Sergey Sirotkin took controversial win in a race filled with drama and suspense until the finish-line as Luca Ghiotto finished second and Pierre Gasly finished third for less than one tenth.
Sergey Sirotkin started from pole position ahead of Pierre Gasly and Rafaelle Marciello. Let’s remind that Antonio Giovinazzi, who qualified fourth, has been excluded from qualifying and started from P22. All the leaders started on soft tyres except Gasly.
Gasly doesn’t get away on the grid and found himself on twelfth position at the end of the first lap. Oliver Rowland and Marciello were fighting during the whole first lap, the Italian staying ahead of the British. Once the DRS was enabled, Marciello could threaten Sirotkin for the lead and took it at the fourth lap.
Rowland was the first to pit at the end of the sixth lap and got out in twelfth position. Meanwhile, Artem Markelov hit the back of Jordan King at the hairpin and could not continue. Sirotkin pitted just before the virtual safety car was announced and got out just behind Nicholas Latifi before being overtaken by Norman Nato when the VSC ended. The lap afterward, Daniel De Jong missed the braking point at the hairpin and hit Sean Gelael, the VSC out again to retrieve both cars.
At the restart, Gasly got caught up by surprise by Luca Ghiotto who overtook him for eighth place. Sirotkin was under investigation for pitting under VSC, which is forbidden in GP2. At the thirteenth lap, Marciello and Evans pitted. Latifi, Nato and Sirotkin kept fighting hard for third place as Sirotkin touched the back of Nato’s car, without damage for either of them. Then, Latifi lost two places to Nato and Sirotkin, the Russian having to get back to the lead in order to avoid a possible penalty.
Evans retired at the sixteenth lap while Gasly was the fastest man on track with his medium tyres before Ghiotto kept setting fastest laps over fastest laps. On the twenty-first lap, Sirotkin managed to catch up Lynn, who was struggling with his tyres, for the lead before Sirotkin’s pitstop was chosen not to be allowed as a mandatory pitstop. Therefore, he had to pit and put on a new set of tyres. Lynn pitted at the end of the twenty-second lap, one lap after Nato.
Further back in the field, Ghiotto and King had contact, breaking the Trident’s front wing and puncturing the right rear tyre of the Racing Engineering. Ghiotto could continue without pitting while King had to change of tyres to continue. Sirotkin pitted again for softs tyres, although he started on the race on softs, at the end of the twenty-seventh lap and got out behind Ghiotto.
Gasly, the only driver who had not pitted, took his mandatory pit stop at the end of the twenty-eighth lap and got out in ninth position. Marciello took the lead again ahead of Rowland and Sirotkin. Nato was being slightly touched by Lynn and had to stop his car on track at the second corner, the VSC being used once again just after Sirotkin overtook Ghiotto for P2. Lynn took a ten-second-penalty following the incident with Nato.
Gasly, with fresh soft tyres, managed to overtake Pic and Giovinazzi at the hairpin and found himself up to provisional P5. With five laps to go, Sirotkin took the lead from Marciello. The Frenchman continued his come back, overtaking Lynn and Rowland with two laps to go. Meanwhile, Ghiotto overtook Marciello for second place and Gasly overtook Marciello just on the final line.
Sergey Sirotkin took controversial win as his tyre strategy could be investigated ahead of Luca Ghiotto and Pierre Gasly. Marciello, Pic, Rowland, Malja, Lynn (relegated to P10) and Matsushita completed the top 10 on the line.
