First race week-end in GP2 for Zoël Amberg

Vandoorne holds on for feature win

McLaren tester denies pressure for victory

Stoffel Vandoorne held off late pressure to win a tactical feature race in Barcelona this afternoon, having just enough to deny Mitch Evans and Alexander Rossi at the end despite their softer tyres to claim the top step on the podium and extend his lead in the championship.

The race was always going to be a gamble between tyre strategies: on the grid the top three (Vandoorne, Alex Lynn and Pierre Gasly) started on softs while immediately behind them Evans and Rossi were on the harder compound. With temperatures soaring once again the difference between strategies was a coin toss.

When the lights went out Vandoorne just denied Lynn into turn one, with the latter then mugged by his teammate at the next corner, while behind them the hard tyre pair held station ahead of fast charges from Arthur Pic and Norman Nato, who were split by Rio Haryanto at the end of the first lap.

Vandoorne and Gasly came in from the lead as soon as they could on lap six, with Lynn pushing hard for one more lap but emerging behind the pair: all three now had to slice their way through the field to make the strategy work. The Belgian would not be denied, taking no prisoners as he fought his way forward, with the others trying to cling on to his coattails.

All eyes were on the gap between Evans, now in the lead, and Vandoorne as the leader of the formerly soft shod men, and although it was extending slightly because of the traffic it looked as though the McLaren tester was doing enough to make his strategy work. And so it proved: Rossi pitted on lap 26, Evans next time round, and the pair emerged behind Gasly and had work to do.

The American led the way by the Frenchman and was soon hunting down the Belgian, 5.6 seconds up the road with 9 laps remaining. The pair caught the leader with 4 to go, but Evans had bigger ideas that a support role: he ran inside Rossi at turn one next time through and was soon hunting for more.

Unfortunately for him his soft tyres were losing their edge, and Vandoorne was in no mood to give anything away: the Belgian held on for his second win of the season from a frustrated Evans, with Rossi rounding out the podium a few seconds behind. Haryanto made good use of his softs at the end to finish in P4, ahead of Lynn and Raffaele Marciello, who both gained a place when Gasly went deep at turn one in the closing stages. Nato will be delighted with P8 and tomorrow’s pole after mugging Pic on the last lap, while Richie Stanaway claimed the final point of the race.

Vandoorne extended his lead in the drivers’ title race over Haryanto, with the Belgian on top by 72 points to 45, with Rossi on 38, Evans on 28 and Nathanael Berthon on 16 ahead of tomorrow morning’s sprint race.

Barcelona – Feature Race

Not Classified

Fastest Lap: Mitch Evans (RUSSIAN TIME) – 1:34.748 on lap 30

Alex Lynn storms to maiden victory

Williams F1 development driver holds off Vandoorne for first win

DAMS Alex Lynn powered to victory with a strong drive in this morning’s sprint race in Barcelona, claiming his first win with a mixture of aggression and maturity to claim the lead in the opening laps and then staying there despite the best efforts of Series leader Stoffel Vandoorne and Pierre Gasly.

There was drama before the start with Mitch Evans stopping on track on his outlap and Arthur Pic stopping before his grid position on the installation lap, causing the grid to have to form up once again and Nobuharu Matsushita to stall behind the Frenchman, forcing him into the pits to be restarted and handing Pic a five second time penalty for his efforts.

None of which affected Lynn: the Englishman had a great start from P4 to slice inside Ferrari academy driver Raffaele Marciello and teammate Gasly to put himself on the tail of poleman Norman Nato, while McLaren tester Vandoorne sliced inside Red Bull junior Gasly and behind the Italian.

There was a brief virtual safety car period for an incident between Rene Binder and André Negrao: at the restart Marciello was caught out and spun, but the rest of the field resumed with gusto. The pace was furious, and on lap six the inevitable happened when Lynn brushed past Nato into a lead he was never to relinquish: the rookie Frenchman was clearly struggling, and over the next few laps lost time (and positions) to his rivals. Vandoorne was pushing hard to get back on terms with Lynn, but the Briton was equal to the task and held the gap throughout.

Towards the end of the race the Belgian had to give up, his tyres clearly past their best: Lynn crossed the line over 2 seconds to the good from Vandoorne, with DAMS teammate Gasly another 6 seconds behind to round out the podium. Alexander Rossi used his experience to claim fourth from Artem Markelov, who drove a strong race to get by Rio Haryanto late in the race. Pic finished in P7 on the track but drops behind Nato in the classification because of his penalty.

Vandoorne leaves the circuit with a much increased lead at the end of the second round of the series, leading Haryanto by 86 points to 49, with Rossi closing up to 46 points ahead of Evans on 28 and Lynn on 25, while in the teams’ championship ART have also pulled away with 93 points to Racing Engineering’s 58, with Campos on 52 and DAMS on 41 ahead of the next round in Monaco.

Barcelona – Sprint Race

Not Classified

Fastest Lap: Stoffel Vandoorne (ART Grand Prix) – 1:34.628 on lap 8

Press release GP2