After a perfect start Cecotto defended well from Racing Engineering drivers’ attacks and was on top of a podium shared with Coletti and Marciello. Nasr retired in the first laps as Palmer was sixth.

Fantastic race this morning in the Red Bull Ring. The short race was characterized by fight on track and until the arrival at the finish line the classification could not be closed.

After a clean start Cecotto got the lead and the first row’s drivers got to the second position in Rossi’s case and to fifth in Evans’. The shock was given by Nasr, who after overtaking Pic at the start Izawa made contact with him in the second turn and after five laps he had to retire due to a clutch problem.

Race was going on with Palmer setting fastest laps from seventh position while he was advised for using track limits, and Marciello attacking Cecotto for the lead as he was expressing the difficulty when defending by team radio. But that ended up with Marciello losing Cecotto.

As Marciello could not get to the lead his team mate, Stefano Coletti, overtook Rossi – and so would do Evans a lap after – to get the third position. In just two laps he got the Italian after he run a little bit wide in last turn and made the overtake to get the leader, Johnny Cecotto.

Coletti’s rhythm was superb. In three laps he cut the almost three gap seconds and set for the attack when only four laps of the race were left. It seemed like Cecotto was waking up as Coletti’s rhythm was disappearing and he was just closer but not able to do any movement, so the Venezuelan would get the victory euphorically. The attention was then centred in the third position battle. The Evans attacks were really well rejected by Marciello and in three occasions he could save his position magisterially in the last lap. Rossi was looking closely how anything was going to change.

The first victory this season for Cecotto permitted him get closer to the championship leading but without changing any positions: Palmer, Nasr, Cecotto. The fastest lap was made by Coletti while catching Cecotto. GP2 will be back at Silverstone in July 5th along with Great Britain’s Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Results:

Pos. Car Driver Team Time
1 23 Johnny Cecotto VEN Trident 28 Laps
2 6 Stefano Coletti MON Racing Engineering + 0.7
3 5 Raffaele Marciello R ITA Racing Engineering + 6.0
4 1 Mitch Evans NZ RT Russian Time + 0.3
5 19 Alexander Rossi USA EQ8 Caterham Racing + 0.8
6 7 Joylon Palmer GBR Dams + 0.8
7 4 Julián Leal COL Carlin + 0.4
8 9 Takuya Izawa R JAP ART Grand Prix + 10.0
9 22 Sergio Canamasas ESP Trident + 7.3
10 8 Stéphane Richelmi MON Dams + 0.3
11 25 Conor Daly USA Venezuela GP Lazarus + 0.5
12 16 Rene Binder AUT Arden International + 0.7
13 26 Arhur Pic R FRA Campos Racing + 0.4
14 17 André Negrao R BRA Arden International + 1.2
15 10 Stoffel Vandoorne R BEL ART Grand Prix + 0.3
16 2 Artem Markelov R RUS RT Russian Time + 1.5
17 18 Rio Haryanto IND EQ8 Caterham Racing + 4.0
18 14 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs GBR Rapax + 1.0
19 27 Kimiya Sato R JAP Campos Racing + 0.7
20 15 Simon Trummer CHE Rapax + 4.6
21 20 Daniël de Jong NED MP Motorsport + 1.2
22 21 Tio Ellinas R CYP MP Motorsport + 1.4
23 11 Daniel Abt GER Hilmer Motorsport + 1.3
24 12 Facu Regalia R ARG Hilmer Motorsport + 1.3
25 24 Nathanaël Berthon FRA Venezuela GP Lazarus + 3.4
RET 3 Felipe Nasr BRA Carlin + 26 Laps