2016 Monaco GP2 Series round

   2016 Monaco GP2 round

Round details
Round 2 of 11 rounds in the 2016 GP2 Series season
Layout of the Circuit de Monaco
Location	Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monaco
Course	Street circuit 3.340 km (2.075 mi)
GP2 Series
Feature race
Date	27 May 2016
Laps	40
Pole position
Driver	Sergey Sirotkin	ART Grand Prix
Time	1:19.186
Podium
First	Artem Markelov	Russian Time
Second	Norman Nato	Racing Engineering
Third	Oliver Rowland	MP Motorsport
Fastest lap
Driver	Pierre Gasly	Prema Racing
Time	1:20.469 (on lap 39)
Sprint race
Date	28 May 2016
Laps	30
Podium
First	Nobuharu Matsushita	ART Grand Prix
Second	Marvin Kirchhöfer	Carlin
Third	Raffaele Marciello	Russian Time
Fastest lap
Driver	Nobuharu Matsushita	ART Grand Prix
Time	1:21.554 (on lap 28)

The 2016 Monaco GP2 Series round was a pair of motor races held on 27 and 28 May 2016 at the Circuit de Monaco in Monaco as part of the GP2 Series. It was the second round of the 2016 GP2 season. The race weekend supported the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix.

Classification

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two groups, with the odd numbered cars in Group A and the even numbered cars in Group B.

Fresh off of his maiden win in Spain, Norman Nato set the quickest time in Group A, edging Campos Racing's Mitch Evans. It was championship leader Pierre Gasly that took the early lead, but improvements from other drivers saw the Frenchman fall down to eighth by the time the checkered flag fell.

Group A

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time	Grid
1	3	Norman Nato	Racing Engineering	1:19.894	2
2	7	Mitch Evans	Campos Racing	1:19.962	4
3	5	Alex Lynn	DAMS	1:20.014	6
4	9	Raffaele Marciello	Russian Time	1:20.601	8
5	16	Luca Ghiotto	Trident	1:20.630	10
6	1	Nobuharu Matsushita	ART Grand Prix	1:20.744	12
7	19	Marvin Kirchhöfer	Carlin	1:21.016	13
8	21	Pierre Gasly	Prema Racing	1:21.381	PL1
9	11	Gustav Malja	Rapax	1:21.965	16
10	23	Daniël de Jong	MP Motorsport	1:21.978	18
11	25	Jimmy Eriksson	Arden International	1:22.029	19
Source:[1]

Track conditions remained unchanged for the second qualifying group. Sergio Canamasas was on top briefly, but contact with the wall put an end to his session. But Sergey Sirotkin stole the show at the midway point, as his lap of 1:19.656 ensured that Group B would fight for pole. Artem Markelov had a heavy crash at Turn 1, and the session was red-flagged with 3 minutes and 48 seconds left on the clock to repair the heavily damaged barrier. This set up a one-lap shootout for pole position, which Sirotkin duly claimed with a lap five-tenths faster than Jordan King's second-place effort.

Group B

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time	Grid
1	2	Sergey Sirotkin	ART Grand Prix	1:19.186	1
2	4	Jordan King	Racing Engineering	1:19.691	3
3	22	Oliver Rowland	MP Motorsport	1:19.852	5
4	20	Antonio Giovinazzi	Prema Racing	1:19.972	7
5	6	Nicholas Latifi	DAMS	1:20.182	9
6	12	Arthur Pic	Rapax	1:20.360	11
7	18	Sergio Canamasas	Carlin	1:20.600	PL2
8	8	Sean Gelael	Campos Racing	1:20.877	14
9	10	Artem Markelov	Russian Time	1:22.160	15
10	14	Philo Paz Armand	Trident	1:22.707	17
11	24	Nabil Jeffri	Arden International	1:22.722	PL3
Source:[1]

Notes

1.^ – Gasly started from the pitlane having failed to stop at the scrutineering weighbridge.^[2]

