» GP2: Matsushita cruises to maiden GP2 victory at the Hungaroring

Reigning Japanese F3 champion Nobuharu Matsushita has won his first race in the GP2 Series, easing to a lights-to-flag victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix Sprint Race. Stoffel Vandoorne came in second to complete an ART Grand Prix one-two.

Rapax’s Sergey Sirotkin continued his brilliant form finishing the race in third position to make his second visit to the podium this weekend. The Russian spent the last portion of the race pressing Vandoorne for second, however couldn’t make it past the championship leader.

Vandoorne looked promising for the win early in the race, as he looked to be alternating between fast and slow laps in order to stay clear of Matsushita and save his tyres. Mid-race, the Belgian reported that his tyres were starting to grain and he was unable to close the two-second gap to his team-mate.

It was a race to forget for Racing Engineer as both of their drivers failed to make an impact on the race. Alexander Rossi and Jordan King seemed to struggle early with their tyres, causing them to slip down the grid. Rossi, who started in twelfth position, ended the race in noneteenth after having enough of the Medium tyre and making an unscheduled pit stop for the Soft tyre. King started the race in third position, but he too struggled with the life of the Medium tyre and finished in twelfth place.

A weekend of no points scored sees Rossi drop to third in the Drivers’ Championship standings, with Rio Haryanto moving ahead into second.

Raffaele Marciello didn’t have the pace to challenge for the lead after he was another driver to lose places at the start dropping from second to fourth.

Down towards the end of the grid, Sergio Canamasas started the race in last position, but by the end of the first lap he was up to tenth after making an incredible start. That was as high as Canamasas got in the race, as he destroyed his tyres on the opening few laps, he ended the race in sixteenth.

2015 GP2 Series Hungary – Sprint Race Final Classification (28 laps)
	Driver	Team / Entry	Laps	Result
1.	Nobuharu Matsushita	ART Grand Prix	28	43:43.229
2.	Stoffel Vandoorne	ART Grand Prix	28	+ 1.961
3.	Sergey Sirotkin	Rapax	28	+ 2.560
4.	Raffaele Marciello	Trident	28	+ 16.243
5.	Rio Haryanto	Campos Racing	28	+ 17.821
6.	Norman Nato	Arden International	28	+ 18.899
7.	Robert Vișoiu	Rapax	28	+ 19.605
8.	Pierre Gasly	DAMS	28	+ 24.504
9.	Alex Lynn	DAMS	28	+ 29.572
10.	Arthur Pic	Campos Racing	28	+ 30.380
11.	Nathanaël Berthon	Daiko Team Lazarus	28	+ 39.819
12.	Jordan King	Racing Engineering	28	+ 43.666
13.	Richie Stanaway	Status Grand Prix	28	+ 46.223
14.	Nicholas Latifi	MP Motorsport	28	+ 47.244
15.	Julián Leal	Carlin	28	+ 47.869
16.	Sergio Canamasas	Hilmer Motorsport	28	+ 50.050
17.	Nick Yelloly	Hilmer Motorsport	28	+ 51.211
18.	Artem Markelov	Russian Time	28	+ 1:00.570
19.	Alexander Rossi	Racing Engineering	28	+ 1:04.855
20.	Sean Galeal	Carlin	28	+ 1:07.304
21.	André Negrão	Arden International	28	+ 1:10.407
22.	Mitch Evans	Russian Time	28	+ 1:18.968
23.	Marlon Stöckinger	Status Grand Prix	27	1 lap behind
24.	René Binder	Trident	27	1 lap behind
	Not Classified	Team / Entry	Laps	Result
DNF.	Daniël de Jong	MP Motorsport	16	Mechanical
WD.	Zoël Amberg	Daiko Team Lazarus		unwell