected the Rapax driver, while Matsushita and Trident’s Luca Ghiotto ended up in the barriers on the exit of the corner.

The safety car was required to allow the marshals to clear away the four stranded cars, and when it came in after four laps, King immediately ran wide at Turn 13 before the restart, allowing Sirotkin to press him for the lead.

When the pair raced onto the pit straight, King defended the inside line on the approach to Turn 1, and the Briton looked to have held position.

But a snap of oversteer on the run to Turn 3 gave Sirotkin the chance to move alongside and the Russian sealed the move under braking for Turn 4.

From there, Sirotkin pulled clear and although the pair exchanged fastest laps approaching the halfway mark, the 20-year-old extended his lead over King to 4.9 seconds by the chequered flag to seal victory, his second in GP2.

Nato came home just ahead of Russian Time’s charging Artem Markelov, who had passed Campos Racing’s Mitch Evans for fourth with a late move down the inside at Turn 1 in the early stages.

MP Motorsport’s Oliver Rowland closed in on Evans in the closing stages, but the Briton had to settle for sixth.

Red Bull Formula 1 junior and race one winner Gasly finished seventh, one spot ahead of Raffaele Marciello.

Frenchman Gasly extended his points lead by sealing the fastest lap, while Prema team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi picked up front wing damage and a 10-second penalty for colliding with Matsushita on the first lap, which forced the Italian driver to pit for repairs. He finished 17th.

Carlin’s Sergio Canamasas and Campos’ Sean Gelael completed the top 10, with the latter surviving pressure from MP Motorsport’s Daniel de Jong and a warning for exceeding track limits at the top chicane late in the race.

Gasly’s championship lead is now seven points over Giovinazzi, with Marciello 11 further back in third.

RESULT – 28 LAPS:

PosDriverTeamGap
1Sergey SirotkinART Grand Prix44m47.059s
2Jordan KingRacing Engineering4.953s
3Norman NatoRacing Engineering7.506s
4Artem MarkelovRUSSIAN TIME8.988s
5Mitch EvansPertamina Campos Racing14.146s
6Oliver RowlandMP Motorsport15.283s
7Pierre GaslyPrema Racing16.662s
8Raffaele MarcielloRUSSIAN TIME20.939s
9Sergio CanamasasCarlin25.985s
10Sean GelaelPertamina Campos Racing30.884s
11Daniel de JongMP Motorsport32.518s
12Nicholas LatifiDAMS35.100s
13Marvin KirchhoferCarlin36.913s
14Gustav MaljaRapax39.660s
15Philo Paz ArmandTrident46.412s
16Nabil JeffriArden International1m00.825s
17Antonio GiovinazziPrema Racing1m01.928s
Jimmy ErikssonArden InternationalRetirement
Nobuharu MatsushitaART Grand PrixCollision
Alex LynnDAMSCollision
Arthur PicRapaxCollision
Luca GhiottoTridentCollision

Sirotkin surges to Hungary GP2 win, Evans in the points with 5th

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