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Edition

Australia
Race report

Marco Sorensen sprints to maiden GP2 win

Danish driver takes light-to-flag victory at Sochi Autodrom

Marco Sorensen

Marco Sorensen

GP2 Media Service

Marco Sorensen
Marco Sorensen
Felipe Nasr
Felipe Nasr
Marco Sorensen
Felipe Nasr
Arthur Pic
Mitch Evans
Stoffel Vandoorne
Arthur Pic
Mitch Evans
Arthur Pic
Stoffel Vandoorne
Felipe Nasr
Arthur Pic
Felipe Nasr

Lotus F1 protégé Marco Sorensen has claimed his and MP Motorsport’s first GP2 win in today’s sprint race at Sochi from pole position. The Dane remained in control throughout an eventful race to cross the finish line 0.6s ahead of McLaren test driver Stoffel Vandoorne. Williams F1 third driver Felipe Nasr charged to third place.

When the lights went out, Sorensen made a good start to keep the lead whilst Vandoorne stormed from fourth on the grid to run side-by-side with the Dane entering into turn 1. The Belgian out-braked himself and ran a bit too wide opening the door for Sergio Canamasas to move up to second place behind Sorensen.

Champion sandwich

Further down the pack, newly crowned Champion Palmer was sandwiched between André Negrao and Raffaele Marciello. The manoeuvre ended in tears for the Brit who dropped to the back of the field.

At the front, Sorensen was busy trying to keep a comfortable enough gap to Canamasas who in turn had his mirrors full of Vandoorne. Whilst the top 3 remained status quo, behind the action was aplenty firstly with Marciello spinning from sixth place in the last corner and dropping out of the points. Arthur Pic and Nathanaël Berthon kept themselves entertained, and Palmer was on a mission to recover from his first lap incident, slicing his way through the field.

Mitch Evans caught up with the race leaders, the four of them running within 1.7s. With nine laps to go, Canamasas stopped at Turn 13 with electrical gremlins. More drama came after Marciello who was in a hot battle with Artem Markelov and Stefano Coletti sustained a puncture and made contact with the barrier at Turn 7. The safety car was deployed in order to retrieve the damaged car, effectively bunching up the pack.

Setting up the podium

The action resumed with two laps left. Sorensen and Vandoorne kept their positions, but Nasr who had been quick all race surged past Evans into turn 2 to take third and pulled away. Pic also found a way through André Negrao, Pierre Gasly in tow, but the rookie from Caterham was under huge pressure from the charging pair of Kimiya Sato and Stefano Coletti. The Frenchman went a bit too wide, letting pass the Japanese and the Monegasque drivers, and dropped out of what could have been his first GP2 points.

At the chequered flag, Sorensen sustained the pressure from Vandoorne to triumph for the first time in GP2 and offer their first win to his team. Nasr completed the podium with a good result following a heart-breaking Saturday. Evans finished fourth ahead of Pic, Negrao, Sato and Coletti (from P25 on the grid).

Palmer is heading to the final round of the season 256 points. Vandoorne closed in on Nasr, 192 to 200, ahead of Evans, Cecotto and Coletti on 151, 128 and 115 respectively. The final round of the year will take place at Yas Marina Circuit next month.

Sochi – Sprunt Race

 
Driver
Team
1.
Marco Sorensen
MP Motorsport
2.
Stoffel Vandoorne
ART Grand Prix
3.
Felipe Nasr
Carlin
4.
Mitch Evans
RT RUSSIAN TIME
5.
Arthur Pic
Campos Racing
6.
André Negrao
Arden International
7.
Kimiya Sato
Campos Racing
8.
Stefano Coletti
Racing Engineering
9.
Nathanaël Berthon
Venezuela GP Lazarus
10.
Jolyon Palmer
DAMS
11.
Pierre Gasly
Caterham Racing
12.
Artem Markelov
RT RUSSIAN TIME
13.
Daniel Abt
Hilmer Motorsport
14.
Tio Ellinas
Rapax
15.
Rio Haryanto
Caterham Racing
16.
Jon Lancaster
Hilmer Motorsport
17.
Julian Leal
Carlin
18.
Stéphane Richelmi
DAMS
19.
Daniel De Jong
MP Motorsport
20.
Sergio Campana
Venezuela GP Lazarus
21.
Takuya Izawa
ART Grand Prix
22.
Simon Trummer
Rapax
23.
Johnny Cecotto
Trident

Not Classified

Raffaele Marciello
Racing Engineering
Sergio Canamasas
Trident
Rene Binder
Arden International

Fastest Lap : Arthur Pic – Campos Racing : 1 :47.277 on lap 2821

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