Abu Dhabi GP2: McLaren tester Vandoorne dominates feature race
McLaren reserve Stoffel Vandoorne won the GP2 feature race in Abu Dhabi to take his fourth win of 2014, and move into second in the championship ahead of Felipe Nasr
Polesitter Vandoorne got away cleanly to hold off a charging Nasr, the Brazilian moving up to second from his starting position of fifth by the end of the first lap.
A scrappy move by Rene Binder with Jon Lancaster and Russian Grand Prix sprint race winner Marco Sorensen brought out the safety car at the end of lap one, but Vandoorne's well controlled restart allowed him to pull away from the field.
When the pit window opened on lap six, Vandoorne and Nasr jumped immediately, feeding back into the pack in ninth and 10th respectively.
The Belgian had his work cut out to scythe his way through the field, first stealing past Artem Markelov and then Lancaster.
Lancaster clipped the back of the ART car just afterwards, losing his part of his wing in the process, but Vandoorne held firm and went on to win.
Jolyon Palmer and Mitch Evans were on a different strategy, running the medium tyre first. They almost touched leaving the pits with eight laps remaining, and came out in second and third ahead of Johnny Cecotto and Nasr.
With fresher tyres, Palmer and Evans were catching Vandoorne, but were unable to get close enough.
Vandoorne's win means he now holds second in the standings ahead of Carlin driver Nasr, while Palmer's second place finish sealed the teams' title for DAMS.
Stephane Richelmi, Stefano Cecotto and Coletti all finished in the points, with Arthur Pic taking eighth for Sunday's sprint race. Rio Haryanto and Daniel de Jong completed the scorers.
RESULTS - 31 LAPS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Gap |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Stoffel Vandoorne | ART Grand Prix | 1h00m56.725s |
2 | Jolyon Palmer | DAMS | 12.157s |
3 | Mitch Evans | RT RUSSIAN TIME | 19.159s |
4 | Felipe Nasr | Carlin | 22.205s |
5 | Stephane Richelmi | DAMS | 28.099s |
6 | Johnny Cecotto Jr. | Trident | 31.375s |
7 | Stefano Coletti | Racing Engineering | 34.254s |
8 | Arthur Pic | Campos Racing | 34.499s |
9 | Rio Haryanto | Caterham Racing | 36.797s |
10 | Daniel de Jong | MP Motorsport | 46.613s |
11 | Raffaele Marciello | Racing Engineering | 47.586s |
12 | Julian Leal | Carlin | 50.140s |
13 | Takuya Izawa | ART Grand Prix | 54.585s |
14 | Kimiya Sato | Campos Racing | 57.199s |
15 | Nathanael Berthon | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1m05.269s |
16 | Sergio Canamasas | Trident | 1m08.362s |
17 | Simon Trummer | Rapax | 1m12.621s |
18 | Jon Lancaster | Hilmer Motorsport | 1m19.605s |
19 | Kevin Giovesi | Rapax | 1m19.877s |
20 | Conor Daly | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1m25.909s |
21 | Pierre Gasly | Caterham Racing | 1m26.649s |
22 | Nicholas Latifi | Hilmer Motorsport | 1m32.065s |
- | Artem Markelov | RT RUSSIAN TIME | Retirement |
- | Andre Negrao | Arden International | Retirement |
- | Marco Sorensen | MP Motorsport | Retirement |
- | Rene Binder | Arden International | Retirement |
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