Monaco GP2: Honda's Matsushita dominates sprint race
Honda protege Nobuharu Matsushita opened GP2 champion team ART Grand Prix's 2016 account by dominating the Monaco sprint race from pole
Matsushita's front row partner Marvin Kirchhofer inched ahead as they got off the line, but the Japanese driver braked later down the inside into Ste Devote and stayed ahead thereafter.
An early charge pulled him clear of Carlin's GP3 graduate Kirchhofer, and by the end his winning margin was 13.6 seconds.
Kirchhofer fended off Russian Time's Raffaele Marciello for the runner-up spot, with Mitch Evans fourth for Campos.
Alex Lynn kept a train of cars at bay for fifth, finishing with Friday's podium finishers Norman Nato, Oliver Rowland and Artem Markelov on his tail.
In a processional race, only Sergio Canamasas seemed able to make progress up the order - surging past Pierre Gasly, Gustav Malja and Daniel de Jong with a string of bold moves to reach 10th.
Other drivers starting down the order struggled.
Sergey Sirotkin remains on zero points after parking at Casino Square early on, Jordan King was 16th and penalised for a tangle with Philo Paz Armand, and Antonio Giovinazzi spent the race last after stalling on the dummy grid.
SPRINT RACE RESULT
| Pos | Driver | Team | Laps | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 30 | 41m59.392s |
| 2 | Marvin Kirchhofer | Carlin | 30 | 13.660s |
| 3 | Raffaele Marciello | RUSSIAN TIME | 30 | 15.453s |
| 4 | Mitch Evans | Pertamina Campos Racing | 30 | 20.894s |
| 5 | Alex Lynn | DAMS | 30 | 32.560s |
| 6 | Norman Nato | Racing Engineering | 30 | 33.038s |
| 7 | Oliver Rowland | MP Motorsport | 30 | 33.594s |
| 8 | Artem Markelov | RUSSIAN TIME | 30 | 33.874s |
| 9 | Arthur Pic | Rapax | 30 | 36.777s |
| 10 | Sergio Canamasas | Carlin | 30 | 47.646s |
| 11 | Daniel de Jong | MP Motorsport | 30 | 54.291s |
| 12 | Gustav Malja | Rapax | 30 | 55.476s |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly | Prema Racing | 30 | 55.981s |
| 14 | Luca Ghiotto | Trident | 30 | 56.501s |
| 15 | Jimmy Eriksson | Arden International | 30 | 58.682s |
| 16 | Jordan King | Racing Engineering | 30 | 1m09.193s |
| 17 | Nabil Jeffri | Arden International | 30 | 1m17.922s |
| 18 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Prema Racing | 30 | 1m17.997s |
| - | Nicholas Latifi | DAMS | 13 | Retirement |
| - | Sergey Sirotkin | ART Grand Prix | 10 | Retirement |
| - | Sean Gelael | Pertamina Campos Racing | 7 | Retirement |
| - | Philo Paz Armand | Trident | 3 | Retirement |
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
| Pos | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norman Nato | 49 |
| 2 | Artem Markelov | 48 |
| 3 | Alex Lynn | 41 |
| 4 | Pierre Gasly | 33 |
| 5 | Raffaele Marciello | 28 |
| 6 | Nobuharu Matsushita | 22 |
| 7 | Oliver Rowland | 22 |
| 8 | Nicholas Latifi | 20 |
| 9 | Marvin Kirchhofer | 18 |
| 10 | Mitch Evans | 18 |
| 11 | Jordan King | 16 |
| 12 | Sergio Canamasas | 10 |
| 13 | Sergey Sirotkin | 4 |
| 14 | Gustav Malja | 2 |
| 15 | Daniel de Jong | 2 |
| 16 | Arthur Pic | 1 |
| 17 | Antonio Giovinazzi | 0 |
| 18 | Luca Ghiotto | 0 |
| 19 | Sean Gelael | 0 |
| 20 | Jimmy Eriksson | 0 |
| 21 | Philo Paz Armand | 0 |
| 22 | Nabil Jeffri | 0 |
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