2.^ – Canamasas started from the pitlane having failed to stop at the scrutineering weighbridge.^[2]

3.^ – Jeffri received a three-place grid penalty after being found guilty of impeding Markelov during Group B's qualifying session. However, since Jeffri could not take his penalty in full, he started from the pitlane.^[2]

Feature Race

A sluggish start from poleman Sergey Sirotkin saw fellow front-row starter Norman Nato take the lead into Turn 1. Sirotkin was the quicker driver, but Nato managed to soak up the pressure and hang on to first place. Behind them, Jordan King held position in third, while Mitch Evans, Oliver Rowland, and Alex Lynn staged a fierce battle for fourth position. However, Evans skipped the Nouvelle chicane and gained an advantage, which earned him a 5-second time penalty. The first half of the race was a clean and calm affair, but the second half was anything but.

A chain of virtual safety cars was triggered when Pierre Gasly mounted the back of Jimmy Eriksson, which would ultimately result in terminal damage for the Swedish rookie. At the restart, Rowland quickly displaced Evans and charged after the leading trio, but there was more drama to come. Just after Nicholas Latifi clipped the wall in the tunnel and retired from eighth place, Sirotkin lost control of his car at the exit of La Piscine and crashed into the barriers. For the second feature race in a row, Sirotkin exited his car, visibly distraught with his mistake. Another virtual safety car was brought out for a general cleanup, although once it ended, it didn't take long for the third virtual safety car to be deployed, as Nabil Jeffri had crashed at La Rascasse. King fell victim to this restart, as he clipped the wall, which brought an end to Racing Engineering's hopes of a 1-2 finish. It was after this that the complexion of the race really changed.

Evans stopped for tyres on Lap 28, with Lynn, Rowland, and Nato pitting on laps 29, 30, and 31 respectively. This handed the lead to Russian Time driver Artem Markelov. But Markelov defied logic, setting much faster laps than everyone behind him, despite being on extremely worn tyres. The virtual safety car was called out twice more in the latter stages of the race, first for debris on the track and later for Luca Ghiotto's stricken Trident car. It was here that Markelov sealed the deal on an improbable victory, because the timing of the safety car proved advantageous for him. When Markelov did stop with two laps remaining, he emerged just in front of Nato. He resisted the Frenchman's challenge and took the win, despite starting 15th on a track where overtaking is notoriously difficult. Nato was disgusted by having victory snatched away from him, but Rowland was content with a debut podium in GP2.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	10	Artem Markelov	Russian Time	40	1:01:27.183	15	25+2
2	3	Norman Nato	Racing Engineering	40	+1.541	2	18
3	22	Oliver Rowland	MP Motorsport	40	+3.187	5	15
4	5	Alex Lynn	Russian Time	40	+8.239	6	12
5	7	Mitch Evans	Campos Racing	40	+11.723	4	10
6	9	Raffaele Marciello	Russian Time	40	+15.025	8	8
7	19	Marvin Kirchhöfer	Carlin	40	+21.153	13	6
8	1	Nobuharu Matsushita	ART Grand Prix	40	+21.582	12	4
9	23	Daniel de Jong	MP Motorsport	40	+22.343	18	2
10	12	Arthur Pic	Rapax	40	+23.333	11	1
111	20	Antonio Giovinazzi	Prema Racing	40	+25.037	7
12	18	Sergio Canamasas	Carlin	40	+30.192	PL
13	8	Sean Gelael	Campos Racing	40	+31.295	14
142	11	Gustav Malja	Rapax	40	+39.900	16
15	21	Pierre Gasly	Prema Racing	40	+49.718	PL
16	14	Philo Paz Armand	Trident	39	+1 Lap	17
Ret	15	Luca Ghiotto	Trident	35	Engine	10
Ret	25	Jimmy Eriksson	Arden International	32	Accident damage	19
Ret	4	Jordan King	Racing Engineering	27	Suspension	3
Ret	24	Nabil Jeffri	Arden International	23	Accident	PL
Ret	2	Sergey Sirotkin	ART Grand Prix	22	Accident	1	4
Ret	6	Nicholas Latifi	DAMS	21	Suspension	9
Fastest lap: Pierre Gasly (Prema Racing) — 1:30.469 (on lap 39)
Source:

