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Abu Dhabi GP2: McLaren's Vandoorne claims series record with win

McLaren Formula 1 reserve Stoffel Vandoorne clinched his seventh GP2 win of 2015 in Abu Dhabi, and his 11th in two years to go top of its all-time win list

With the win, Vandoorne moves clear of Lotus F1 driver Pastor Maldonado, who won 10 GP2 races between 2007-10.

From second on the grid Vandoorne was able to get alongside polesitter Pierre Gasly going into Turn 1, but the Frenchman squeezed him to the apex and was able to hold the lead on the outside.

Red Bull junior Gasly may have defended hard on the opening few laps but Vandoorne stayed within DRS range of the DAMS driver and lined him up for a pass on lap four.

Gasly went on the outside at the Turn 7 hairpin, expecting Vandoorne to use DRS to pass him into Turn 8, but Vandoorne caught him napping and snuck up the inside of the Frenchman to take the lead.

Gasly's woes continued on the same lap as Mitch Evans completed a bold move on the isnide of Turn 12 to demote him to third.

By lap five all of the frontrunners who had started on the soft tyre suffered with serious tyre degradation and were being caught by those who started on the medium compound.

Vandoorne and Evans had built a big enough gap out front for it not to be a serious issue for them but Gasly fell way down the order, as several drivers including Raffaele Marciello, breezed past him.

During the frenetic scrap the Ferrari protege, who lost several places at the start, passed both Alexander Rossi and Alex Lynn, before dispatching Gasly to move up to third.

On the following lap all those who had started on the soft tyre scrambled for the pits, except Lynn, who stayed out as a result of his team-mate pitting.

Shortly after the early frontrunners rejoined the race the virtual safety car was deployed after Nicholas Latifi and Norman Nato made contact at the penultimate corner.

On the restart Artem Markelov and Jordan King, who were now up to second and third respectively, resumed their intense battle, before Markelov retired with suspected mechanical problems.

As Vandoorne, Evans, Rossi and Gasly - who was handed a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane - carved their way through the field, Marciello stayed out until lap 26.

The Italian rejoined behind Vandoorne but ahead of Evans.

Champion Vandoorne, as he has done so many times this season, disappeared off down the road and crossed the line almost 10 seconds clear of the rest of the field.

Meanwhile, Marciello was told by the pitwall not to push too hard but he had Russian Time driver Evans to contend with.

Fortunately for Marciello he was able to manage his tyres well and fended off Evans for second place, and his fourth podium of the year.

Rossi, who emulated Vandoorne's move on Gasly midway through the race, came home comfortably in fourth.

Gasly hung on to fifth despite his penalty, with King and Rio Haryanto fighting all the way to the line in sixth and seventh.

Williams Formula 1 development driver Lynn secured the reverse-grid pole in eighth, ahead of Andre Negrao and Nathanael Berthon, who picked up the final point in Lazarus' final GP2 feature race.

Sean Gelael recorded his first retirement of the year after an embarrassing accident after completing his pitstop.

The Indonesian driver locked up exiting the pitlane and went straight into the wall, losing his front wing and forcing him to retire.

RESULT

Pos Driver Team Laps Gap
1 Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 31 1h03m32.405s
2 Raffaele Marciello Trident 31 9.404s
3 Mitch Evans RUSSIAN TIME 31 10.327s
4 Alexander Rossi Racing Engineering 31 12.105s
5 Pierre Gasly DAMS 31 22.621s
6 Jordan King Racing Engineering 31 25.817s
7 Rio Haryanto Campos Racing 31 26.406s
8 Alex Lynn DAMS 31 26.988s
9 Andre Negrao Arden International 31 30.412s
10 Nathanael Berthon Daiko Team Lazarus 31 36.974s
11 Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 31 41.939s
12 Sergio Canamasas Daiko Team Lazarus 31 43.105s
13 Sergey Sirotkin Rapax 31 44.058s
14 Rene Binder MP Motorsport 31 45.982s
15 Oliver Rowland Status Grand Prix 31 54.566s
16 Gustav Malja Rapax 31 1m00.592s
17 Arthur Pic Campos Racing 31 1m02.596s
18 Marlon Stockinger Status Grand Prix 31 1m20.398s
- Sean Gelael Carlin 25 Retirement
- Dean Stoneman Carlin 23 Retirement
- Daniel de Jong Trident 14 Retirement
- Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 13 Retirement
- Norman Nato Arden International 5 Retirement
- Nicholas Latifi MP Motorsport 5 Retirement

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