McLaren development driver Stoffel Vandoorne has won a dominant GP2 sprint race, leading from the first corner to the finish line in Budapest.
Vandoorne quickly discharged pole-sitter Nathaniel Berthon at the start of the race, as Berthon failed to make an impressive getaway.
Felipe Nasr had a good start and relegated Berthon to third, then applied pressure onto Vandoorne for the lead of the race. However, Vandoorne proved to be too quick for the Brazilian and pulled away to a three second lead.
Championship leader Jolyon Palmer began the race in fifth position, and after an average start he found enough grip to pass Daniel Abt in fourth on the second lap, then a struggling Berthon two laps later.
Once again the two championship contenders found themselves racing each other, as Palmer was right on the tail of Nasr.
Heading down the main straight Palmer made a giant lunge into Turn One, taking Nasr by surprise and squeezed through for second position.
Nasr complained that Palmer had unfairly forced him off the track, so the Stewards took a closer look into the incident, although concluded that the move was fair.
As Palmer and Nasr were putting on a great display of how to race, the same couldn’t be said down the field when Stefano Coletti and Johnny Cecotto Jr. made contact heading into the chicane.
Coletti had started in 18th after he was handed a 20 second time penalty after the feature race, as he was found guilty of causing a collision with Julian Leal.
The contact between Cecotto and Coletti was enough to force Cecotto out of the race, retiring for a second time in as many races.
Coletti continued on with his charge through the field until he came across Andre Negrao. Attempting a pass on the inside of Turn One, Coletti braked too late and made slight contact with the Arden driver, earning himself a drive through penalty.
His team-mate Raffaele Marciello was another driver to receive a post-race penalty, after he passed Vandoorne under safety car conditions, he was also handed a 20 second time penalty which saw him start the sprint race in 19th.
Marciello persisted with his usual aggressive driving, which saw him go from 19th to ninth by the end of the race, including a fantastic move on Mitch Evans.
In the end Vandoorne proved just how much he’s learned of his car, posting the fastest lap of the race on the last lap, while Palmer struggled behind on worn-out tyres.
Vandoorne now moves up to third in the overall standings, 83 points behind Palmer on a massive 192 points.
2014 GP2 Series Race of Hungary – Sprint Race Result (28 laps)
Driver | Team / Entry | Laps | Result | ||
1. | Stoffel Vandoorne | ![]() |
ART Grand Prix | 28 | 43:54.536 |
2. | Jolyon Palmer | ![]() |
DAMS | 28 | + 3.328 |
3. | Felipe Nasr | ![]() |
Carlin Motorsport | 28 | + 4.254 |
4. | Nathanaël Berthon | ![]() |
Venezuela GP Lazarus | 28 | + 17.211 |
5. | Daniel Abt | ![]() |
Hilmer Motorsport | 28 | + 17.780 |
6. | Arthur Pic | ![]() |
Campos Racing | 28 | + 25.326 |
7. | Conor Daly | ![]() |
Venezuela GP Lazarus | 28 | + 26.815 |
8. | Raffaele Marciello | ![]() |
Racing Engineering | 28 | + 34.706 |
9. | Mitch Evans | ![]() |
RT Russian Time | 28 | + 38.891 |
10. | Marco Sørensen | ![]() |
MP Motorsport | 28 | + 40.368 |
11. | Stéphane Richelmi | ![]() |
DAMS | 28 | + 45.157 |
12. | Andrew Quaife-Hobbs* | ![]() |
Rapax Team | 28 | + 51.740 |
13. | Simon Trummer | ![]() |
Rapax Team | 28 | + 52.509 |
14. | René Binder | ![]() |
Arden International | 28 | + 55.027 |
15. | Julián Leal | ![]() |
Carlin Motorsport | 28 | + 55.271 |
16. | Jon Lancaster | ![]() |
Hilmer Motorsport | 28 | + 57.709 |
17. | Rio Haryanto | ![]() |
EQ8 Caterham Racing | 28 | + 1:10.141 |
18. | Daniël de Jong* | ![]() |
MP Motorsport | 28 | + 1:17.896 |
19. | Tom Dillman | ![]() |
EQ8 Caterham Racing | 27 | Collision |
20. | Artem Markelov | ![]() |
RT Russian Time | 27 | Collision |
21. | Takuya Izawa | ![]() |
ART Grand Prix | 27 | Collision |
Not Classified | |||||
DNF. | Stefano Coletti | ![]() |
Racing Engineering | 24 | Collision |
DNF. | Kimiya Sato | ![]() |
Campos Racing | 24 | Steering |
DNF. | Andre Negrão | ![]() |
Arden International | 16 | Collision |
DNF. | Johnny Cecotto Jr | ![]() |
Trident Racing | 3 | Collision |
DNS. | Sergio Canamasas | ![]() |
Trident Racing |
* Quaife-Hobbs and de Jong were both awarded 20-second post-race time penalties for causing collisions with Tom Dillman and Julián Leal respectively.
Images via GP2 Media
Josh Kruse
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