Notes

1.^ – Giovinazzi received a five-second time penalty for gaining an advantage by way of leaving the circuit.^[3]

2.^ – Malja received a five-second time penalty for gaining an advantage by way of leaving the circuit.^[3]

Sprint Race

Following the post-race penalty for Antonio Giovinazzi, Nobuharu Matsushita was promoted into reverse-grid pole for the Sprint race. Despite not getting a great start, Matsushita had the inside line and was thus able to fend off the fast-starting Carlin of Marvin Kirchhöfer. Behind them, Raffaele Marciello led Mitch Evans, Alex Lynn, and Norman Nato, who jumped ahead of Oliver Rowland. From here, Matsushita began to rapidly pull away from Kirchhöfer. The Indonesian contingent of GP2 was rapidly eliminated from the race; Philo Paz Armand was squeezed into the wall by Jordan King on Lap 4, while a virtual safety car was needed after Sean Gelael crashed out at Sainte Devote on Lap 8. Sergey Sirotkin's nightmare season continued when an fire extinguisher failed in his car, and Nicholas Latifi also retired with gearbox woes. At the front of the field, Matsushita was dominating and trading fastest laps with sixth-placed Nato, who himself was locked in a fierce battle with Lynn, Rowland, and Feature Race winner Artem Markelov. In the end, it was an easy victory for the Japanese driver, who took fastest lap and finished more than thirteen seconds ahead of nearest rivals Kirchhöfer and Marciello. Despite a somewhat disappointing weekend, Nato left the weekend with a one-point championship lead over Markelov.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Nobuharu Matsushita	ART Grand Prix	30	41:59.392	1	15+2
2	19	Marvin Kirchhöfer	Carlin	30	+13.660	2	12
3	9	Raffaele Marciello	Russian Time	30	+15.453	3	10
4	7	Mitch Evans	Campos Racing	30	+20.894	4	8
5	5	Alex Lynn	DAMS	30	+32.560	5	6
6	3	Norman Nato	Racing Engineering	30	+33.058	7	4
7	22	Oliver Rowland	MP Motorsport	30	+33.594	6	2
8	10	Artem Markelov	Russian Time	30	+33.874	8	1
9	12	Arthur Pic	Rapax	30	+36.777	10
10	18	Sergio Canamasas	Carlin	30	+47.646	12
11	23	Daniël de Jong	MP Motorsport	30	+54.291	9
12	11	Gustav Malja	Rapax	30	+55.476	14
13	21	Pierre Gasly	Prema Racing	30	+55.981	15
14	15	Luca Ghiotto	Trident	30	+56.501	17
15	25	Jimmy Eriksson	Arden International	30	+58.682	20
16	4	Jordan King	Racing Engineering	30	+1:19.193	21
17	24	Nabil Jeffri	Arden International	30	+1:27.922	22
18	20	Antonio Giovinazzi	Prema Racing	30	+1:27.997	11
Ret	6	Nicholas Latifi	DAMS	13	Gearbox	22
Ret	2	Sergey Sirotkin	ART Grand Prix	10	Extinguisher	21
Ret	8	Sean Gelael	Campos Racing	7	Accident	13
Ret	14	Philo Paz Armand	Trident	3	Accident	16
Fastest lap: Nobuharu Matsushita (ART Grand Prix) — 1:21.554 (on lap 28)
Source:

Standings after the round

Drivers' 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

Teams' Championship standings Pos Team Points 1 Russian Time 76 2 Racing Engineering 65 3 DAMS 61 4 Prema Racing 33 5 Carlin 28

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

External links

• Official website of GP2 Series